African Cats (Disneynature)

[McCrutchy]

Disney UK released the Disneynature documentary African Cats (2011), on Blu-ray back in 2012.

This edition features narration recorded by Patrick Stewart.

[McCrutchy]

Confirmation:

This disc is region-free.

I wanted to make a thread for this because I don't think it's clear that the UK BD is different from all the others.

The US and international release of African Cats features English-language narration by Samuel L. Jackson. However, as mentioned above, this UK BD, and, it seems, only this UK BD, features narration from Patrick Stewart. This is not mentioned anywhere on the Blu-ray case, however, it is mentioned on the Disneynature UK web site listing for the film.

(The use of English narrators for Disneynature films in the UK is not new, but unfortunately, Disney UK has fallen far behind on releasing Disneynature product in the UK, especially on video, so I am unable to verify if any of the later Disneynature films (e.g. Chimpanzee) feature different narrators in the UK.)

As such, this UK BD features only English audio and subtitle options. The main audio is presented in English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, while a Dolby Digital 2.0 track delivers audio description. Disney have also provided English (UK) and English SDH (UK) subtitles for the main feature only. All subtitling is in white font.

Bizarrely, even though the audio description is read by an English-accented female, the narration on this track is not from Patrick Stewart, but from Samuel L. Jackson. This may have been in error, as Jackson is properly credited on the back covers of all the BDs featuring his narration, while the UK BD cover omits a narration credit entirely. On the end credits of the film, the narration is credited to Patrick Stewart.

In any event, as I had never viewed African Cats before, this allowed me to sample some of Jackson's narration, which is virtually identical down to the word. It also allowed me to discover that the subtitles are timed to Stewart's narration, though this is hardly an issue, as both men tend to keep the same general pace.

Most unfortunately, Disney has stripped the Filmmaker Annotations PiP track from this UK BD, leaving only the "Disney & Nature" and "Save the Savannah" featurettes, along with the music video.

BDInfo scan:

                                                                                                                Total   Video                                             
Title                                                           Codec   Length  Movie Size      Disc Size       Bitrate Bitrate Main Audio Track                          Secondary Audio Track
-----                                                           ------  ------- --------------  --------------  ------- ------- ------------------                        ---------------------
00800.MPLS                                                      AVC     1:29:25 25,293,907,968  29,820,966,047  37.71   30.62   DTS-HD Master 5.1 4820Kbps (48kHz/24-bit)

DISC INFO:

Disc Title:     AFRICAN_CATS
Disc Size:      29,820,966,047 bytes
Protection:     AACS
BD-Java:        Yes
BDInfo:         0.5.8

PLAYLIST REPORT:

Name:                   00800.MPLS
Length:                 1:29:25.568 (h:m:s.ms)
Size:                   25,293,907,968 bytes
Total Bitrate:          37.71 Mbps

VIDEO:

Codec                   Bitrate             Description     
-----                   -------             -----------     
MPEG-4 AVC Video        30621 kbps          1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1

AUDIO:

Codec                           Language        Bitrate         Description     
-----                           --------        -------         -----------     
DTS-HD Master Audio             English         4820 kbps       5.1 / 48 kHz / 4820 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Dolby Digital Audio             English         320 kbps        2.0 / 48 kHz / 320 kbps / Dolby Surround

SUBTITLES:

Codec                           Language        Bitrate         Description     
-----                           --------        -------         -----------     
Presentation Graphics           English         14.828 kbps                     
Presentation Graphics           English         16.976 kbps                     

FILES:

Name            Time In         Length          Size            Total Bitrate   
----            -------         ------          ----            -------------   
00221.M2TS      0:00:00.000     1:29:25.568     25,293,907,968  37,713          

CHAPTERS:

Number          Time In         Length          Avg Video Rate  Max 1-Sec Rate  Max 1-Sec Time  Max 5-Sec Rate  Max 5-Sec Time  Max 10Sec Rate  Max 10Sec Time  Avg Frame Size  Max Frame Size  Max Frame Time  
------          -------         ------          --------------  --------------  --------------  --------------  --------------  --------------  --------------  --------------  --------------  --------------  
1               0:00:00.000     0:04:52.917     31,338 kbps     35,764 kbps     00:00:33.700    33,010 kbps     00:00:29.696    32,652 kbps     00:00:24.691    163,357 bytes   599,171 bytes   00:00:34.701    
2               0:04:52.917     0:04:01.241     30,107 kbps     34,145 kbps     00:08:53.157    32,682 kbps     00:08:49.153    32,332 kbps     00:07:51.512    156,964 bytes   622,096 bytes   00:05:13.146    
3               0:08:54.158     0:04:02.158     30,932 kbps     34,575 kbps     00:11:01.994    32,763 kbps     00:10:50.441    32,545 kbps     00:10:50.441    161,266 bytes   541,256 bytes   00:11:14.965    
4               0:12:56.317     0:07:03.256     31,489 kbps     37,295 kbps     00:19:06.145    33,000 kbps     00:18:27.022    32,682 kbps     00:15:42.691    164,169 bytes   638,360 bytes   00:16:02.670    
5               0:19:59.573     0:13:14.126     31,032 kbps     40,791 kbps     00:24:06.820    34,113 kbps     00:24:38.143    32,556 kbps     00:26:25.041    161,785 bytes   536,439 bytes   00:20:21.762    
6               0:33:13.700     0:08:36.140     31,335 kbps     34,517 kbps     00:41:15.806    32,754 kbps     00:39:55.476    32,503 kbps     00:40:58.247    163,365 bytes   523,487 bytes   00:41:27.026    
7               0:41:49.840     0:10:15.197     30,862 kbps     38,971 kbps     00:52:02.118    32,817 kbps     00:51:26.166    32,531 kbps     00:48:13.807    160,902 bytes   555,066 bytes   00:50:52.924    
8               0:52:05.038     0:07:10.513     30,778 kbps     34,762 kbps     00:55:26.406    32,664 kbps     00:52:54.171    32,428 kbps     00:54:20.966    160,462 bytes   536,736 bytes   00:58:26.044    
9               0:59:15.552     0:03:28.708     31,563 kbps     34,806 kbps     01:02:43.259    32,657 kbps     01:00:41.137    32,426 kbps     01:01:47.704    164,557 bytes   579,607 bytes   01:02:44.260    
10              1:02:44.260     0:12:12.398     30,717 kbps     36,291 kbps     01:08:16.801    32,926 kbps     01:07:07.314    32,483 kbps     01:11:01.757    160,146 bytes   589,973 bytes   01:07:19.285    
11              1:14:56.658     0:08:29.133     31,265 kbps     36,131 kbps     01:21:06.862    32,829 kbps     01:17:00.198    32,516 kbps     01:16:48.729    163,000 bytes   518,620 bytes   01:17:03.201    
12              1:23:25.792     0:05:59.776     24,971 kbps     40,549 kbps     01:29:23.441    33,294 kbps     01:29:19.437    32,337 kbps     01:23:45.145    130,200 bytes   640,376 bytes   01:28:24.090    

STREAM DIAGNOSTICS:

File            PID             Type            Codec           Language                Seconds                 Bitrate                 Bytes           Packets         
----            ---             ----            -----           --------                --------------          --------------          -------------   -----           
00221.M2TS      4113 (0x1011)   0x1B            AVC                                     5365.402                30,622                  20,537,540,272  111,692,013     
00221.M2TS      4352 (0x1100)   0x86            DTS-HD MA       eng (English)           5365.402                4,820                   3,232,563,968   18,404,386      
00221.M2TS      4353 (0x1101)   0x81            AC3             eng (English)           5365.402                320                     214,624,000     1,341,400       
00221.M2TS      4608 (0x1200)   0x90            PGS             eng (English)           5365.402                15                      9,945,334       56,540          
00221.M2TS      4609 (0x1201)   0x90            PGS             eng (English)           5365.402                17                      11,385,946      64,997

[manicsounds]

The filmmakers annotations extra was a great one. A shame it was dropped for the UK