A/V Quality of UK discs vs US

[srinivas1015]

I have been buying BDs from the U.S till now and recently opted to buy a couple of discs from the U.K. I don't know if this is simply a placebo effect but I noticed the dialogue in Wall Street from the U.K to be a little muddy and the picture in The Hangover(U.K) to be a little soft.
Is this simply my imagination or has somebody else also faced this problem? Are the codecs/bitrates etc identical or do certain aspects differ from country to country?
Kindly help me out.

[42041]

No idea about Wall Street, but as far as I know Warner uses the same encodes worldwide.

[Bad Sandwich]

It varies on a case by case basis. If a title is released in multiple territories by a single distributor (e.g. both Fox and Warner distribute most of their titles worldwide) then generally every country's release is going to have the same video/audio encode, with variations in terms of additional audio and subtitle tracks and extra such as BD-Live functionality. If a title is owned/distributed by different companies in different territories, then it depends. Often different distributors will feature different encodes, but often one distributor will just license a transfer from another. In the case of Wall Street and The Hangover, both titles have the same distributor worldwide (Fox and Warner respectively), so the video and (main) audio is the same as the U.S. releases.

The muddy dialogue you hear in Wall Street is likely just due to the film's original '80s sound design, and the softness you notice in The Hangover may just be due to the use of DNR and a mediocre bitrate, which Warner is notorious for.

[Sky_Captain]

The Hangover has two versions crammed onto the one disc, as opposed to seamless branching, so that doesn't help.

[srinivas1015]

Oh ok. Thanks for the replies. I also noticed that there was low voltage in my house when I was playing these movies. Even though the speakers were working, I wonder if the output quality was affected. Also, it was 'wall street money never sleeps'. I also noticed the same with band of brothers.

Since I'm in India shipping from UK is cheaper, but I don't want it to be at the expense of quality.

I have been having this doubt since the discs are authored in a different country. Also, discs are also cheaper in the uk. Have any of you bought the same movie from both countries? Also, I am mostly talking about newly released movies.thanks.

[The Driver]

No difference. You'd need to try 100s of discs on the exact same setups to come up with accurate results.

And those results would all be the same unless there was a disc deffect. The odd release may have different encodes but again it's down to perception and the snowball effect -enough people say there's a difference then it becomes Internet fact.

People imagine (placebo -as you say) all sorts of nonsense. Evidence and opinion are rarely the same thing.

[Philly Q]

With big-studio movies, there's hardly ever much, if any, difference between the UK and US versions. Warner, especially, seem to release the same disc worldwide for most titles.

Sometimes the UK will get the "European" version, so there are different audio dubs and subtitle options, which means they might leave off an extra or two (e.g. the UK BD of The Omen lost two commentaries ). But, as stated above, the main English audio track and video transfer will be the same as the US disc.

Sometimes, I guess because the UK is English-speaking, we'll get exactly the same disc as the US but the rest of Europe will be slightly different. For example, we get the director's cut of Elektra but the rest of Europe get the theatrical cut. Sometimes if I play a region-free disc with my player set to Region A, it shows FBI warning screens, obviously meant for the USA - if I switch to Region B, the FBI warnings don't play.

[srinivas1015]

Thanks for the replies.I' planning to get some bds From amazon.co.uk and was wondering if I should get them from the u.s instead.since all of them are big budget titles, there won't be any differences right? Also, is there any site where I can check the bonus features, specs, etc of the uk bds?

[G@zz@]

Originally Posted by Philly Q

For example, we get the director's cut of Elektra but the rest of Europe get the theatrical cut.

The UK version is the Directors Cut

[Philly Q]

Originally Posted by G@zz@

The UK version is the Directors Cut

Yeah, that's what I meant by "we". Not that there's a massive difference between the theatrical and director's cut anyway.

Originally Posted by srinivas1015

Thanks for the replies.I' planning to get some bds From amazon.co.uk and was wondering if I should get them from the u.s instead.since all of them are big budget titles, there won't be any differences right? Also, is there any site where I can check the bonus features, specs, etc of the uk bds?

I'd get them from wherever the price is right. Personally I like to get US discs if they're cheap, even though I'm in the UK, because the thinner cases take up 2-3mm less shelf space!

For comparisons, try here:

http://www.dvdcompare.net/comparisons/

[G@zz@]

I was getting confused thinking you were referring to the USA version. Its been a long day.