Can a Region A Blu-ray be 1080i / 25 FPS?

[DarthMarino]

I am interested in buying the Shaun the Sheep Blu-Rays from Hong Kong. Even though websites list them as 1080p I have seen some rip information indicating that it is actually 1080i at 25 FPS. As these were originally made for British television, that would seem to make sense. Is this even possible? Is this something that can be played on any Blu-Ray player in Hong Kong but not here or is it safe to assume it will work for me in the US?

[Hayabusa85]

Unlike Japan and South Korea which are NTSC Hong Kong is indeed a PAL territory. So it is possible to run into a 1080i/50Hz Blu-ray.

[Aniki]

Originally Posted by Hayabusa85

Unlike Japan and South Korea which are NTSC Hong Kong is indeed a PAL territory. So it is possible to run into a 1080i/50Hz Blu-ray.

The OP will need to check that their display can accommodate 50Hz playback.
I believe that most/all displays sold in 50Hz territories will also do 60Hz but displays sold in 60Hz territories won't necessarily do 50Hz.

[DarthMarino]

I believe my display will however I am concerned that my Blu-Ray player won't output it.

[steve_dave]

Originally Posted by Hayabusa85

Unlike Japan and South Korea which are NTSC Hong Kong is indeed a PAL territory. So it is possible to run into a 1080i/50Hz Blu-ray.

I haven't seen any 1080/50hz BD discs in Hong Kong, all have been 1080/60hz. The majority though are 1080p even if they have to be upscaled from 480p sources.

As for these releases, Panorama Entertainment Hong Kong handles distribution and according to their site, these are all 1080p.

[Tech-UK]

Originally Posted by DarthMarino

I believe my display will however I am concerned that my Blu-Ray player won't output it.

What BD player do you have?

[DarthMarino]

Originally Posted by Tech-UK

What BD player do you have?

Just a PS3 as my main player. I know SD special features on some foreign discs don't work. I have another crappy standalone player plus a PC drive but if I'm limited to what players I can use, I'm not sure I want to buy them. It's six volumes and counting so it's going to cost a bit.

[steve_dave]

Originally Posted by DarthMarino

Just a PS3 as my main player. I know SD special features on some foreign discs don't work. I have another crappy standalone player plus a PC drive but if I'm limited to what players I can use, I'm not sure I want to buy them. It's six volumes and counting so it's going to cost a bit.

US PS3s can not output 50hz nor can they do PAL. But like I said, Panorama HK has these listed as 1080p.

[DarthMarino]

Originally Posted by steve_dave

I haven't seen any 1080/50hz BD discs in Hong Kong, all have been 1080/60hz. The majority though are 1080p even if they have to be upscaled from 480p sources.

As for these releases, Panorama Entertainment Hong Kong handles distribution and according to their site, these are all 1080p.

I'm hoping that info is correct but here is the info from what appears to be a Russian torrent site:

DISC INFO:
Disc Title: SHAUN THE SHEEP SERIES 1 DISC1
Disc Size: 23 718 637 462 bytes
Protection: AACS
BD-Java: No
Extras: 50Hz Content
BDInfo: 0.5.8
PLAYLIST REPORT:
Name: 00001.MPLS
Length: 2:20:01.000 (h:m:s.ms)
Size: 23 539 949 568 bytes
Total Bitrate: 22,42 Mbps
VIDEO:
Codec Bitrate Description
----- ------- -----------
MPEG-4 AVC Video 20997 kbps 1080i / 25 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
AUDIO:
Codec Language Bitrate Description
----- -------- ------- -----------
Dolby Digital Audio English 384 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 384 kbps
FILES:
Name Time In Length Size Total Bitrate
---- ------- ------ ---- -------------
00003.M2TS 0:00:00.000 2:20:00.000 23 539 316 736 22 418
00005.M2TS 2:20:00.000 0:00:01.000 632 832 5 063
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 0:07:00.000 22 660 kbps 56 895 kbps 00:04:17.480 35 032 kbps 00:05:17.320 30 690 kbps 00:05:12.560 113 291 bytes 926 740 bytes 00:06:45.760
2 0:07:00.000 0:07:00.000 22 076 kbps 51 124 kbps 00:10:29.720 33 157 kbps 00:08:23.599 32 364 kbps 00:08:19.800 110 378 bytes 929 143 bytes 00:13:44.800
3 0:14:00.000 0:07:00.000 23 647 kbps 43 307 kbps 00:17:20.800 33 428 kbps 00:19:53.680 30 598 kbps 00:19:53.080 118 237 bytes 935 035 bytes 00:20:44.800
4 0:21:00.000 0:07:00.000 18 938 kbps 43 174 kbps 00:23:51.760 34 189 kbps 00:23:26.680 30 582 kbps 00:27:41.560 94 689 bytes 929 106 bytes 00:27:44.800
5 0:28:00.000 0:07:00.000 21 766 kbps 52 367 kbps 00:30:16.040 32 418 kbps 00:34:42.840 30 703 kbps 00:34:41.560 108 830 bytes 934 895 bytes 00:34:44.800
6 0:35:00.000 0:07:00.000 22 667 kbps 49 725 kbps 00:36:27.080 34 981 kbps 00:36:23.360 30 810 kbps 00:35:36.440 113 337 bytes 929 257 bytes 00:41:45.760
7 0:42:00.000 0:07:00.000 23 148 kbps 56 308 kbps 00:46:29.560 33 955 kbps 00:45:24.600 31 150 kbps 00:48:39.960 115 741 bytes 940 778 bytes 00:48:40.960
8 0:49:00.000 0:07:00.000 23 932 kbps 44 246 kbps 00:52:57.680 34 078 kbps 00:50:09.680 30 287 kbps 00:52:53.000 119 661 bytes 901 434 bytes 00:55:54.400
9 0:56:00.000 0:07:00.000 17 793 kbps 55 543 kbps 00:59:11.720 32 253 kbps 01:02:42.840 30 580 kbps 01:02:41.560 88 963 bytes 929 168 bytes 01:02:44.800
10 1:03:00.000 0:07:00.000 24 476 kbps 51 286 kbps 01:05:55.080 34 144 kbps 01:07:03.080 32 110 kbps 01:04:06.040 122 378 bytes 907 277 bytes 01:09:48.640
11 1:10:00.000 0:07:00.000 22 522 kbps 50 577 kbps 01:10:48.479 35 400 kbps 01:12:39.360 30 132 kbps 01:12:37.400 112 609 bytes 916 394 bytes 01:16:44.800
12 1:17:00.000 0:07:00.000 23 277 kbps 45 573 kbps 01:21:10.600 36 268 kbps 01:23:31.360 32 399 kbps 01:23:29.160 116 385 bytes 911 631 bytes 01:23:46.720
13 1:24:00.000 0:07:00.000 18 289 kbps 42 350 kbps 01:30:24.640 32 013 kbps 01:24:36.439 27 908 kbps 01:24:30.360 91 445 bytes 916 263 bytes 01:30:44.800
14 1:31:00.000 0:07:00.000 21 953 kbps 50 101 kbps 01:36:00.720 32 747 kbps 01:34:55.960 29 681 kbps 01:36:32.760 109 767 bytes 916 416 bytes 01:37:45.760
15 1:38:00.000 0:07:00.000 21 727 kbps 43 085 kbps 01:44:06.880 33 533 kbps 01:40:04.920 29 684 kbps 01:39:39.840 108 637 bytes 916 210 bytes 01:44:44.800
16 1:45:00.000 0:07:00.000 19 970 kbps 36 873 kbps 01:50:24.400 28 512 kbps 01:51:50.520 27 203 kbps 01:45:36.480 99 849 bytes 941 209 bytes 01:51:48.640
17 1:52:00.000 0:07:00.000 15 282 kbps 36 310 kbps 01:58:49.240 29 213 kbps 01:52:47.520 26 076 kbps 01:58:47.640 76 412 bytes 941 633 bytes 01:58:43.840
18 1:59:00.000 0:07:00.000 17 923 kbps 43 793 kbps 02:04:44.360 29 959 kbps 02:04:11.520 26 016 kbps 02:05:47.640 89 616 bytes 941 857 bytes 02:05:43.840
19 2:06:00.000 0:07:00.000 18 470 kbps 43 212 kbps 02:07:19.320 32 860 kbps 02:07:17.360 28 488 kbps 02:07:13.760 92 348 bytes 941 862 bytes 02:12:43.840
20 2:13:00.000 0:07:01.000 19 426 kbps 46 411 kbps 02:18:36.320 34 750 kbps 02:18:34.680 27 407 kbps 02:18:32.520 97 141 bytes 941 419 bytes 02:19:42.879
STREAM DIAGNOSTICS:
File PID Type Codec Language Seconds Bitrate Bytes Packets
---- --- ---- ----- -------- -------------- -------------- ------------- -----
00003.M2TS 4113 (0x1011) 0x1B AVC 8399,840 21 000 22 049 411 491 119 956 669
00003.M2TS 4352 (0x1100) 0x81 AC3 eng (English) 8399,840 384 403 201 536 2 362 509
00005.M2TS 4113 (0x1011) 0x1B AVC 0,840 144 15 090 97
00005.M2TS 4352 (0x1100) 0x81 AC3 eng (English) 0,840 4 579 480 768 2 817

[steve_dave]

The back of Season/Series 4:



And the German releases are confirmed to be 1080p/24f with DTS-HD MA Audio. The only caveat is a truncated title sequence. You might be better off getting the German release if you really want to be sure about playback.

[DarthMarino]

How many episodes total are the German discs? The HK versions cover the first 120 out of 130 total.

[steve_dave]

Originally Posted by DarthMarino

How many episodes total are the German discs? The HK versions cover the first 120 out of 130 total.

Looks like Germany got all episodes of Season 2/Series 2 and the first 20 episodes of Season 3/Series 3.

So 60 episodes.

[Thomas Irwin]

Originally Posted by DarthMarino

I am interested in buying the Shaun the Sheep Blu-Rays from Hong Kong. Even though websites list them as 1080p I have seen some rip information indicating that it is actually 1080i at 25 FPS. As these were originally made for British television, that would seem to make sense. Is this even possible? Is this something that can be played on any Blu-Ray player in Hong Kong but not here or is it safe to assume it will work for me in the US?

The Panorama release of Bedways appears to be one such disc, the same resolution as the German release apparently. I own both and neither would play on my Panasonic player, stating "Mode not supported". I tested the German version on a Seiki player I bought recently with no issues. I haven't tried the Hong Kong version yet, but expect I would get the same results.

[DarthMarino]

I have confirmed with another member that these are indeed 1080i/25fps and don't work on a US PS3.

[steve_dave]

Originally Posted by DarthMarino

I have confirmed with another member that these are indeed 1080i/25fps and don't work on a US PS3.

Dang that is too bad. Well, at least the German release is 1080p/24f but not all the episodes.