Quick question...

[RedIsNotBlue]

The other day I viewed the first Region B Blu-ray for the first time ever. It seemed...off. Like it was sped up a little bit...is this common with Region B releases?

[Blu_Ray_UK2007]

No.

[RedIsNotBlue]

Originally Posted by Blu_Ray_UK2007

No.

Well I saw things like this online which made me wonder...

Effects of the 4% Speedup
The most obvious effect of this 4% speedup is that the film runs for 4% less time. Take as an example the recent movie The Mask of Zorro. The theatrical running time for this movie was 136 minutes according to the Internet Movie Database. The running time of this movie on Region 4 DVD is 132 minutes, 4% less.

A less obvious effect of this 4% speedup is that the audio for the film is both 4% faster and 4% higher in pitch. In musical terms, this equates to a rise in pitch of a little under one semitone.

Another less obvious effect of this 4% speedup is that the on-screen action occurs 4% faster.

For the majority of us, this 4% speedup is of no consequence, and is something that we are blissfully unaware of. For a small minority of movie and music buffs, the 4% speedup is objectionable.

[Busara]

I believe the famous 4% pal-speedup that you mentioned should never occur with proper Blu-ray releases, RedIsNotBlue. It should only (and very unfortunately) happen with DVD releases that are in the European PAL format.

It's one of the reasons I love the Blu-ray format. Besides the obviously improved video and audio quality, anyone used to have been playing PAL media (such as probably most people in Europe) can finally enjoy the proper 'speed' of the content too. I thus can't wait for that upcoming A.I. release on Blu-ray: Haley Joel Osment always sounded too high-pitched on my DVD copy.

If you seriously experience the 4% speedup with your Blu-ray (you'll indeed notice it soon enough with the feature runtime and the 'off' sound), it's probably a very quick and dirty release, where PAL version media was just simply copied to a Blu-ray disc?

[ulri4651]

what was the movie?

[Wilfredo]

I have a lot of region B Blu-ray, no problem with any of them.