Friends: The Complete Series (1994-2004)

[MrHT]

Originally Posted by OMMF

TBS speeds the hell out of most of their intros and credits.

I don't hear anything odd about the sound. It sounds ok to me. It's probably all in your head. I doubt TV stations would speed up their intros. I mean, what's the purpose?

[that1guystudios]

Originally Posted by MrHT

I don't hear anything odd about the sound. It sounds ok to me. It's probably all in your head. I doubt TV stations would speed up their intros. I mean, what's the purpose?

They speed up the entire episode by 1-3%. that way they can fit more of the episode into the time allotted without having to cut so much material. It's a fairly standard practice in syndication. As someone who takes music very seriously, I hate hearing the theme song at a higher pitch...it drives me crazy!

[cinemaphile]

Originally Posted by MrHT

Hold the phone!!! I know someone here said a similar comment and when I got offended, everyone shot at me because people were like, "It's his opinion. Get over it." Now when dotbalm states his opinion about preferring Batman over Friends, people all of a sudden flip out. Is this a one way street?? If people are allowed to state their opinion and their preferences of one show over another, then let it be.

1) Who "flipped out"? Surely you aren't talking about my little response

2) I never attacked his preference of shows. I simply poked fun at his reasoning, saying Batman is no less "lightweight" than Friends.

[Scorch]

Regarding the "sped up sound" .. the source is from TNT Germany, so it's PAL, not NTSC.. PAL is a different framerate from NTSC (29.97 NTSC vs 25 PAL).. Faster framerate = sped up audio (by about 4 or 5%)

[BluRyan]

Originally Posted by Scorch

Regarding the "sped up sound" .. the source is from TNT Germany, so it's PAL, not NTSC.. PAL is a different framerate from NTSC (29.97 NTSC vs 25 PAL).. Faster framerate = sped up audio (by about 4 or 5%)

That makes sense but isn't it different now with HD? Or is it just Blu-ray? Sorry, I'm sure I sound like a complete idiot but I was under the assumption that 720p, 1080i and 1080p HD were all a universal frame rate, like Blu-rays in the UK are the same length as the US DVD's and Blu-ray's because they're at 24fps, like they should be, but the UK DVD's are 4% faster. Or am I wrong, but yeah, you're right, the whole PAL speed-up thing is a pet peeve of mine!

EDIT: Sorry, not universal frame rate, but the advent of HD means they don't need to speed up or slow down things anymore, because they can have 24fps, 50i, 60i etc which can all conform to whatever frame rate it was shot at in the first place and therefore it will be at the intended speed.

[Dave_6]

The HD footage and screens look GREAT IMO. I really hope there is an announcement for this soon!

[mayorofsmpleton]

Originally Posted by gregmasciola

I was talking about other people (amazon.com reviewers) saying the acting was bad.

I know bud, sorry I wasn't clear in my comment -- I was agreeing with you on how ridiculous a comment that was.

[mayorofsmpleton]

Originally Posted by MrHT

I don't hear anything odd about the sound. It sounds ok to me. It's probably all in your head. I doubt TV stations would speed up their intros. I mean, what's the purpose?

You're joking right? The purpose? The same reason they cut 1-2 minutes when something is syndicated. To squeeze in more commercials. The companies whose commercials run on TBS pay TBS to air said ads... so it's in TBS's best financial interest to maximize how many of these can air in each time-slot.

They are a business, so they're not above sacrificing the integrity of what they air in order to maximize profits. I recall watching THE TERMINATOR on TBS and it was noticeably sped up -- the movements of the image were sped-up, the audio, everything. I couldn't believe it. I've seen the movie at least a dozen times and I noticed it almost immediately. I recorded the rest of the movie and compared it to my DVD and it was definitely sped up.

They do this with plenty of content.

[gregmasciola]

Originally Posted by mayorofsmpleton

I know bud, sorry I wasn't clear in my comment -- I was agreeing with you on how ridiculous a comment that was.

That's cool. I just wanted to be sure.

[gregmasciola]

Originally Posted by mayorofsmpleton

You're joking right? The purpose? The same reason they cut 1-2 minutes when something is syndicated. To squeeze in more commercials. The companies whose commercials run on TBS pay TBS to air said ads... so it's in TBS's best financial interest to maximize how many of these can air in each time-slot.

They are a business, so they're not above sacrificing the integrity of what they air in order to maximize profits. I recall watching THE TERMINATOR on TBS and it was noticeably sped up -- the movements of the image were sped-up, the audio, everything. I couldn't believe it. I've seen the movie at least a dozen times and I noticed it almost immediately. I recorded the rest of the movie and compared it to my DVD and it was definitely sped up.

They do this with plenty of content.

That's why i cannot watch movies broadcast on TV anymore. They're either sped up that it's just too distracting or they're just too chopped up for the commercials. I don't even mind them cutting some stuff out of the movies, but they pick the worst times to cut to commercials (like when someone's in the middle of a sentence).

[Scorch]

Originally Posted by BluRyan

That makes sense but isn't it different now with HD? Or is it just Blu-ray? Sorry, I'm sure I sound like a complete idiot but I was under the assumption that 720p, 1080i and 1080p HD were all a universal frame rate, like Blu-rays in the UK are the same length as the US DVD's and Blu-ray's because they're at 24fps, like they should be, but the UK DVD's are 4% faster. Or am I wrong, but yeah, you're right, the whole PAL speed-up thing is a pet peeve of mine!

EDIT: Sorry, not universal frame rate, but the advent of HD means they don't need to speed up or slow down things anymore, because they can have 24fps, 50i, 60i etc which can all conform to whatever frame rate it was shot at in the first place and therefore it will be at the intended speed.

I'm not a big enough tech nerd to answer your question, sorry I was just throwing my theory out there! I figured that since it was a tv pal source, it'd be 25fps.

[Ugly Pig]

Originally Posted by BluRyan

That makes sense but isn't it different now with HD? Or is it just Blu-ray? Sorry, I'm sure I sound like a complete idiot but I was under the assumption that 720p, 1080i and 1080p HD were all a universal frame rate, like Blu-rays in the UK are the same length as the US DVD's and Blu-ray's because they're at 24fps, like they should be, but the UK DVD's are 4% faster.

This is true. But my guess is, TV masters used in PAL territories still need to be 25 fps because there's also a non-HD version of the broadcast... That's my guess anyway.

[ilikemytoys]

I'd purchased the complete series on DVD from Amazon when the price dropped under a $100. I see no real benefit to a blu-ray purchase of a half-hour sitcom unless you don't already have it or have money burning a whole in your pocket. It is full of laughs, though and worth multiple viewings.

[bBop87]

Bought the DVD box set a couple of years ago but have downloaded the first 3 seasons in hd, makes a huge difference and would definitely buy the complete series on bluray, hate old tv shows that are fullscreen on my widescreen tv, the hd broadcasts look amazing so one can only imagine what they would look like on bluray

[binarymelon]

Originally Posted by ilikemytoys

I'd purchased the complete series on DVD from Amazon when the price dropped under a $100. I see no real benefit to a blu-ray purchase of a half-hour sitcom unless you don't already have it or have money burning a whole in your pocket. It is full of laughs, though and worth multiple viewings.

Well this is a blu-ray forum, so I'm assuming you at least have some blu-rays. So you don't see the point in viewing 80+ hours of television in HD, but a 2-3 hour film warrants the picture upgrade?

[MrHT]

Originally Posted by ilikemytoys

I'd purchased the complete series on DVD from Amazon when the price dropped under a $100. I see no real benefit to a blu-ray purchase of a half-hour sitcom unless you don't already have it or have money burning a whole in your pocket. It is full of laughs, though and worth multiple viewings.

Um, you do realize you get to see a clearer picture, meaning you'll clearly see if Jennifer Aniston is wearing a bra or not. On the DVD, it's kinda fuzzy so it's hard to tell.

[UUUUGGGGHHHH]

Originally Posted by MrHT

I don't hear anything odd about the sound. It sounds ok to me. It's probably all in your head. I doubt TV stations would speed up their intros. I mean, what's the purpose?

If you don't hear anything odd about the sound, get your ears checked, bud.

[MrHT]

Originally Posted by UUUUGGGGHHHH

If you don't hear anything odd about the sound, get your ears checked, bud.

Not sure why TBS would speed up the episodes. These episodes are only 21 minutes in length, leaving 9 minutes for commercials. How much more commercial time do these stations need? Greedy greedy advertisers!! I'm so glad I buy everything I watch rather than paying monthly cable to watch sped up shows and 10+ minutes of commercials during a half hour time period. Ridiculous!

[phatrat1982]

Originally Posted by MrHT

Not sure why TBS would speed up the episodes. These episodes are only 21 minutes in length, leaving 9 minutes for commercials. How much more commercial time do these stations need? Greedy greedy advertisers!! I'm so glad I buy everything I watch rather than paying monthly cable to watch sped up shows and 10+ minutes of commercials during a half hour time period. Ridiculous!

Sorry just pointing out the flaws in your statement because it bugs me. You said how many commercials do stations need then call the advertisers greedy? First TBS has to PAY in order to show Friends so in order to make money they do have to sell ads to as many advertisers as possible. Second off all, greedy? Um they are in the business to make money so nothing bothers me more than anyone calling anyone else greedy, every human on the planet is selfish and greedy to some degree so that always bothers me.

Now that I got that out of the way, I do agree entirely I hate watching tv shows on tv not just because of commercials, which I honestly don't mind too much with sitcoms cuz it's nice to take a break and some times commercials are informative and in rare cases can be as funny as the show. My problem with watching TV is I hate being on a schedule and I like watching shows in mini marathons so I hate getting back to back and then wait till tomorrow.

Oh and I wish Friends would hurry the hell up and get out on Blu Ray already, not just for me, and of course my sister who will probably make this her third blu ray purchase, but also because the sooner this gets out and makes boat loads of money the sooner shows I want will be out and I can start replacing crappy SD with good HD versions of my favorite shows.


And +1 for the Jennifer Aniston comment too.

[gregmasciola]

Originally Posted by MrHT

Not sure why TBS would speed up the episodes. These episodes are only 21 minutes in length, leaving 9 minutes for commercials. How much more commercial time do these stations need? Greedy greedy advertisers!! I'm so glad I buy everything I watch rather than paying monthly cable to watch sped up shows and 10+ minutes of commercials during a half hour time period. Ridiculous!

I always tell people that eventually we'll say I'm going to watch some commercials so I can see the TV breaks.