Darn old Downton Abbey

[borninusa]

I am new to the whole Downton Abbey world. I thought I would give it a try so I bought Season 1.

The thing is...and maybe its because it is supposed to be that way....is the video supposed to be a bit jittery? The audio is in synch, but the video is jittery..almost like it is skipping a frame. Normal or no? Its just not smooth flowing video and it bugs me to watch it.

[blu-ray_girl_fan]

That might be the result of the video being encoded in 1080i instead of 1080p.

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Downt.../18792/#Review

[borninusa]

I knew it was 1080i but I didn't know that would occur. I find it very distracting

[akayw0718]

I bought my mom the BD of this set and have never had that problem.

[blu-ray_girl_fan]

Originally Posted by borninusa

I knew it was 1080i but I didn't know that would occur. I find it very distracting

It depends on the hardware that you're using. Sometimes, the TV and the BD player simply don't like each other and refuse to deinterlace.

[MifuneFan]

Could be a player issue with the 1080i, or just a faulty disc. It's definitely not something wrong with everyone's discs or there would be likely be more word of it by now.

[borninusa]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Could be a player issue with the 1080i, or just a faulty disc. It's definitely not something wrong with everyone's discs or there would be likely be more word of it by now.

I have a Sony...550 I think (cant remember).

Basically nothing can be done about it? If its a player issue that is?

[penguin]

You do not specify if you are playing an American release on a UK player or vice versa. This could well cause a problem due to the 50/60 cycles interface. I have no trouble at all with any of the discs, region A or B and very much doubt it is your discs. Try the discs on a player that matches its spec. Better still upgrade your player, the are so cheap these days

[blu-ray_girl_fan]

Originally Posted by borninusa

I have a Sony...550 I think (cant remember).

Basically nothing can be done about it? If its a player issue that is?

Try playing with some of the settings in your player and TV.

Also try playing your discs in another person's set-up. If the jittering persists, then you might have a faulty disc.

[borninusa]

I just figured it out. In the settings on the player, I went into Video Output and changed it from 'auto' to '1080' and there is now no jitters. I don't see why 'auto' wouldn't read the correct video output for the disc, but apparently it didn't. All is well now.

[borninusa]

...btw....Season one...American disc...UK version on my Sony

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by borninusa

I just figured it out. In the settings on the player, I went into Video Output and changed it from 'auto' to '1080' and there is now no jitters. I don't see why 'auto' wouldn't read the correct video output for the disc, but apparently it didn't. All is well now.

Glad you could figure it out

[borninusa]

It was bugging the crap out of me.
I just had a buddy tell me..whether it is true or no....that UK filmed shows have a different frame rate (that true?) and American players don't adjust unless you change the setting to 1080i.
Apparently it worked.
Problem solved life is good

[blu-ray_girl_fan]

Originally Posted by borninusa

It was bugging the crap out of me.
I just had a buddy tell me..whether it is true or no....that UK filmed shows have a different frame rate (that true?) and American players don't adjust unless you change the setting to 1080i.
Apparently it worked.
Problem solved life is good

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1080i

[borninusa]

Originally Posted by blu-ray_girl_fan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1080i

Thanx for the lesson. Always good to 'know a bit more'

[MifuneFan]

[blu-ray_girl_fan]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

[Funcha]

Goddamn that mr. Bates wife. What a *****.

[Nico Darko]

Hey there.
So I want to buy the US Blu-ray sets for seasons 1 & 2 because they have the correct frame rate (25fps), as opposed to the UK sets that have been slowed-down to 24fps. As a result I know the US Blu-rays are 1080/60i but have playback issues, but I read contradicting comments, like in this thread. Can the issue really be resolved by turning the blu-ray player settings to 1080i instead of "auto"? And does it work for season 2 as well?

I'd really like to know before buying them, so if anyone knows, that'd be very helpful.

Also, do you know if the individual seasons are the same as this combo set (or did they fix something for other releases?) https://www.amazon.com/Downton-Abbey...HT4FUW?ie=UTF8

Thank you.

[cherbert]

Originally Posted by Nico Darko

So I want to buy the US Blu-ray sets for seasons 1 & 2 because they have the correct frame rate (25fps), as opposed to the UK sets that have been slowed-down to 24fps.

It seems to be a common misconception that the entire series is 25fps. It's not. I have the UK set and from my investigations comparing the original soundtrack audio with the actual discs I can tell you that S2-S6 are at the correct framerate (S1 is horrible in the UK set as it's slowed down to 24fps and you can instantly tell the music and actor dialogue is off).

During the S2E1 Audio Commentary they make specific mention of a change to better cameras. So it does appear that they switched to 24fps for S2-S4.

Bizarrely they regressed back to 25fps for S5 + A Moorland Holiday and S6 + The Finale. But this isn't a problem in the UK sets as they are presented at 1080i/50 and therefore at the correct framerate. I have seen evidence from one review site that at least the Season 6 Bluray from PBS is in fact 1080i so can we assume S5 is too? I only own S1 US release.

So in summary my belief is that to have the best possible versions of Downton you need the Region A (US Release) of Season One and the Region B (UK Release) of the remainder of the seasons. The UK S1 Bluray is still worth keeping to retain the enjoyable Audio Commentary from Julian Fellows which is not included on the US release.

I have recently purchased the S1 US release myself so as to have the most definitive collection of Downton on Bluray. I have to say it does look stunning even for 1080i and so nice to finally have it at the correct framerate.