watch futurama dvd on u.s. tv

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I just got my futurama box set from amazon.com.uk today. I must say it is all I hoped it would be. I just got my Daewoo 5800 dvd players from Sams Club last weekend, I recommend it highly. The hack to play pal dvds on a ntsc t.v. is very easy to do. Well worth the $90. Check out   http://*http://www.nerd-out.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=13*  for more info on the dvd player.

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not to be off-topic, but welcome to PEEL, jc1of2! 

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I spin my Futurama DVD's on a Daewoo 5700 I bought at sams a couple of months ago('cause I heard it't such an easy hack).  Very nice DVD player for $99.  After watching a few episodes, let me know if you notice a slight pitch shift in the characters voices.  Some of the voices sound a little higher to me than when I see it on TV.  I especially notice it with Zap and sometimes with Fry, the Professor, and Hermes.  I think it might be due to the onboard PAL/NTSC convertor.  Then again maybe I'm just hearing things.

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That might be because UK TV is 25 frames per second, not 30fps, due to the lower frequency of our electricity (50Hz as opposed to 60Hz)

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Originally posted by bankrupt:
After watching a few episodes, let me know if you notice a slight pitch shift in the characters voices.  Some of the voices sound a little higher to me than when I see it on TV.  I especially notice it with Zap and sometimes with Fry, the Professor, and Hermes.  I think it might be due to the onboard PAL/NTSC convertor.  Then again maybe I'm just hearing things.

Yeah, a few of us (me included) noticed that, I'll dig up thread links later. It's noticeable but not too annoying, the digital sound and crisp picture make up for it!

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True, the pitch shift in the audio is really minor.  Being able to watch the episodes on DVD more than makes up for it.  To properly get rid of it you'd probably have to buy one of the really expensive (thousands of dollars) PAL/NTSC convertors that professional video houses use.

PS: If any of you are interested in code free DVD players and hacks for existing players(to get rid of Macrovision, etc.) check out the forums at www.nerd-out.com.   That's where I found out about the Daewoo DVD players.

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Futurama was originally made at (about) 24 fps (something like 23.997 fps); the PAL dvd's speed was increased to 24 fps then an extra frame was added every 25th frame, a blend of 2 current frames... why some ghosting exists (all this depends on where you look; often the cgi was used at 24 fps just sped up to 25 instead of blending).  But this means they had to make the audio match; long story short the pitch is slightly higher (the difference is about 4-5%)

I notice it with Leela the most; but remember, many of these voices changed a lot.  Most of what is percieved as higher pitch is due loss of quality of broadcast compared to digital, poor speakers, and the amount the voices were changed.

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Fortunately, I already watch teevee on me peecee, so I don't hear any difference.

Unfortunately, I updated the video card drivers online the other day, along with Microsoft's DirectX 8.1--which frinked up my sound card and video programs. Right now, no TV, no PS2, no DVD, no QT, no WMP, no nothin.' Once I get the portable hard drive delivered and can make backups (yes yes yes, I know, bad dog) of everything, I'll have to use the Windows Recovery CD and start from scratch.

Friggin' Microsoft. You don't see Bill Gates' head in a jar for a reason.

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Heh heh... It's funny to see people in the NTSC-part of the world trying to play PAL DVDs... We in the PAL world have played NTSC DVDs since the beginning of time (bought from USA, because the DVDs come much sooner there) and we have already solved all the problems... NTSC discs plays like a dream! no pitch shift or nohin'

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Thanks for the info McGrady!  I guess I don't have to worry about trying to tinker with the DVD any further.

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Originally posted by McGrady:
Futurama was originally made at (about) 24 fps (something like 23.997 fps); the PAL dvd's speed was increased to 24 fps then an extra frame was added every 25th frame, a blend of 2 current frames... why some ghosting exists (all this depends on where you look; often the cgi was used at 24 fps just sped up to 25 instead of blending).  But this means they had to make the audio match; long story short the pitch is slightly higher (the difference is about 4-5%)

Wrong, wrong, wrong. Futurama was made at about 30 fps (actually 29.97 fps) which is the TV framerate in the states. 24 fps is the international cinema framerate, used everywhere. When movies are played on TV in europe, they are sped up by 4%, in america they mix progressive and interlaced frames. The futurama episodes was converted the same way. The episodes on the DVDs are NOT sped up, they added interlaced frames to do the 30 fps -> 25 fps conversion. The "speed up" problems come when you use a cheap DVD player or a PAL->NTSC converter. Again, there's NOTHING wrong with the DVDs!

The best ways to convert the framerates:
Movie -> NTSC : Interlacing
Movie -> PAL : 4% Speed up
NTSC -> PAL : Interlacing
PAL -> NTSC : Interlacing
Some cheap DVD players/converters may speed up instead of interlace.

It is possible to do the 4% speed up without making the audio "pitch shift", and I am shure they do that in Europe. I even found a program on the internet that can speed up or slow down audio files without shifting the pitch.

To avoid framerate conversion problems, people in the NTSC world should use a computer to play the Futurama DVDs.

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Back to the PAL/NTSC convertor again.  To my knowledge there is no inexpensive PAL/NTSC convertors available(ones I saw were at least a grand) so I'll just have to deal.  No big problem though, I'm actually getting used to the shift!