Page 1 of Is picture quality worse on Region1 DVDs?

rom reading some of these messages, there seem to be an implication that Region 1 DVDs have a worse picture (as they are not PAL?) Can anyone say more about this? Are they much worse/so bad as to be avoided?

It`s been said before, and I agree, that NTSC (the picture format used in the USA) should stand for Never The Same Colour.
The problem with NTSC is that it doesn`t display colours as sharply as PAL because of its lower line rate.

Serves them right for having such a bad case of not-invented-here syndrome!!

IMHO the picture is definately more grainy but saying that It`s not bad enough to put me off buying them. Region 4 is a better picture though as they use the PAL system.

I have to agree it`s not as bad as people make out, it`s not as good as PAL, but i would still buy them cause you get the films before R2 and better extras (most of the time)!!!

"but i would still buy them cause you get the films before R2"

What, for a short lived novelty value???

The only plus side of NTSC is that it preserves the original running time of the theatrical presentation. But even then, it makes shots such as panning and tracking slightly jerky because of the repeated frames to up it to 30fps.

This item was edited on Thursday, 23rd January 2003, 08:50

Sorry guys, have to beg to differ here.

At no time has my display and dvd shown "less colour and detail" compared to a region 2 counterpart. The only thing that rears its head is the slightly more prominent evidence of jagged lines due to the lower line structure.

It all boils down to how well your tv can handle NTSC. My trusty Tosh does it superbly - watching LOTR is a superbly cinematic experience indeed.

Westy