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Hi,
Does anyone know the differences between the PAL version of Lexx on DVD to the american/canadian NTSC versions??
It’s just that http://www.cd-wow.com have started selling ntsc versions of lexx DVD’s for £10.99 including postage – depending on differences between versions I am tempted to buy them NTSC and get an adaptor for my ps2 so I can watch NTSC DVD’s.Cheers
Apparently the difference also refers to the players, not just the DVDs. A PAL disc supposedly will not work in an NTSC player, and vice versa. I have heard that some DVD players will play both types of DVDs though.
Yeah to play NTSC I need to buy a Region X card for my playstation 2 which i play DVD’s on. You can buy multi region dvd players however.
I was more interested to find our if the extra features were different, or even if the they had different versions of the episodes on the dvd’s (as I know some scenes were cut from american veriosn of lexx)The American versions are definitely uncut, but I really don’t have any idea whether there is any difference in content on the DVDs. Just goes to show how silly censorship is in the States… You can’t show naked breasts on TV, but you can show someone getting their head cut off… go figure…
aleck is better at explaining this than i am…pal and ntsc refer to video formats, and yes you can buy recorders that play both…dvd’s are encoded for regions; region 1 being us and canada (i think
), region 2 being europe, and so forth…i have been looking for dvd players for both, but right now what seems to be available are software patches to make the players adaptable to the other regions…these software patches invalidate any warranty you may have on the player though…as far as dvd content; the uncut episodes are the same, it’s the ‘extras’ that are different; interviews, behind the scenes stuff, trivia quizzes, actor bios and so forth…the biggest difference i can tell thus far is that the europeans get their stuff earlier, because america has the whole ‘sell into syndication ‘ thing going, and releasing dvds would kill profits from reruns (theoretically)…aleck, honey, feel free to jump in any time now 
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Originally posted by FX:
aleck, honey, feel free to jump in any time now
Head first, sweetie.
FX is right. NTSC and PAL refer to video signals that are sent out via video decks and the like. PAL, I believe, transmits video signals at 25 frames per second (as opposed to NTSC’s 24 fps) and at a slightly higher resolution than NTSC, and is the standard video format of Europe while NTSC is the domain of North (possibly South?) America. That’s the first regional barrier.
The second, regional encoding, is a fairly voluntary thing that I don’t quite get the logistics of, since it seems to be intentionally limiting competition, which is why there’s a movement in Australia, I think, calling for the end of Region Coding. Basically what it means is this: players sold in specific territories (US — Region 1, UK — Region 2, etc.) are generally programmed to only play discs that are encoded *for* that territory, or that do not have regional encoding at all. This was, allegedly, set up to limit cross-border sales of product that is only licensed to be sold in one region. For instance, Anchor Bay can lease the rights to and release Lucio Fulci’s Zombie in the US without fearing competition from Vipco in the UK who might release their own version. Also, the company that owns the rights to the film can make more money by leasing to both territories knowing that neither market will be watered down with imports (creating a demand). Because of this, some licensors will demand that DVDs of their product be regionally encoded. If this demand isn’t made, and depending on the internal policies of the video label, a label can simply opt *not* to regionally encode the discs at all (commonly referred to as Region 0 discs).
Now, even if the discs in question aren’t regionally encoded, you *still* have to know if you can play either NTSC or PAL. Because while Region 0 discs can be played in *any* DVD player, the signal put out from the disc is in either one of these two formats. You must know if your player has a built-in signal converter or if your TV can decode either signal. Otherwise, you’ll be able to hear everything fine, but you won’t be able to see it.
Also, for those of you in the States, as far as I know, there is only one multi-region DVD player that can accurately reproduce 16×9 Anamorphically-enhanced discs (widescreen presentations enhanced for widescreen TVs), and that’s the Malata. However, it has problems of its own that make it less than desirable.Now that that’s out of the way, the differences between the US and UK versions of LEXX are in the supplements only. The versions contained on the discs are the uncut international broadcast versions of the episodes. The supplements that may overlap are “making of” segments and “Rated LEXX” segments, as those were produced by and provided by Salter, but the other supplements were either created in-house by each respective company, or created with the assistance of Salter, and are unique to each company’s release.
–Aleck
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which is why there’s a movement in Australia, I think, calling for the end of Region Coding.
Indeed. http://www.dvdcentre.co.uk/codechal.htm
“The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is challenging the regional coding system used on DVD movie titles. The ACCC says major Hollywood studios have collaborated with the manufacturers of DVD players to prevent discs meant for the US, Europe or Asia from working in Australian machines.
The commission has asked the Australian subsidiaries of US film companies to explain their actions in what could lead to the world’s first legal challenge to the regional coding system, which has been in place since DVD was first released in 1996.
The number of DVD titles available in Australia (region 4) is much less than the number available in the United States (region 1). At the moment there are around 10,000 region 1 DVDs but less than 1,000 region 4 titles.
Although unsure whether ACCC action could realistically force Hollywood to scrap the system, an Australian Consumers Association spokesman said that it was feasible that a court could order that all DVD players sold in Australia have multi-region capability”
For further info (and a different emphasis), see
http://www.zdnet.com.au/newstech/security/story/0,2000024985,20263366,00.htm[ 23-05-2002: Message edited by: bonnee ]
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Originally posted by jkd112:
Just goes to show how silly censorship is in the States… You can’t show naked breasts on TV, but you can show someone getting their head cut off… go figure…
OK, I know that this is a bit of a pointless point, but there is no censorship of cable TV in the US. Each channel pretty much decides for itself what is acceptable, there are plenty of bare breasts shown on “Wild ON” for example. The absurd behavior of US SCIFi channel is due to their own fear that someone in Idaho will start a morality campaign against them if a nipple is shown during Lexx.
Indeed, there is a lot of nudity on the cable public access channels in NYC (at least when I lived there). The silly aspects that you are talking about are the result of MARKET forces such as advertising and whether cable distributers will agree to carry a channel. The thing that gets my goat is that we pay extra for cable, and one would think that they would not then slavishly bow to advertisers etc. but apparantly that is not the case!Thanks for all the advice, I think I will finish off my season 2 collection in PAL as there are a different number of episodes on the UK release to the american release, then buy the cheaper NTSC version for season 3 as even shelling out for the region x for my ps2 (which allows all regions to be played) @ £19.99 the discs will be cheaper all in all.
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Originally posted by lizard:
OK, I know that this is a bit of a pointless point, but there is no censorship of cable TV in the US. Each channel pretty much decides for itself what is acceptable, there are plenty of bare breasts shown on “Wild ON” for example. The absurd behavior of US SCIFi channel is due to their own fear that someone in Idaho will start a morality campaign against them if a nipple is shown during Lexx.
Absolutely right. The FCC, which is the US governmental agencey that sets the standard for what is “acceptable” and “unacceptable” to be depicted or spoken of on TV or radio, only has power over *broadcast* media. That is any transmission that takes place over the airwaves rather than cable or satellite transmissions. What cable channels acquiesce to are the demands of advertisers. While the FCC can monitor what goes on on the networks, cable channels (such as MTV, SciFi, Comedy Central, etc.) are free to do whatever they choose as long as they don’t face losing advertisers. What advertisers are afraid of is bad press and organized boycotts, and cable channels are afraid of losing their monetary input, so they essentially set up their own standards of what is acceptable. This is why a recent episode of South Park featured the word “sh!t” something like 217 times. The sponsors allowed to let it slide, knowing that something like this was probably one of the least of South Park‘s offenses.
–Aleck
There are some DVD players that theoretically can play DVDs of any type, and send a recordable signal to VCRs. If my memory is functioning properly (not always the case!) I believe the technology is OmniVision. The players are expensive, though, $400-$600 each.
I agree that there is a lot of bull**** censorship on US TV, at least when it comes to sex and the use of “dirty” words. Violence, however, is another matter! I’ve had friends from Europe who see TV here and can’t believe how violent the shows are, but how uptight they are as far as nudity goes. Perhaps our priorities could use a LITTLE adjustment.
Hey, they just edited the “****” out of my post!Ahh… censorship in action.
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Originally posted by :
Hey, they just edited the “****” out of my post!
I beleive it is an automatic function of the board software.
Thanks, frey. I thought that might be the case, but noticed the reply just above mine got “****” through unedited. I’m not bitching,, I just thought it was funny that I got censored writing about censorship.
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