US TV show pitch speedup from 1080i/60 (recorded) to 1080p/50 broadcast?

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lchiu7

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# 209082 11-Mar-2017 20:16

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I have been wanting to write about this a while but I thought the number of sympathetic ears would be low :-)

In the old days of NTSC and PAL TV we had to put up with a 4% speedup from film or US TV shows. One had hoped that would have gone away with HDTV but alas no.

One glaring example is Big Bang Theory. From what I can find it's captured in 1080i/60 but we get a converted version at 50Hz which still is sped-up by 4%. This is particularly noticeable on the opening song credits and Sheldon's voice if you compare broadcast with BluRay (or a torrent version :-) )

In the old days I found this speedup so annoying I would rarely buy PAL DVD's but always imported NTSC ones from Amazon.

I am wondering now with the growth of streaming TV where this framerate is not so important do Lightbox or Neon still stream the 50Hz version of the 60Hz version? I vaguely remember when Lightbox was out in trial and I checked it out the speeds were still fast but that was a couple of years ago now.

Now while local broadcasters say they are screening show the day after the US premiere, I still prefer to view my shows from other sources :-)

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Behodar

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# 1735059 11-Mar-2017 21:50

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I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't rely on anyone doing it properly. I've seen stuff on Netflix in the wrong aspect ratio, I have Blu-rays at the wrong frame rate (both ways; one has PAL speedup applied on a movie that should be at 24, and I also have one that should be 25 which has incorrectly been slowed to 24!).

I mentioned in the "something that annoys you" thread the other day that one streaming service has cropped 48% of the picture from an older TV show. I've also seen 2.39:1 movies needlessly cropped down to 1.78:1, among other things. I've seen "original Japanese version" anime with accurate Japanese audio, but with the Japanese text in the video "scrubbed out" and replaced with English.

I can't speak for Lightbox or Neon, but when I see services like Netflix and distributors like Fox and Warner Bros screwing up global releases then I don't have much hope for the local companies.

lchiu7

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# 1736106 13-Mar-2017 22:01

Well based on the lack of responses to my post, I suspect most GZ'er don't care about pitch changes or are tone deaf :-) I guess I am suffering from the problem of having a pretty ear for pitch and not being able to put up with it.

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Masterpiece

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# 1736486 14-Mar-2017 19:47

I use DVD's and players that output at 24hz, apart from the old PAL collection.

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openmedia

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# 1736833 15-Mar-2017 12:55

I have to agree the speed up of US shows continues to annoy me. Any UHD broadcast standard has to allow for FPS switching or a common frame rate to remove this issue.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC a Technology Evangelist and Product Manager. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

lchiu7

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# 1739985 15-Mar-2017 19:32

When they do a live feed from the US (say the recent Superbowl) that must be frame and pitch corrected somewhere or perhaps the host broadcaster is doing a frame rate conversion before sending the feed internationally.

I recall reading an article about the 2012 Olympics and NBC's coverage. They had to take the primary feed from OBS (which was the BBC) and of course added their own stuff. But for the OBS feed which would have been 1080/50 the article said they fed the signal to NBC in the New York where they did a framerate conversion to 1080/60 and presumably pitch correction prior to broadcast.

Here is a link to the article where the equipment used is described. Not sure if they do the framerate conversion because US TV's typically don't display 50Hz or for some other reason.

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JimmyH

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# 1739991 15-Mar-2017 19:41

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I wish that they would just transmit the material in the framerate at which it was originally produced.

I wouldn't imagine that there are many TVs not that can't copy with both 50 and 60 FPS, and those few that can't are probably older models hooked to a STB that can do the conversion (albeit probably badly).

Even the old CRT with analog connections that I had 15+ years ago could cope with both PAL and NTSC input.

ilovemusic

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# 1740377 16-Mar-2017 15:23

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who broadcasts in 1080p ?