25fps on a US TV? (1 Viewer)

[Bartman]

I'm considering buying "Edge Of Darkness" & "The Day Of The Triffids (1985)" BBC TV serials on Blu-ray. I already have the PAL DVDs. The Blu-rays are derived from 16mm 25fps film. How will they look on my LG B8 120Hz TV fed from my Seiki SR4KP1 Blu-ray player, will there be judder or other anomalies? Thanks in advance.

 

[JohnRice]

I didn't think there was any film based system that shot at 25 fps. I thought that was only for stuff originating on video.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I didn't think there was any film based system that shot at 25 fps. I thought that was only for stuff originating on video.

 

[Bartman]

For The Day Of The Triffids (1981), exterior shots were mostly 16mm & some 35mm shot at 25fps to maintain compatibility with UK PAL TV system (625i/50). Interior shots were video at 625/50i. At the time, video equipment was too bulky to use on location.

 

[David Norman]

I actually thought most recent LG sets could handle 25fps directly if your player could output the signal directly which I think the Seiki is capable of source direct, but that spec is often hidden (seemingly intentionally) to the point of nearly impossible to find.

In general I find displays/players handle BD 24/25 much better than DVD PAL conversions and sometimes it's barely noticeable at all. The source quality often is far more of an issue than the conversion.

 

[Bartman]

My only other point of reference is the Quatermass TV series (1979) on my Network UK Blu-ray that was originally shot on 35mm (presumably at 25fps for easy PAL telecine conversion) and looks superb on my US TV. So your previous comments make sense and I may be over thinking this issue!

 

[aPhil]

I actually thought most recent LG sets could handle 25fps directly if your player could output the signal directly which I think the Seiki is capable of source direct, but that spec is often hidden (seemingly intentionally) to the point of nearly impossible to find.

I can't speak for LG televisions, but I don't think any TV made for the USA can do the conversion to 25fps --
I think that is Blu-ray or DVD player specific.

It is my experience that any Blu-ray player can play 25fps, but you must have a Blu-ray player that does the conversion for a USA television.

Most LG Blu-ray players and many (if not most) Samsung Blu-ray players will do the conversion from 25fps to play on your USA TV.

Most Sony and Panasonic player will not do the conversion.

There was (maybe still is) a long (and long ago) thread about this on one of the other forum sites. It has been so long that I don't remember which site.

My personal Sony player will not do the conversion, but sometimes the title or menu page comes up as it is not 25fps.

My personal Samsung player does the conversion perfectly.

My personal 4K LG player does the conversion but if I want to eliminate any flicker with a 25fps disc, then I must go to the settings on the player and take it out of Auto and put the player into 1080i --
In the Auto mode on the LG player, the image will have a bothersome flicker, but is fine when set to 1080i output only.

 

[David Norman]

Older Sony and PS3 players will not even play 25fps (I guess it's technically 50i on the disc) -- PS4 forward and Sony 4K players will. Most Panasonics will play 50I discs, but only some will convert so you need a TV that can handle 50i.
I guess most players actually convert the signal to 60i and not 24p

Virttually every Samsung/LG player can at least convert and I though most of them allowed direct output.

Oppo can be set to convert or source direct. I've got 3 TVs that handle the Source Direct fine so either they're playing 60i directly or doing own conversion. I have tried several UK TV sets source direct or converted to US Std and honestly can't tell much difference.

 

[Bartman]

My Seiki all region Blu-ray player and LG TV played the Quatermass set superbly, so I believe I'm all set. Thanks everyone!

 

[David Norman]

Quatermass TV set may be 1080/24 though. I can't find a back cover but the dvdcompare review and a couple other places I found suggest it;s 1080p. It was also mostly 35mm so should look substantially better than 16mm sourced items.

I'm not sure if there are any extras sicne those might well be 50i

 

[James Luckard]

I didn't think there was any film based system that shot at 25 fps. I thought that was only for stuff originating on video.

All British/European television has always been shot at 25fps, both in the film era, and in the digital era, where it's 1080i/50.

This is why I always try to get British editions of British shows, which are usually at the native framerate.

Some British shows are slowed down for UK BD, however, so they can create 24fps masters that can be used worldwide (Life on Mars, The Lost Prince, Pride & Prejudice, etc).

Also, US releases of British shows are slowed down to 24fps (US BD of Wallander S2, Prime Suspect, and I believe Downton Abbey, Poirot and Sherlock, etc) Sometimes these slowed-down US editions are the only BDs in the world, so I break down and buy them (The Bletchley Circle, Dancing on the Edge).

 

[James Luckard]

I recently watched the UK BD of Edge of Darkness on my LG CX, using my secondary region-free Orei player, and it looked perfectly fine. Even though it was only shot on 16mm, the BD was an ENORMOUS improvement over the DVD.

Here are some comparison screencaps I posted:

Blu-ray Forum - View Single Post - Edge of Darkness (BBC, 1985) - 4th November, 2019

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forum.blu-ray.com

yes, the remaster is slightly pinker, but the increase in detail is AMAZING and more than makes up for it.

I have loads of UK/European BDs that are 1080i/50 25fps and have never noticed a problem, you just need a TV and player capable of handling the signal, not all US equipment can handle 1080i/50 25fps signals.

 

[Lord Dalek]

All British/European television has always been shot at 25fps, both in the film era, and in the digital era, where it's 1080i/50.

The 60s ITC shows and Rigg/Thorson Avengers were shot at 24fps.

 

[James Luckard]

The 60s ITC shows and Rigg/Thorson Avengers were shot at 24fps.

There's an exception to every rule.

My point was that 99.99999% (yes, I'm exaggerating, but only very slightly) of European television has always been shot at 25fps, which usually shocks people, who think 24fps is the only possible framerate for filming.