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Info Wanted: Will the 2006 Japanese OUT look better than the 2006 US OUT?

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Originally posted by: SilverWook
So, does the difference between NTSC systems explain why Japanese LD’s often seem to look better than their American counterparts?
I wonder if the OT bonus discs are coming out in Japan…

 
That begs an interesting question, actually. (A question that was originally posed in the X0 Project thread…)

I wonder: Will there actually be a difference in how the discs are mastered for the Japanese market?

Anecdotal evidence:

  • there are always releases of Star Wars for the Japanese market. If anything, Star Wars is probably like 7-11 and Mickey Mouse: made in the USA, but more popular and more widely available in Japan than at “home”

  • there has to be a separate edition for Japan, due to the need for subtitles (and dubbing, at least for the 2004 DVD release).

  • most DVD players these days will output “blacker-than-black” – presumably 0 to 7 IRE

  • the LD masters appear to be the same for the Japanese THX LDs and the US Faces LDs (same dropouts, etc., for example)

  • the Japanese THX LDs look nicer (at least in my opinion) than the US Faces LDs

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Well, if I had to guess, shadow detail might be a bit better, because apparently the Japanese version of NTSC would allow more of the inherent detail on the laserdisk masters in darker areas of Star Wars scenes to be transferred to the DVD's intended to be sold in Japan. Of course, that's assuming there even is a Japanese version, which I have heard no mention of at all so far. A long as they don't burn the Japanese subtitles into the movie (i.e., subtitles can be completely removed from the t.v. screen by an option in the DVD menu), then this could be a useful additional source for preservation purposes.

The Star Wars trilogy. There can be only one.

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Strictly speaking though, the data on the disc isn't NTSC, is it? It's an MPEG video file with a resolution and frame rate that matches NTSC. It's the circuitry in the DVD player that creates the NTSC video signal, so wouldn't the difference in levels be down to that and not a change in the data on the disc?

DE
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Yes DE, Region 1 DVDs use black=16 just like all DVDs worldwide. R1 players add setup/pedestal to the composite & S-Video outputs.
Setup/pedestal isn't stored on the disc (at least it's not supposed to be--Cowclops v2 might be an exception,) and it's not added to the digital SDI or HDMI outputs of an R1 player.
Since they're digital not analog, LFL's D1 or D2 master tapes shouldn't have setup/pedestal on them either. It would have been added while mastering the North American laserdics & tapes.

That said, I suppose the Japanese DVDs still might look better that their Region 1 counterparts for some other reason than setup.

However, in practice you must take into account the “fuckwit factor”. Just talk to Darth Mallwalker…
-Moth3r

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Well, I guess there is going to be a version of the new DVD set sold in Japan. Perhaps it will handle dark scenes a little better. Who's going to be the first to order a set to find out?

The Star Wars trilogy. There can be only one.

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Digital black is set at 16 regardless of the region or format, so the Japanese release will be the same as far as that goes. Wether the Japanese market might get something that is different in other ways (like anamorphic) remains to be seen.