This just in. Universal Home Video just contacted me regarding The Meaning of Life interlacing problems I mentioned in a previous entry. Despite the backhanded swipe at my Malata, the news appears promising. I quote: With the advent of cutting-edge technology in the DVD format, a small number of DVD players do not have the technical capability to take full advantage of the “Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life” disc format. Universal Studios Home Video has become aware of a player specific issue which results in the appearance of jagged video interlacing, on disc 1 only. Disc 2 is NOT affected.
Consumers with an incompatible player may mail back Disc 1 to Universal and receive a replacement. To obtain a pre-paid USPS envelope in which to mail back the original Disc 1, please call 1-800-433-4673. Replacement discs are currently scheduled to be available mid-November 2003. We appreciate your patronage and hope you continue to enjoy our products.
Sincerely,
Universal Studios Home Video
“Do not have the technical capability.” Piffle! If anything, it’s Universal who are lacking, especially considering their recall for the recent Back to the Future box set and their unexplained cancellation of Duel. But I don’t want to pick any fights, since they’re already offering to correct the problem. [4:01 PM]Consumers with an incompatible player may mail back Disc 1 to Universal and receive a replacement. To obtain a pre-paid USPS envelope in which to mail back the original Disc 1, please call 1-800-433-4673. Replacement discs are currently scheduled to be available mid-November 2003. We appreciate your patronage and hope you continue to enjoy our products.
Sincerely,
Universal Studios Home Video
Update: I did a Google newsgroup search for more information, and I came across this explanation from “Steve” (aka Jazz Hunter at Jazz Collector.org). It has lots of numbers and technical terms, so it must be accurate:
“The encode was done with incorrect field order. The source AVI or video stream was lower field first, the render upper first, the result is that after the pulldown flags are added frames 4 and 5 are reversed, either causing interlacing or jerky playback depending upon the player. This is for 30fps, I’m betting that those using 24 FPS progressive playback won’t see a problem because there is no interlacing or pulldown flags for 29.97 recovery. It’s a very bad disc with an inexcusable error.”
Could this mean the problem is exaggerated by my Malata since it’s a progressive player hooked up to an interlace TV?
For the record, I’ve tested disc one on my Malata DVP-520 with poor results. My WinDVD software player with equally bad if not worse results. And my portable Panasonic DVD-LV55. The portable player is an interlacing model, and the problem was not as noticeable — until I started going frame by frame.
I just remembered I should try disc one on my PlayStation too. I’ll do that when I get home. [5:12 PM]
Update update: Well I tried Meaning of Life on my PlayStation and it looked poor on that as well, both while stepping through frames and during regular playback. I also tried disc one on a Samsung DVD-M301, but this time it played perfectly! No evidence of interlacing during normal playback, nor even going frame by frame.
Another newsgroup poster might have an explanation why the problem suddenly vanishes on the Samsung. Erik, aka Newsreader at Harrishorn.com writes: “I suppose it would depend on how the DVD player handles its progressive scan conversion. If it does it the smart way, and bases its display on the 24p MPEG-2 source data, then you shouldn’t notice field order flag problems. If it does it the stupid way, and decodes the MPEG-2 stream fully (converting it to 60Hz interlaced) and then makes its progressive scan output from that, then you should see the problem.”
