Planet Earth: $30 extra for stupid Americans?

[Moonliner]

Now that I have my new Hi-Def goodness on order I went content shopping...

Tops on my list is the series "Planet Earth" from Discovery which I placed on pre-order from the Discovery Store.

Then I find out that it's really a BBC series and that the version aired in the US was edited for time and content aledgedly to remove some of the more graphic kills.

So I check with Amazon and they have the uncut/origional BBC version in HD for $30 less than Discovery.

When I called to cancel my order with Discovery the nice lady did not know if their version was edited or not but she did know they changed narrators from David Attenborough to Sigourney Weaver in order to "make it easier for American audiences". :rolleyes:

So now I have the unedited version coming to me courtesy of the BBC and Amazon plus I saved $30 to boot.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Did you check region information as well as PAL vs. NTSC format?

[Morrigoon]

OMG, I'd *much* rather have David Attenborough.... I hated the narration!

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Wow. David Attenborough has been doing nature shows that have been broadcast in the US for ages. Why quit now?? That sucks, wish I hadn't read that...

[Alex]

GD: I wonder the same, it is Region 1. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000MRAAJW/ref=pd_cp_d_1/104-4188789-3844700?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-41&pf_rd_r=07Z25Q1GB5NA63915WY9&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=252362301&pf_rd_i=B000MR9D5E)

I thought PAL vs. NTSC was only a VHS issue?

[Ghoulish Delight]

I'm not particularly knowledgeable, but I've seen reference to "PAL DVDs".

But if it is region 1, then it shouldn't be an issue.

[innerSpaceman]

Wow, I didn't see the series, and hoped to rent it. But I'm not going to be doing that now that I know it's been edited ... and the narrator switched from venerable nature narrator Attenborough. How frelling lame!

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Wow, I didn't see the series, and hoped to rent it. But I'm not going to be doing that now that I know it's been edited ... and the narrator switched from venerable nature narrator Attenborough. How frelling lame!See what you've done, Moonliner?! We're all messed up now. You should have left well enough alone :p

[Moonliner]

See what you've done, Moonliner?! We're all messed up now. You should have left well enough alone :p

Wow. Apparently I can do evil even when I'm specifically trying to do good.

[katiesue]

PAL and NTSC are for analog brodcasts. PAL has more lines in the TV than a NTSC one does - which is why they're incompatiable. I knew that TV Broadcasting class would come in handy someday.

HDTV seems to be it's own standard. At least from what I can figure out from wikipidiea.

[Moonliner]

How frelling lame!

While there seems to be no official word from Discovery (other than my telephone lady) the narrative changes that were made by Sigourney included things like changing "200 meters deep" to "a tenth of a mile deep" and the like.

Bloody awful if you ask me That really stinks if you ask me.

[Chernabog]

Cheerio! Pip pip! What rubbish!

Sigourney Weaver is my absolute favorite living actress, but documentaries sound so much more authoritative when they're narrated by an englishman.

[mousepod]

PAL & NTSC still matter on dvds unless you're using a computer monitor (pixels instead of lines) or a plasma tv. All other tv sets are still one or the other. DVD players don't care - they'll output whatever format is put in (that's where those pesky regions come in - Japan is NTSC, for example, but is region 2). There are plenty of cheap DVD players that will allow you to set the output - and will act as a converter. Most of those machines can also be set to region '0', effectively making region-encoding moot.

[figment1986]

PAL and NTSC are for analog brodcasts. PAL has more lines in the TV than a NTSC one does - which is why they're incompatiable. I knew that TV Broadcasting class would come in handy someday.

HDTV seems to be it's own standard. At least from what I can figure out from wikipidiea.

I thought it was also refresh rates... Pal refreshing at a different rate than NTSC (then again my intro book talked about the future going into digital and was made in the early 90s...)

I love region 0 DVDs... Esp when a friend makes them so your favorite British shows are set on 0 and let the DVD player set it for you... (I get the region 1 DVDs later...)

I don't get why discovery used all that B-roll then redid narration and edited scenes... seems more expensive than using direct BBC shows.

[mousepod]

PAL has more lines than NTSC, but runs at 25 frames per second, as opposed to NTSC's (just under) 30 fps. This leads to an interesting phenomena when watching movies on video. The Wikipedia entry is as concise an explanation as I've ever read, so here it is:

Motion pictures are typically shot on film at 24 frames per second. When telecined and played back at PAL's standard of 25 frames per second, films run 4% faster. Unlike NTSC's telecine system, which uses 3:2 pulldown to convert the 24 frames per second to the NTSC frame rate, PAL results in the telecined video running 4% shorter than the original film as well as the equivalent NTSC telecined video. Depending on the sound system in use, it also increases the pitch of the soundtrack by 70.67 — ⅔ of a centsemitone, which only the minority of people with absolute pitch will notice. However, some movie enthusiasts prefer PAL speed-up over NTSC's 3:2 pulldown, because the latter results in telecine judder, a visual distortion not present in PAL sped-up video. This is not an issue on modern upconverting DVD players and PCs, as they play back 23.97fps-encoded video at its true frame rate, without 3:2 pulldown.

[Kevy Baby]

OK, now you're just showing off Mousepod

:D