24 Season 1 DVD is grainy

[slde]

Just bought 24 Season 1 for my sister for Christmas and noticed when watching it the other night that the picture quality is grainy on the light/bright areas and also appears quite soft......

The DVD is region 2, purchased from play.com - does anyone else have similar issues? I have read a few reviews saying that picture quality can often be grainy when transferred from TV to DVD, but for a show with the reputation of 24 and with a price tag in excess of £30 I would expect the picture quality to be perfect.

[Starburst]

Grain can be an intended effect both in photography and in post-processing for movie and tv productions, it sometimes hard to know if it is supposed to be there or a side effect of a poor DVD/HD encode or low quality master.

Can't help with the specifics of the DVD, love the show but have no interest in watchign it twice

[nwgarratt]

The first series often has a lot less budget as they don't know if it is going to be reocommisioned. Other factors come in such as only 2 channel sound instead of 5.1 audio. Also, some start as 4:3 and then get made into widescreen later on. This budget can also affect the type of film used.

I only have seaons 1 and 2 so far, I wait until they are around £15 before I buy them. I really enjoyed them on DVD as I haven't watched them when they were first on the BBC.

[Ninj]

slde, I couldnt agree more.
I think the issue is with 24 as a whole. I havent watched season 1 on my TV (didnt notice any problems on my laptop but it was also R2) but be assured Season 2 is awful. Ive had a brief look at Season 3 and I think its the same. It can only be an intended effect or else the Region 2 version isnt worth £5 never mind the £30 I paid for it.

Has anyone seen a Region 1 version of it? I appreciate its a fairly dark series but come on, a real let down to an outstanding show.

[nwgarratt]

I watch mine on a widescreen TV and thought the picture was excellent for both seasons. Any particular scenes inm general?

[Rob100]

Have to agree that S1 is very grainy/noisy compared with S2 onwards.

However the the PQ gets noticatbly better as the seasons progress (3 is better than 2, 4 is better than 3 etc) . I guess this is all down to equipment and budgets!

Don't let this spoil the enjoyment.

[Ninj]

Thats good news. Having not seen any of S1 on my LCD its hard to compare but like I say, S2 was rubbish. Colours etc are all fine, its just the grainyness like slde notes.

Ill try an S5 DVD and see how it looks. Very interested to hear how a R1 DVD looks
Rich

[nwgarratt]

Originally Posted by Ninj

Thats good news. Having not seen any of S1 on my LCD its hard to compare but like I say, S2 was rubbish. Colours etc are all fine, its just the grainyness like slde notes.

Ill try an S5 DVD and see how it looks. Very interested to hear how a R1 DVD looks
Rich

That is probably part of the problem. A LCD TV (even more if it is HD Ready) will probably make a DVD picture look worse After watching both seasons 1 and 2 on my CRT widescreen. I never though once that the picture was bad.

[Ninj]

Agreed, but why just one DVD and why so badly?

[nwgarratt]

Originally Posted by Ninj

Agreed, but why just one DVD and why so badly?

Perhaps the bitrate is lower when you notice it?

I can check if you find any particular scenes.

[Ninj]

Ill have a rummage about and dig out some praticularly bad ones.

What are you using to detect bitrates? Is it a low bitrate which = grainy?

Rgds

Rich

[nwgarratt]

Originally Posted by Ninj

Ill have a rummage about and dig out some praticularly bad ones.

What are you using to detect bitrates? Is it a low bitrate which = grainy?

Rgds

Rich

The grain can be in the picture to start with. From experience, low bitrates can cause the picture go funny and if the scene is grainy. It can make it look worse.

My DVD player shows the bitrate.

[Ninj]

No real singularly bad scenes, heres what I mean: DVD 5 Scene 7.

This was captured from my 19" LCD monitor, imagine how bad that looks on a 40" LCD............
Is this what you had slde ?

Are there any 3rd party softwares which can show bitrate whilst playing a DVD? What are ballpark figures which can be taken as excellent, good, poor etc (tricky question I know)



Thanks Rich

[nwgarratt]

I remember that scene but what is the actual time and episode on the disc. I can expect it to be worse on a 40". It is a dark scene which doesn't help.

Bitrate viewer is a free app. However, it shows the total bitrate of both audio and video.

http://www.remoteselector.com/download.htm

[Ninj]

Doesnt look grainy? Look at Almeda's face and the wall between them, imagine that on a 40" screen.....

I think that screen was from about 22 mins, but like I say, randomly chosen as all 6 DVDs are crap IMHO

Rich