3:2 Pulldown on progressive DVD

[marksolly]

I am thinking about buying the Yamaha DVD C940 which has progressive scan, SACD and the Faroudja chip.  On the Yammy website it compares this model to the more expensive CX-1.  The C940 does not have 3:2 Pulldown.  What is this and do I need it?  I will be using the DVD player with a HD Plasma.

Thanks

[Clint DeBoer]

It may not advertise it, but it almost has to have it.

3:2 pulldown is how DVDs convert what is essentially 24 frame per second MPEG-2 (what is actually stored on the DVD) to 30 frame/60 field per second output (what you see on the video monitor.)

It grabs three fields of "film" frame 1, then 2 fields of "film" frame 2, then 3 fields of "film" frame 3, etc... back and forth. The result is bringing 24 fps up to 30 fps speed (required for full motion color video) without changing the speed.

Film frames 1, 2, 3, 4

Become video fields: 1a, 1b, 1c, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, 3c, 4a, 4b

4 frames *becomes 10 fields, yielding a ratio of 2 frames of film for every 5 fields of video, or 2/5 = 24 frames/60 fields

The result is nice, smooth motion...

<sean connery>And thus ends the lesson... </sean connery>

[pam]

Some HDTV have 3-2 pulldown integrated and it is very good. But top of the line DVD is probably better.