Just realized I was watching old TV shows on the wrong speed setting for years

I was rewatching The Prisoner on DVD last week and kept complaining about how slow the dialogue felt. My buddy came over and pointed out my TV was set to 50Hz instead of 60Hz for PAL content. All those British shows I watched growing up were playing at the wrong frame rate. Has anyone else dealt with weird setup issues that totally changed how you saw a classic show?

2 comments

2 Comments

jones.brooke23d ago

actually I kinda disagree with this whole premise... slow dialogue in those old British shows is part of their charm. The Prisoner's weird pacing is what makes it feel so off-kilter and mysterious. If you speed it up you lose all that tension. Same with Doctor Who from the 60s. Those long pauses between lines were intentional, they let the weirdness sink in. I watched an episode of The Avengers on a properly set up CRT and it just felt wrong, like everything was rushed. Sometimes playing it "wrong" actually gives you the right feel for the material.

john_singh23d ago

Wait, you watched The Avengers on a properly set up CRT and it felt wrong? That's the opposite of what I'd expect since those were literally made for that tech. Sitcoms from the 60s look weird on modern screens but I figured CRTs just made old shows look like they were supposed to. Did the frame rate or scanlines mess with the pacing that much or was it something else in the signal?