Region 4 Winners and Losers

    The Region 1 disc was released December 2002. It's very similar to the Region 4, having essentially the same front cover and menus, but a completely different back cover.

    The Region 4 disc is missing:

• 8:08 of advertisements at the start of the disc
• Sneak Peeks (same trailers as start of disc)
• French and Spanish soundtracks
• Young Voices of Hawaii featurette (2:46)
• THX optimiser and logo
• DVD-ROM access to internet features
• Register your DVD feature

    The Region 1 disc is missing:

• language selection menu at disc insertion
• freedom from ads
• Norwegian and Danish soundtracks and subtitles

    The Region 1 disc only has subtitles in English (for the Hearing Impaired); these subtitles are presented in an attractive serif font, with Foley and music cues in a sans serif font — quite pretty, but really no more readable than the subtitles on the Region 4.

    The featurette that's missing from the Region 4 is a short (but interesting) look at the children's choir, but most of its content is covered in the On Location with the Directors piece. You're not missing much there by going with the R4.

    The advertisements at the start of the R1 are irritating, but in case you want to know what they include, they are short trailers for Jungle Book 2, Country Bears, Atlantis II, 101 Dalmatians II, Inspector Gadget 2, Stitch's new movie, and Sleeping Beauty Special Edition. There are also advertisements for Walt Disney World Vacations, and a Disney Channel programme called Kim Possible.

    Both discs are supposed to be 1.66:1, 16x9 enhanced (yay!), which would mean that there should be slim black bars down the left and right of the picture. However, most display devices have sufficient overscan to the sides so that the image you see with either disc may not have any black bars on the left or right — do not adjust your set, this is normal behaviour.

    The discs have equivalent transfers, although the R1 seems a tiny bit sharper in the foreground, but suffers from a tiny bit of colour bleed. I prefer the look of the R4.

    You could be happy with either disc, but the free hardback book offer in the R1 is only redeemable in the US and Canada. Add the advertisements at the start of the R1 disc, and I'm voting for the R4.