INFO & FAQs

ABOUT TRAIN PICTURES FORMAT FAQs WHICH VIDEO FORMAT DO I HAVE? DVD FAQs SHIPPING INFO CUSTOMS & CURRENCY INFO

ABOUT TRAIN PICTURES

Train Pictures is a specialist video production company formed in 2001, Located in Brisbane, Australia. The purpose of the company is to capture the sights, sounds and technical aspects of trains in Australia, for the enjoyment of today’s rail fans and to encourage burgeoning fans of tomorrow. Train Pictures is also working hard to promote Australia’s rail heritage by producing a series of videos on Preserved Trains and Rail Historical Societies in Australia.

Train Pictures uses the latest digital equipment to ensure the highest quality result and long term longevity of footage. The videos we are producing move away from the lifestyle type program that is so readily available and instead focus solely on the trains. Train Pictures hopes the one day we will have a video, VCD or DVD that every railfan will be proud to own.

Train Pictures - Train Videos for Railfans by Railfans.


FORMAT FAQs

Train Pictures is the only Australian rail video producer offering VHS, VCD and DVD titles. We would like to help you understand these different formats, what they offer and what you need to view them. All Train Pictures VHS titles are currently only available in the PAL format, some DVD titles are available in the NTSC format. Please check the specifications of your equipment as most modern products are produced as multi region and multi standard. ie: they can play all formats world wide formats.

VHS is short for Video Home System works by magnetically recording analogue information onto tape housed in the cassette case. The major limitations of VHS are its vision quality (240 lines or less than half the resolution of a television broadcast), and audio quality (far from CD quality).

VCD or Video Compact Disc looks physically identical to its audio counterpart and operates by storing information digitally on a disc that doesn't ware out or degrade. It provides slightly higher resolution than VHS at 288 lines and CD quality audio using the MPEG Audio format. VCD's are also able to accommodate extras like photos and image archives. VCD's can be played on stand-alone VCD and DVD players plus computers with CD drives and appropriate software.

DVD or Digital Versatile Disc offers the best possible video and audio quality available. DVDs look like CDs but hold more information, enabling a video resolution of 576 lines equivalent to a TV broadcast. Audio quality is better than CD and is usually stored on the disc in the Dolby Digital format. DVDs can carry many extras not available on other formats including multiple soundtracks, image stills and PC only content. DVDs can be played on stand-alone DVD players and computers with DVD drives and appropriate software. When buying a DVD player purchasing the most expensive player won't guarantee you get the best. Look for a player that will play multiple formats including DVD, DVD-R, VCD, CD and CD-R. This will ensure you get the best possible use from you new player. All Train Pictures VCDs and DVDs have no regional coding.

Train Pictures hopes this explanation has better helped you understand the video formats we offer for your enjoyment. Please note all technical details listed refer to the PAL video system and not the NTSC video system, which has slightly lower resolution but higher frame rate.

WHICH VIDEO FORMAT DO I HAVE ?

Countries that use the NTSC Format:
Antiles, Netherlands, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Burma, Canada, Chile, Columbia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Equador, Grenada, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Phillipines, Puerto Rico, South Korea, Surinam, Taiwan, Tobago, Trinidad, United States of America, Venezuala.

Countries that use the PAL Format:
Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrein, Bangladesh, Belgium, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Cameroon, China, Denmark, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lesotho, Liberia, Luxemburg, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Mozambique, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Portugal, Qatar, Rumania, Seycheles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uraguay, Yemen, Yugoslavia, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Countries that use the SECAM Format:
Afghanistan, Benin, Bukina Faso, Bulgaria, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Czechoslovakia, Djibouti, Egypt, France, French Guiana, Gabon, Greece, Guadalope, Guinea, Gyprus, Haiti, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Lebanon, Libya, Madagascar, Mali, Martinique, Maruitius, Mauritania, Monaco, Morocco, Niger, North Korea, Poland, Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Syria , Togo, Tunisia, Vietnam, Western Samoa, Zaire.


DVD FAQs

Will the DVD play in my country?
Australian DVDs are formatted in PAL and encoded for Region 4 unless stated otherwise. Some discs have multiple zones or a Region code of "0" ensuring playability in other countries, providing your DVD player and television are both; PAL or Multi-Standard compatible. Please refer to each individual item for this information.

Can I play the DVD on my computer?
Generally all DVDs will play on your home computer or laptop provided you have a DVD-ROM drive, compatible with the region encoding of the disc. Most computer monitors will display both the NTSC and PAL signals. We do advise you check your manual for verification before you purchase DVDs.

What is Region?
A security system introduced to DVD to ensure that DVDs released and sold in one region will not play on DVD machines in other regions. When a DVD disc is manufactured, a region code is applied at the authoring stage such that the final disc will play only on those players distributed in the designated world region. However many DVD machine manufactures are now releasing units with a region code of "all" or "0".
Region 1 - Canada, United States and its Territories
Region 2 - Japan, Europe, South Africa and the Middle East
Region 3 - Southeast Asia and East Asia
Region 4 - Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Central and South America
Region 5 - Indian Subcontinent, Former Soviet Union and Africa
Region 6 - China
All DVDs in the Train Pictures online shop are Region "0" or "all" unless the individual product information lists otherwise. Regional codes are optional for the makers of DVD discs themselves. The encryption system on each disc is the same.

Video format information for international customers.
Most videos, VCDs & DVDs sold through Train Pictures are PAL-VHS (Australia/New Zealand, UK/Europe) format only and are incompatible with NTSC (North America, Japan) and SECAM (France, Eastern Europe) TVs and VCRs. A number of TVs and VCRs today can play multiple formats; Train Pictures videos will play properly on these multi-standard systems. If you purchased your equipment in the last three years it is possible that it is multi-standard compatible. Please check your equipment’s manuals or contact the equipment’s manufacture if you are in doubt. Some titles are now available in the NTSC format. Please see the online shop for selection.

DVD won't play!
Quite often the cause of this can be due to discs that have been handled incorrectly (ie. fingerprints or scratches on the read surface, discs forcibly removed from their casing causing cracks). It is most unusual for a disc to be faulty in any way when manufactured. There are rare instances of faulty batches, which usually result in product recalls. It is therefore imperative that you check for any of these problems before contacting us. Occasionally discs have been found to not be compatible with certain DVD players, which is why we encourage our customers to firstly check any problem discs on another brand of player. Failing the above, please refer to our Returns Policy information.

Why is my DVD not shrink-wrapped?
Not all manufactures shrink-wrap their product, however we guarantee that all product shipped is brand new.

What happens if my order doesn't arrive?
If your order doesn't arrive and it was shipped by standard post there is little we or you can do about it. There is no way of tracking standard surface mail, so unfortunately you, the consumer have to take the risk. However, to ensure your order will arrive we strongly recommend using our Registered Post service. On the unlikely chance that it doesn't arrive we can track the shipment and if lost the insurance company covers replacement of the goods and your order is reshipped to you. Express post is also a good way of ensuring prompt delivery it can be tracked, however there is no insurance with this service.

Out of stock products?
We make every attempt to carry large stock of all products at all times. Sometimes heavy demand leads to some items being or going out of stock for a short period of time. As all orders are filled on a "first in, first served" basis, you may have placed your order when the product was showing "in stock", however it may have gone of stock by the processing time if there were other orders before yours. We will ship all available items, with the out of stock items showing on your invoice with an expected back in stock date. From this you can reorder at the appropriate time.


SHIPPING INFO

AUSTRALIAN ORDERS - STANDARD SHIPPING
All videos / discs ordered are shipped to any destination within Australia for $3.30 (one unit) via Australia Post. Please allow 7-14 days for delivery via this method, remote regions may take longer. Shipped on Wednesdays.

AUSTRALIAN ORDERS - REGISTERED SHIPPING
Insure your investment. For an additional $2.50 per order have your shipment sent registered post and insured to the value of $100.00. This means you have to sign for the parcel when it is delivered. If you are not at home when it arrives the post officer will leave a card in your letter box, advising that your order is ready for collection at the local Post Office. You may need ID to collect it. Please allow 7-14 days for delivery via this method, remote regions may take longer. Shipped on Wednesdays.

AUSTRALIAN ORDERS - EXPRESS SHIPPING
If you require urgent shipping Train Pictures can ship your order to you via Express Post. This method costs $7.70 for a single unit and your order will arrive within 1-4 business days. Shipped on Wednesdays.

(As of July 2007)

INTERNATIONAL ORDERS
To reduce the risk of lost or damaged orders Train Picture ships all international (outside Australia) orders via airmail. It is also possible that your order will be subject to the customs fees and import duties of the country to which you have your packages shipped. See customs information below for more details.

STANDARD SHIPPING
Standard shipping is via International Airmail and is charged at $11.00 for a single unit. Please allow 1-2 weeks for delivery via this method. Shipped on Wednesdays.

(As of July 2007)

CUSTOMS & CURRENCY INFORMATION FOR INTERNATIONAL ORDERS
It is possible that you will be subject to import duties and taxes, which are levied once a shipment from Train Pictures reaches your country. Any additional charges for customs clearance must be borne by you; Train Pictures has no control over these charges and cannot predict what they may be. Customs policies vary widely from country to country; you should contact your local customs office for further information. Additionally, when placing an order from Train Pictures, you are considered an importer and must comply with all laws and regulations of the country in which you are receiving the goods.

Customs forms for all international packages list the value of your order's contents by product type. For example an order from Train Pictures will list the packages contents as DVD-Videos and their price as RRP in AUD.