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B5 DVD review

I got the DVD. Pretty disapointing. Grainy and the sound quality is not that good. I know it's not my computer because every other DVD I've played looks and sounds good. All that and a cardboard case. I think they could have done better than that.

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Hi, Oblivion! How are the wife and kids?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by sputnik:
The DVD is Region One encoded but I've no idea about RCE - my player was mod-ed to play multi-region and RCE so I can't tell!
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

OK, what's RCE?

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KoshN
-------------
Vorlon Empire

"To Live and Die in Starlight"
pilot movie for "Babylon 5 - The Legend of the Rangers"
January 19, 2002 at 9PM & 11PM EST, January 20, 2002 at 5PM on The Sci-Fi Channel (US).
http://www.scifi.com/b5rangers/
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Joseph DeMartino:
2) When they finally get arm-twisted into releasing the show on VHS it sells OK for awhile, then goes into the toilet. (Yes, we all know why this happened, but the top brass at WHV doesn't get it.)
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

How can they NOT get it?


<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Joseph DeMartino:
I personally have no problem with two-sided discs when the content on each side is different.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Same here. I don't see what the problem is.


<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Joseph DeMartino:
You can forget about Warner Home Video spending the money to remix 110 episodes. There is a slight chance that they might remix the two remaining matrix-surround TV movies. (A Call to Arms was originally mixed in DD 5.1, then downconverted to Pro Logic for broadcast, as was all of Crusade. I'm sure Rangers will be the same.)
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well, then there is a slight ray of hope, if they ever produce those B5 movie, Crusade, and Rangers DVDs.


------------------
KoshN
-------------
Vorlon Empire

"To Live and Die in Starlight"
pilot movie for "Babylon 5 - The Legend of the Rangers"
January 19, 2002 at 9PM & 11PM EST, January 20, 2002 at 5PM on The Sci-Fi Channel (US). http://www.scifi.com/b5rangers/


[This message has been edited by KoshN (edited December 15, 2001).]
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by KoshN:
OK, what's RCE?
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

RCE - Region Code Enhancement. Something in addition to just the region coding that is supposed to make sure that people with a multi-region or region-free DVD player in any other region can't watch the DVD.

While region-free and multi-region players play "normal" R1 disks without any problems, most region-free players don't play RCE R1 disks (at least not without additional hacking and not all players can be hacked, I think) and several multi-region players have problems with RCE disks as well.

So far I haven't heard about RCE being used on any other region disks but R1 but of course I may be wrong.

RCE is a relatively new feature that was probably taken into use after the suits realised that people with region-free players in other parts of the world could still watch R1 disks.

Not all new R1 DVDs are RCE (yet?), but I think the trend of adding it is increasing.
frown.gif


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"Isn't the universe an amazing place? I wouldn't live anywhere else." - G'Kar, B5: Rangers
Kribu's Lounge | kribu@ranger.b5lr.com
 
The DVD played fine on my TV & DVD player. Of course, I've only watched In the Beginning so far. How is the sound on The Gathering?

Tammy

------------------

"We're in here! Can anyone hear us?"
"I hear you." [giggle, laugh]
"In here!"
"We are here." [giggle, laugh]
-- Londo and G'Kar in Babylon 5:"Convictions"

Tammy's Station
http://community.webtv.net/gkarfan/TammysStation
 
I just posted the following reply in alt.video.dvd, in the Babylon 5 disc: disappointing picture quality thread.


> >I've been watching the new Babylon 5 disc tonight, and while they're
better than
> >the home-recorded tapes I had of them, it's not by much.
> >
> >Both movies are obviously mastered from TNT's broadcast videotapes, they
are
> >encoded in video mode (won't deinterlace well), muddy, somewhat noisy,
and I
> >swear The Gathering has tape DROPOUTS in it!! I will post a screenshot
showing
> >this some time soon...
> >
> >Shame on your cheap asses, Warner!
>
> If you haven't already, I'd suggest you register with the B5 moderated
> group (rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated), and post this info and the
> pic URL for the show's creator, J. Michael Straczynski. Far as I
> know, he still frequents that group (look for posts from
> "jmsatb5@aol.com" or somesuch), and would probably be interested to
> know what shitty quality video WB is releasing his baby with.
>
> I mean, tape dropouts? Jeez...

This is an extremely touchy area. If we complain too much or too harshly,
we may never get anything else of B5 on DVD. OTOH, if we don't complain at
all, WHV may never get it's act together, and improve their product. Also,
nothing is ever actually "perfect" *if* you look closely enough. I
suspect some of are looking *too closely*. The question is where do you
draw the line???

If you do complain to WHV and/or JMS, **please** exercise a bit of tact,
*for all our sakes* (because *I* want to see all of Babylon 5 / Crusade / Rangers come out on DVD).

Errors I've Noticed (in addition to that one drop-out in The Gathering):
Check out "In the Beginning" in the area of Delenn's speech *before* the
Surround Sound symbol appears in the lower right corner. There are at least
four frames where hairs are on the film. One to the left of her face, is as
long as her face. One on the chair cushion to the right of her head is
shorter but a lot thicker and darker. This is the first time I can remember
seeing this kind of thing on a DVD.

Now I understand how hairs can get on film (I've done photographic printing,
and have a darkroom.), but don't they retouch the frames where defects like
this show up? Isn't this part of the process of transferring something
from film to DVD?

Regarding the picture quality of both movies, it looks fine on my system,
but I only have a 27" TV (the biggest that'll fit in my A/V cabinet). I
can't judge the sound because I'm only listening through the TV's stereo
speakers, and they're approaching end of life. It's almost time for a new
TV.


------------------
KoshN
-------------
Vorlon Empire

"To Live and Die in Starlight"
pilot movie for "Babylon 5 - The Legend of the Rangers"
January 19, 2002 at 9PM & 11PM EST, January 20, 2002 at 5PM on The Sci-Fi Channel (US). http://www.scifi.com/b5rangers/

[This message has been edited by KoshN (edited December 16, 2001).]
 
The biggest problem with Region Coding, as I see it, is that the number of RC1 titles is about a thousand times larger than the number RC2 titles. If it was just a matter of waiting a few months for the title to appear on RC2 I wouldn't complain but a lot of titles never go beyond RC1 and then you're up s**t creek without a paddle when you live in Europe, as I do (if everybody were to uphold the Region Coding boundaries that is
wink.gif
).

I live in Denmark and for some reason I can't fathom every television network in my country has ignored Babylon 5 and I didn't know it existed until 2 months ago when a colleague (a female by the way) told me about it. She had just managed to procure all 5 seasons + the movies from a guy i Brazil and as she gets through them I borrow a few tapes at a time from her. I'm now near the middle of the third season and have been totally and utterly swept off my feet.

I'm now in a bit of a jam since I only borrow the tapes and thus have no time or opportunity to review previous episodes. I therefore decided that I wanted to buy the series myself (no, I have never even considered buying a collection of this magnitude before but Babylon 5 is worth every penny). However, it turns out that not only am I not able to tape the show as it airs (since it doesn't air at all), I'm also stuck in a dead end when it comes to obtaining the series on VHS. And to top it all off I'm sitting here reading on this board that the chance of a DVD version of the show is slim at best. Man, I think I'm going to start crying any minute now
frown.gif


Oh by the way, when it comes to DVD features and Babylon 5, the top priority for me is the sound or rather the music. I sat in absolute awe watching the planetary bombardment in The Long Twilight Struggle and there are countless other examples of Franke's brilliance (even without Franke's touch Babylon 5 would still be the best show ever made).

When at long last my eyes have beheld the light I would loathe to have to close them again on account of trivialities from the distributors.

------------------
 
All the debate about picture quality reminds of the same thing that happened with the Godfather on DVD: lots of complaints.

OK, everyone, repeat after me:

Picture quality can only be as good as the source material.

For Christ's sake, the Gathering film was eaten by rats! How fantastic can you expect the picture to be?


------------------
"You do not make history. You can only hope to survive it."
 
Well after getting blank stares at Blockbuster,Best Buy,Hollywood Video and everything else in between I finally found my B5 at Circuit City at 15.99 couldn't be more thrilled I watched it and I have no complaints about the quality or picture of the movie it played great I'm greatful to see a dvd at all it goes nice with my B5 vhs tapes
smile.gif
cool.gif


------------------
 
Wow, KoshN, you notice things tHat I never would've noticed! As long as it has a good picture & good sound, I'm happy. I guess I don't look for the little things.

Tammy

------------------

"We're in here! Can anyone hear us?"
"I hear you." [giggle, laugh]
"In here!"
"We are here." [giggle, laugh]
-- Londo and G'Kar in Babylon 5:"Convictions"

Tammy's Station
http://community.webtv.net/gkarfan/TammysStation
 
KoshN:

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Both movies are obviously mastered from TNT's broadcast videotapes, they
are encoded in video mode (won't deinterlace well), muddy, somewhat noisy<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Whoever wrote that doesn't know what he's talking about. ItB certainly couldn't have been mastered from TNT's broadcast master video tape - or anybody else's - for two reasons. 1) It is in anamorphic widescreen. You can't do anamorphic from a broadcast NTSC or PAL master, only from a D1 hi-res tape. 2) TNT's version wasn't widescreen at all. How would you get even a letterboxed widescreen image from TNT's master.

The Gathering, OTOH, may well have been taken from the TNT tape - which was, in turn, taken from the water-damaged, rat-eaten original materials. Since TG wasn't widescreen, there was no compelling reason for Warner Bros. Television to pay for a brand-new film to video transfer and recomposite of the CGI for the Sci-Fi run, as there was with the episodes. For the pseudo-widescreen TG that Sci-Fi wanted, all they had to do was matte the original transfer and break it into a two-parter. Certainly WHV wasn't going to foot the bill for that just for this single DVD release. So they used what they had.

But ItB had to come off the same new hi-res transfer that was also downcoverted for broadcast on the Sci-Fi Channel. Which probably explains why most people other than this guy think it looks markedly better than TG on the DVD.

Regards,

Joe

------------------
Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division
joseph-demartino@att.net
 
Thanks for the explanation, Joe.
smile.gif




------------------
KoshN
-------------
Vorlon Empire

"To Live and Die in Starlight"
pilot movie for "Babylon 5 - The Legend of the Rangers"
January 19, 2002 at 9PM & 11PM EST, January 20, 2002 at 5PM on The Sci-Fi Channel (US).
http://www.scifi.com/b5rangers/
 
Joe: Thanks for your condescending post. I'm sorry if my opinion upsets you, but I doubt that I'm alone in this view; in fact looking over this thread, I'm not alone. I'm not happy about the low quality of this DVD. My point about a 5.1 remix was that it can be done. How did you imagine that I was comparing this dvd with the Terminator DVD? By coming out with a low budget disc, they are ensuring the uncertainty of the market. I don't care much about commentaries and preview, but I do want good video and audio. I'd hate to see the possibility of B5 episodes on DVD cut short because of decisions to cut costs on this DVD, and the resulting loss of quality and sales.

------------------
 
Scott:

Sorry if you thought I sounded condescending. Didn't mean to. (Well, maybe the "apples and oranges" thing. More on that below.
smile.gif
) Nor does your opinion "upset" me. It has no effect on my emotional state at all.

I was genuinely asking if you had read the earlier posts, because you so thoroughly ignored at least half of them. Anybody can have any opinion about the quality of the discs they want to. But when you start arguing about what Warner Bros. should have done I think you are obligated to at least recognize that case can be made for doing it the way they did. And to offer some counter argument beyond, "they didn't do it the way I wanted them to."

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>How did you imagine that I was comparing this dvd with the Terminator DVD? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I didn't imagine anything - you did compare the features on this disc (sound) to those on Terminator.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>My point about a 5.1 remix was that it can be done.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Obviously. And my point is that a 5.1 remix costs money and there has to be a reasonable expectation of making that money back for a studio to do it. In the case of Terminator there is, for the reasons I stated, and in the case of B5 there isn't. Improving the sound and video quality on this release was unlikely to increase sales by enough to justify the expense, at least in Warner Home Video's calculation. They may or may not be right (I suspect that they are), but it is their call.

In any event, this release tells us precisely nothing about the potential quality of future episode releases, because Warner Bros. deliberately put the disc out as cheaply as possible to see if anybody bought it. They know perfectly well that they can't sell $100-plus season boxed sets if they don't offer a quality product - but they weren't about to risk taking a bath on this disc by tripling their production costs without knowing if anyone would be interested in it. As it is they effectively gave us In the Beginning for free, which I think is a pretty nifty extra.

Regards,

Joe

------------------
Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division
joseph-demartino@att.net
 
Ahh, but JoeD is allowed to be condescending, it comes with the job
smile.gif

Being a newbie you probably have no idea what I'm talking about, but Joe is our resident expert on anything and everything. This man sneaks into studios at night and eavesdropes on producers so he always knows exactly what's going on and why everything is happening. There have been numerous theories on how he obtains his knowledge and they varied from him being a spy to "his cats tell him everything he needs to know"

I would've rambled on but I see that he's already replied to this, it happened after I started composing this post so I kinda got shafted
smile.gif

Well, yeah, it costs money and it's money they'd prefer not to throw away. There really aren't that many of us and they don't want to go the extra mile, there is nothing else to it.

------------------
My name; Solaris5....
My mission; to burst the bubble of idiocy that has enveloped everyone and bring common sense back from behind the rim.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Joseph DeMartino:
Ah, that may indeed be the problem. If you're listening on your TV's built-in speakers, the bass may go over the line. I seem to recall a JMS post where he talked about broadcasters dialing back the soundtracks to stay within limits. It may be that for the DVD they went with the full original mix, and that it really is too much for the really small built-in speakers to handle. Or it could be the digital-to-analog downmix that's to blame. Again, something for WB to watch in future releases, if that's the case. (They really should put an analog track on the discs and make that the default if this is going to be an issue.)

Regards,

Joe<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

yeah it's most likely the speakers. I would turn on the seperate speaker system, but it only works with the satellite.
frown.gif


------------------
No one here is exactly what he appears.
G'Kar - Andreas Katsulas

Nothing's the same anymore.
Commander Sinclair - Michael O'Hare

Babylon 5
 
I tend to agree with what most people wrote about the DVD; the video quality was average, at best. What a waste of effort in providing anamorphic encoding; garbage in, garbge out. Also, I am annoyed that only stereo was provided. As this was the premiere DVD for B5, I would have thought they would have gone that extra mile to make the quality high. Even though it was recorded in stereo, they could have provided 5.1 sound. The recent re-release of "Terminator" provided 5.1, and it was recorded in mono! Still, being a B5 addict, I bought it anyway. I will be hesitant to buy any other B5 DVDs, even though I loved the show, because if this was low quality, and people buy it, they'll have no reason to improve it.

Scott
 
Modane, you can't listen to your DVD player through your full speaker system? OUCH! Don't you have any extra audio inputs on your receiver/preamp? Anything but a phono input would do. Even if your unit doesn't decode dolby, it would still sound better than the TV. Also, many manufacturers make separate input selector switches, so you could run your DVD and something else into the same inputs.

------------------
You're speaking treason! Olivia De Havilland as Maid Marian
Fluently! Errol Flynn as Robin Hood
You're talking treason! Olivia De Havilland as Arabella Bishop
I trust I'm not obscure. Errol Flynn as Dr. Peter Blood

Pallindromes of the month: Snug was I, ere I saw guns.
Doom an evil deed, liven a mood.
 
Scott:

Have you read any of the other posts in this thread? Do you understand that this is not the "first" B5 disc as far as Warner Home Video is concerned but rather the only disc unless it does better than they expect it to? They don't really believe there is a market for the show. They think the failure of the VHS tapes proved that. This is them bowing to pressure from fans and (probably) from WB Television (looking for a tie-in to the upcoming Rangers movie.)

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>The recent re-release of "Terminator" provided 5.1, and it was recorded in mono! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The recent release of The Terminator also probably sold at least half-a-million copies, so the major expense of doing a total sound remix was worth it to the studio. (Especially since it had already been released as a mono-only edition, and the 5.1 was a major incentive to get people to buy it for the second time.) The Terminator is also one of those huge movie hits that enters the popular culture, catch phrase and all. B5 is a minor cult TV show that 99% of DVD buyers will never have heard of.

Can you say "apples"? How about "oranges"?

smile.gif


Regards,

Joe

------------------
Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division
joseph-demartino@att.net
 
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