Well the mythical boxset is finaly upon us, well for region 2 anyway.
I have only watched the first episode and the special features including the Signs and Portent commentary. I won't go into much detail as I don't want to spoil it for thoes who have not had an opportunity to watch it.
First let me get the bad news out of the way, the print transfer (and I am no expert on such matters) is a bit of a mixed bag. There seems to be a lot of grain on Midnight on the firing line to the extent that even my gilfriend noticed and she is usually oblivious to such things bless her.
It not as bad on Signs and Portens so hopefully it will get better. Having said that I did whack in one of my VHS copies and you can tell instantly that the DVD transfer is far superior, B5 has never looked better.
The 5.1 mix is better then I could have imagined. I was expecting a half arsed job but WB has pulled out all the stops, its no Star Wars or LOTR but it doesn't dissapoint. Infact I only bought a surround sound system because B5 was going to have the 5.1 mix. Bass appears in all the right places and surround effects are put to good use. One puzzling thing though it seems that volume needs to cranked up quite high (I had it in to the 30's on my sytem when most films play very loudly in the 40's). Seeing as DVD are bit quite when played directly through a TV this may be a bit annoying for thoes without a sound system.
The lip sync problem has been blown out of proportion I had to watch Soul Hunter (Time 8.21) several times before I noticed it its very minor (the prob is there and looks correct on my old VHS tape). The big offender, Soul Hunter (Time 8.36) again its not that noticeable you really need to be looking for such things to notice it.
The extras are fantastic, the new documentry runs for just under 12mins and is very enjoyable (Jerry Doyle looks as though he had a blast doing it). The documentry originaly shown in 1993? is also very good and gives an insight into what Straczynski was trying to acheive.
The virtual tour is far better then I imagined it to be. It is a bunch of video clips broken into subjects, (station, tech, crew) with an audio narrator.
The cream of the crop has to be the audio commentry I was glued to my seat to hear the great maker speak and he gives some great insight into not only the episode but the series as a whole.
I think WB has done a great job on the set and all those that feel the same I think it would be a good idea to let them know. If anyone has an email address for WHV could you please let me know as I would like to pass on a few complementary comments.
I have only watched the first episode and the special features including the Signs and Portent commentary. I won't go into much detail as I don't want to spoil it for thoes who have not had an opportunity to watch it.
First let me get the bad news out of the way, the print transfer (and I am no expert on such matters) is a bit of a mixed bag. There seems to be a lot of grain on Midnight on the firing line to the extent that even my gilfriend noticed and she is usually oblivious to such things bless her.
It not as bad on Signs and Portens so hopefully it will get better. Having said that I did whack in one of my VHS copies and you can tell instantly that the DVD transfer is far superior, B5 has never looked better.
The 5.1 mix is better then I could have imagined. I was expecting a half arsed job but WB has pulled out all the stops, its no Star Wars or LOTR but it doesn't dissapoint. Infact I only bought a surround sound system because B5 was going to have the 5.1 mix. Bass appears in all the right places and surround effects are put to good use. One puzzling thing though it seems that volume needs to cranked up quite high (I had it in to the 30's on my sytem when most films play very loudly in the 40's). Seeing as DVD are bit quite when played directly through a TV this may be a bit annoying for thoes without a sound system.
The lip sync problem has been blown out of proportion I had to watch Soul Hunter (Time 8.21) several times before I noticed it its very minor (the prob is there and looks correct on my old VHS tape). The big offender, Soul Hunter (Time 8.36) again its not that noticeable you really need to be looking for such things to notice it.
The extras are fantastic, the new documentry runs for just under 12mins and is very enjoyable (Jerry Doyle looks as though he had a blast doing it). The documentry originaly shown in 1993? is also very good and gives an insight into what Straczynski was trying to acheive.
The virtual tour is far better then I imagined it to be. It is a bunch of video clips broken into subjects, (station, tech, crew) with an audio narrator.
The cream of the crop has to be the audio commentry I was glued to my seat to hear the great maker speak and he gives some great insight into not only the episode but the series as a whole.
I think WB has done a great job on the set and all those that feel the same I think it would be a good idea to let them know. If anyone has an email address for WHV could you please let me know as I would like to pass on a few complementary comments.
