Babylon 5 - the complete series dvd set?

[walterlouisg]

Hey,

I was wondering if anyone has heard if there is a possibility that B5 will be released as a complete set on DVD, like Fox has done with Buffy. I suspect this will catch on with shows that aren't producing any new material and have already been released in individual seasons. It seems like the next logical step financially. I for one would jump at the chance to own all 5 seasons in a single series collection.

wlg

[Radhil]

It's a keen idea, but I don't think so. The Buffy re-releases seem to be because that company (is it Fox doing this?) seems to want to milk it for all it's worth. There's been at least 3 other little releases of collected episodes for Buffy, none of which have made much sense. I've seen no such signs from Warners.

Also, the Buffy sets, collected, sum up into a mildly reasonable price range I believe (what is it, 200-250? less?). B5 won't be nearly so well priced for the whole thing, and the B5 crowd isn't likely to buy up again the same stuff they already have.

[Ranger1]

hmmmmm you have this

[walterlouisg]

And that came out on October 24, 2005 - so there may be hope in the US yet!
Thanks for pointing this out.

wlg

[Towelmaster]

hmmmmm you have this

Awwwww. that looks sooooooo sweeeeet! I'v GOT to have me one of those! Anyone interested in 5 seasons of B5-boxes and 4 movies?

[Ranger1]

Awwwww. that looks sooooooo sweeeeet! I'v GOT to have me one of those! Anyone interested in 5 seasons of B5-boxes and 4 movies?

If you have the 5 seasons+movies then you don't need that, its the same thing, just different wrapping.

Plus, if you got to have B5 box (no matter which one), i would recommend the NTSC version, in the PAL version there is a serious problem when there's a switching to a CGI shot (the CGI shots were rendered in NTSC format).

[cornholio1980]

Awwwww. that looks sooooooo sweeeeet! I'v GOT to have me one of those!

The German Box looks much sweeter

Plus, if you got to have B5 box (no matter which one), i would recommend the NTSC version, in the PAL version there is a serious problem when there's a switching to a CGI shot (the CGI shots were rendered in NTSC format).

Really? Strange - never noticed anything. Could you please clarify what you're refering to?

[Ranger1]

I got the first season when it got released as NTSC, and it was sweet, when the 2nd season was released i got the PAL version, and i was always complaining about the quality.. something just didnt look right, later i found out about this (taken from the sticky wiki... lol, sounds cute):

Mastering problems

The transfer of Babylon 5 to DVD created significant problems with regard to special-effects/CGI footage. Several factors complicated the process.

* Although originally broadcast in the standard television aspect ratio of 4:3, all live-action footage was filmed on Super 35 film (with a ratio of 1.65:1). The idea was that, once widescreen televisions (with an aspect ratio of 16:9 or 1.78:1) became more popular, the episodes could be easily converted into a widescreen format.

* CGI shots were rendered in the 4:3 ratio, but designed so that the top and bottom of each shot could be removed to create a widescreen image without ruining the image composition.

* All of the purely live-action shots were stored as high-definition digital images.

* However, CGI shots, and shots combining live-action with CGI, were stored in the much lower-definition NTSC digital format. (Again, the expectation was that it would be relatively cheap in the future to recreate the CGI as widescreen.)

* Over the years, the original computer-generated models, etc. have been lost, making it necessary to use the old 4:3 CGI shots.

This has resulted in several consistent flaws throughout the Babylon 5 DVD release. In particular, quality drops very significantly whenever a scene cuts from purely live-action to a shot combining live-action and CGI. This is especially noticeable on the PAL DVDs, since CGI shots had to be converted from NTSC as well as being blown up to fit a widescreen television.

Even more info here (and thats about the NTSC version, take the PAL version and its worse).