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The Shield on Bluray ; Why Sony should consider a release

9K views 12 replies 9 participants last post by  BakeApples 
#1 ·




Hi there,


I've read here http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=3343 , that The Shield serie is not bluray compliant for Sony, because it was shot on 16mm.

I can understand that, but disagree on their general comments.


I own the PAL and NTSC DVD edition of the complete show, and objectively think there is a lot of improvements to hope with an HD edition.


Let's take a look on all the benefits of a Bluray release.

Picture Quality

DVD video compression is mpeg2.

Results are not so great today, especially on movie with difficult photography.

Also, with four episodes on disc, compression bitrate is quite low, and you can see a lot of artefacts.

Particularly when you have a 1080p display.

AVC Bluray compression offers much better results, and more respectful to the original work.

Framerate and content

The Shield was shot on film 24p.

Unfortunately, NTSC DVD are in interlaced (29.97).

Which means that picture quality is not really close to the original, and with a lot of judder.

Unbearably to me.


Fortunately, PAL DVD are in progressive.

That means that picture quality is faithfully, and totally judder free.

It would be perfect, except that PAL DVD Edition has two major issues


1) Since PAL video are in 25 frame per second, video and audio are accelerate (4%) to fit PAL standards.

It's not really a big deal for video quality, but it is for audio.

Because, everything seems to go faster, with a different pitch tonality, and actor sometime seems talk with helium voice. Musics sound unatural as well.

I guess, if you don'k know actors original voice, you could live with that.

I can't.


2) Pal DVD are censored.

Not only for hardcore scenes (like the famous scene with Aceveda in season 3
), but also for duration.

For exemple, season 5 final episode is 12mn shorter than original.

A lot of important scenes are cut off, because the french brodcaster had only a 45mn case on air for the shield, so he didn't make the dubbing for the entire episode.

Unbeliveable, but that's why I bought the NTSC DVD Edition.

Audio

Not really a big improvement to hope here, but PCM 24 bits track is always good to get.

Subtitles

DVD subtitles are only in four colors.

Which generates low quality and aliased text.

Bluray subtitles are far better, and more pleasant to read.


So let's resume :

Better compression, original framerate, uncensored, uncompressed audio, better subtitles.

Exactly what we need for this incredible show
 
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#4 ·
It will likely never ever happen. The Shield's post-production was done entirely in SD video for the run of the show. No HD masters exist of any episode of The Shield so the entire run of the show would have to be re-mastered like TNG. That being said, we're talking about millions in re-mastering costs since they would have to go back to the camera negatives and put together a new HD master for every single episode with titles and whatever compositing work was done for the show.
 
#5 ·
The decision regarding a Blu-ray release was obviously made with Sony's consideration for the potential return on investment. If they can amortize the remastering costs when the series is next up for syndication, the chances of a Blu-ray release will be much greater.
The market for catalog television product is apparently brutal on Blu-ray and that is coloring all of these decisions. I am still stunned we haven't got a whisper about Seinfeld on Blu-ray yet, but the market is just not there.The HD remastering for any show is usually being expensed to the syndication sale. Any Blu-ray set is a secondary consideration.
 
#6 ·
Not only was the series' post-production completed in standard definition, many episodes were shot with a mix of SD video with the 16mm film. The Shield was never intended to be broadcast in HD. Shawn Ryan had the opportunity to switch to HD production and broadcast in the middle of the series' run and refused it. This was an aesthetic decision. The show was meant to look gritty and grungy and decidedly low-def.


There's also plenty of controversy about the DVDs which present the show in 16:9 aspect ratio when all of the episodes were composed for 4:3.
 
#7 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Josh Z  /t/1466636/the-shield-on-bluray-why-sony-should-consider-a-release#post_23175143


There's also plenty of controversy about the DVDs which present the show in 16:9 aspect ratio when all of the episodes were composed for 4:3.
Is that a regional thing? I watched the entire series on DVD in the US and the whole thing was 4:3 with the exception of one episode.
 
#8 ·
Are these some of the same issues holding up release of THE WIRE? How about SOPRANOS S2-S6 (or whatever ones they have not issued on blu yet -- the seasons currently released on blu are the only SOPRANOS episodes I've ever seen, and the series seemed to flow pretty well just jumping from season one to the last, but they were entertaining and excellent TV, so I would like to see the rest and never will on DVD)....
 
#9 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Emaych  /t/1466636/the-shield-on-bluray-why-sony-should-consider-a-release#post_23178772


Are these some of the same issues holding up release of THE WIRE? How about SOPRANOS S2-S6 (or whatever ones they have not issued on blu yet -- the seasons currently released on blu are the only SOPRANOS episodes I've ever seen, and the series seemed to flow pretty well just jumping from season one to the last, but they were entertaining and excellent TV, so I would like to see the rest and never will on DVD)....

My understanding is that The Wire was finished entirely on video. A BD release would be pointless for that show.


As for The Sopranos, I assume single season releases for that show stopped primarily because of poor sales. I'd love to be able to buy the show on BD but I have no idea when or even if HBO will get around to it.
 
#10 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Deviation  /t/1466636/the-shield-on-bluray-why-sony-should-consider-a-release#post_23176807


Is that a regional thing? I watched the entire series on DVD in the US and the whole thing was 4:3 with the exception of one episode.

The first batch of DVDs in the U.S. were properly framed at 4:3, but international releases were 16:9. Sony later reissued the show in the U.S. at 16:9 as well.
 
#11 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Phantom Stranger  /t/1466636/the-shield-on-bluray-why-sony-should-consider-a-release#post_23172647


The decision regarding a Blu-ray release was obviously made with Sony's consideration for the potential return on investment. If they can amortize the remastering costs when the series is next up for syndication, the chances of a Blu-ray release will be much greater.
The market for catalog television product is apparently brutal on Blu-ray and that is coloring all of these decisions. I am still stunned we haven't got a whisper about Seinfeld on Blu-ray yet, but the market is just not there.The HD remastering for any show is usually being expensed to the syndication sale. Any Blu-ray set is a secondary consideration.

Seinfeld is actually all ready to go as far as the A/V is concerned. They went back and HD'd the earlier seasons for syndication, so they have HD masters for the whole run of the show. However, there obviously is no real market for it.
 
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