[UK] The Prisoner - Complete Series (1967) Coming to Blu-Ray April 27th- - Page 5

Discs 5 and 6 of the Network set are DVDs. Their content could fit on 1 dual layer disc, but for obvious marketing reasons they chose to have 6 numbered discs. And it sounds like disc 6 may have an authoring fault relating to how the pdfs have been included.

I am interested in finding out whether the Original Chimes of Big Ben on the A&E set is just an NTSC standards conversion of Network's PAL master or if it is an NTSC recording of the film master (although I am not sure exactly what format the master for that is in). If it is just a standards conversion, I might opt for the UK release, as it will be slightly closer to the original - although still in pretty poor shape. So far the runtimes quoted across various sites have not quite made sense, although they are close enough that it probably is a standards conversion. I am not a fan of oversized packaging and can take or leave the book, so otherwise I lean toward the US release.

Note that the Original Chimes of Big Ben is the one standard definition episode included in the set and appears on the extras DVDs. I don't know exactly what elements they have for that, but it has never been in good shape and it probably wouldn't benefit from being included in HD - if that is even possible from what master they are using, beyond an upconversion.

It sounds like the BDs in each set are equivalent to each other and lossy audio aside are probably about as good as the Prisoner will ever be presented.

I finally got my UK set on Saturday, so I sat down to watch Arrival that night. Put simply, the show has never looked this good, and I didn't know it could look this good. The quality varies from shot to shot, but it's excellent overall, and the interior shots can be downright amazing.

I watched the first episode in the original mono, which sounded about as good as you can reasonably expect from that mix. Even though it's just DD mono, it was easy to tell the difference in quality among different elements in the audio mix, and I thought it sounded fine. After I finished the episode, I went back to the beginning so I could sample the 5.1 track and flip back and forth between that and the mono track. The ambience and depth is definitely improved on the 5.1 track, but it sounded like some elements had some reverb applied or other strange processing. Maybe that's just the original sound coming through in a more revealing mix, but going back and forth, I could hear clear differences in how certain instruments in the background score sounded. Not sure if they mucked with it or simply revealed what was already there. I'll probably stick with mono for future viewing sessions.

A no-brainer for Prisoner fans.

thirdkind-

I think this was confirmed above, but did you need a Region B Blu-ray player to play your UK Prisoner disc(s)? Thanks.

Both UK and US Prisoner releases are region coded. If you are able to see them, the region locked image displayed is in keeping with the series and made me laugh.

Got my set this afternoon and have viewed Arrival and am currently going thru The Chimes of Big Ben. I cannot believe how fantastic this show looks. Restoration appears to be on par with the work on Star Trek:TOS.

Amazing.

Doug

I know this was asked a while back and I'm sure if it was answered, but "Yes" there is an English subtitle option on the U.S. release.

I switched my Oppo to Region B without even trying Region A because everyone said it was locked. I'm sure the prior reports are correct about the region locks though.

I've had a weird problem playing the extras DVD (disc 5) from the USA A&E BD set.

It plays fine in my DVD player - Oppo 980H.

However, both of my HD players (Samsung 5000 and LG BH200) spit it out. Samsung tells me it's an "imcompatible format" and LG says it's a "data" disc.

I think my Oppo is set to region-free, but I changed the FW several times and haven't checked it to see if I needed to reset it. The HD players are supposed to play DVD-R and -RW. Is this disc an -R or -RW, or is it possible that A&E just copied Network's Region 2 disc?

Doug

Confirmed last night. Region B locked.

Here's what I found in the DVDBeaver review:
"NOTE: Disc 6 [= Disc 5 in the USA set - Doug] is a 2.84 Gig single-layered DVD that some players have had issue with because of the inclusion of the imbedded PDF documentation. It played fine though on my Oppo Blu-ray and Malata DVD players but the Momistu treated it as it would when you use the Flash Drive input asking whether content is "Audio" or "Video"."

Thank you for the confirmations. I have bought the U.S. disc set, and I am looking forward to watching this great series.

Just took a peek at the US set. It's pretty fine! Great color and blacks.

The subtitling is sometimes rather "approximate".

This is the first BR I've seen where the frame rate is exactly 24hz. It is part of the standard but rare in the US.

-Bill

The UK discs are playable in my region A Panny (usual trick).

"The Prisoner", the BBC series that aired on CBS in the 1960's, is out on Blu-ray. Fifteen years ago, I recorded this series on VHS when it played on PBS, and I have suffered with VHS quality since, wondering when and if it would ever get to DVD. Well, it did get to DVD, but I did not buy it then. Recently I got the bug to watch "The Prisoner" again and discovered it was now on Blu-ray. Wow, what an improvement and what a pleasure to watch! But...

Disc 5, the "Extras" disc has problems. This disc is a standard DVD, not BR, and this disc does not play in many DVD players, as reported on Amazon.com and other sites. I have 2 Panasonic BR players, and this disc simply STOPS after the menu loads. My standard Panasonic DVD player ejects the disc. My friend's Samsung BR player does not play the disc. Oddly, the disc plays fine in my inexpensive DVD player that's part of my no-name kitchen TV. It also plays in my son's PS3. Amazon.com states on their page for this set that they are trying to get an answer from A&E Home Video for the many people who purchased the disc from them. I bought mine at BB, and they will give another set, but it does the same thing. I've watched the EXTRAS disc on my kitchen TV, so until A&E offers a new replacement disc, I will keep what I have.

No one tells me anything.


As I recall, the problem with the extras disc is that a collection of supplemental files is included: PDF scripts and such. Some BR players choke on it, even though DVDs have had extra data for many years.

The solution is not a replacement disc from A&E but a firmware update for the problem players.

-Bill

Actually, a number of reports on the UK disc 6 indicate that it affects DVD players that will happily play other DVDs with pdfs on them just fine. I'd hazard to say that Network have done something odd in their authoring, which A&E have duplicated in North America. I am hopeful but not optimistic that the problem will be addressed.

There is something a bit ironic than in their very first blu-ray release, it is the DVD which Network seem to have managed to screw up. Still I'd rather a flaky extras DVD than a messed up Blu-Ray Disc containing actual episodes.

Not true.

UK Disc 5 DVD (regions 1-6): 7.39GB, no pdf
UK Disc 6 DVD (regions 1-6): 3.44GB total, 2.84GB video with 84 pdfs outside the VIDEO_TS folder.
Both are PAL and playable in my Denon 2900.


Or simply re-burn the DVD minus the pdfs.

Ah, that's interesting. So what is on the UK extras discs that takes up the extra space (and is either missing or more ruthlessly encoded on the Region A release)?

My apologies, I had been led to believe that both were DVD-5s, not just disc 6.

Yeah, I was like, thanks for letting us know THE PRISONER is now on Blu-ray five pages into a thread about its release! LOL!

Actually I think that post was transferred here, so I hope my wit has not too pointed.

-Bill

Yeah, I'm guessing that Dan started a new thread and a mod merged it with the existing one.

Doug

Thanks Doug. That's exactly what happened. I didn't see the existing discussion on The Prisoner when I posted it.

Back to the issue, the bad Disc 5 does not play on many regular DVD players either. It's a hit-and-miss proposition whether it plays on any DVD or BR player.

I upgraded Firmware on both of my Panasonic BR players, and still no luck. I emailed Panasonic Technical Support to ask if they were interested in having this Disc 5 so they could update their Firmware to play the disc. On the other hand, my PS3 plays the disc as does my cheap-o kitchen TV/DVD combo player, so I can at least watch the disc.

Sorry for being dim-witted...and why didn't someone tell me I wore two left shoes today?

Well, I was gonna tell you, but I left my cell phone in my other suit.

Doug

snip

It was actually ITC not BBC

No need to apologise! I don't have the US set. This is what the UK discs 5 and 6 have (info display courtesy of PowerDVD, DVD Decrypter and DVD Shrink).

UK network Disc 5 DVD (PAL, R1-6)

Main feature (1h34'53, c.4265MB) + the rest (1h28'44, c.3242MB)
Audio: DD 2.0 192kbps

Don't Knock Yourself Out 1h34'53
You Make Sure It Fits! 9'16
The Pink Prisoner 9'21
Exposure Strip Gallery (Mute) 10'30
Ad Bumpers 17"

TEXTLESS TITLES
with Ron Grainer theme 3'07
with Wilfred Josephs theme 3'07
with Robert Farnon theme 3'05

Filing Cabinet footage (mute) 2'29
Rover footage (mute) 26"

McGoohan montage from Arrival (mute) 50"
Behind the scenes footage (mute) 45'43

UK network Disc 6 DVD (PAL, R1-6)

Main feature (50'47, c.2282MB) + the rest (1h04'39, c.595MB)

The Chimes of Big Ben original edit 50'47
Promotional image gallery (mute) 2'18
1967 Press Conference gallery (mute) 2'33

Production Designs gallery (mute) 51"
Lava Lamp footage (mute) 7'43

Television's Greatest Hits Interview 2'56
Audio Interview with Patrick McGoohan 47'47

Kilian, doesn't the UK set have some .pdf files on discs 5 and/or 6? Maybe the DVD apps you used don't show them, but that's what's causing many people's machines problems w/ the USA set, and I thought the content was the same, but condensed onto 5 discs in the USA.

Doug

Edit: NetworkDVD's site confirms the .pdf files.

Doug, the nework DVD site doesn't specifically say pdfs are in disc 5.

As I already mentioned in post 138 above, UK Discs 5 and 6 together have over 10GB of stuff that cannot be contained in one single-sided double-layered disc (DVD-9). You'd need at least a double-sided flipper disc (DVD-14). Unless the US Disc 5 is a DVD-14 it simply can't have the same total content as the UK Discs 5 and 6.

The pdf file names in disc 6 can simply be viewed in Windows Explorer without special software and there isn't any at all in Disc 5.

My player can play disc 6 but it doesn't necessarily mean all players can. I don't have the US disc to test. Maybe at least computer DVD drives can if people want to try.

Thanks for that. The from DVDShrinking the US release's extras disc (and using your timings to identify everything (some gain a tiny amount and some lose, but they are all easy to work out):

Don't Knock Yourself Out (2087MB)
The Chimes of Big Ben original edit (1193MB)
You Make Sure It Fits! (212MB)
The Pink Prisoner (180MB)
Exposure Strip Gallery (306MB)
Ad Bumpers (6 MB)

TEXTLESS TITLES
with Ron Grainer theme (72MB)
with Wilfred Josephs theme (71MB)
with Robert Farnon theme (71MB)

Filing Cabinet footage (50MB)
Rover footage (8MB)

McGoohan childhood montage (17MB)
Promotional image gallery (47MB)
1967 Press Conference gallery (54MB)
Production Designs gallery (19MB)


Only on US disc (but quite missable):

AMC Prisoner Remake advert (13MB)



Not on US disc 5, or at least I failed to identify them via DVDShrink (and I have not checked whether these have been added as extras to the BD discs):

Behind the scenes footage
Lava Lamp footage
Television's Greatest Hits Interview
Audio Interview with Patrick McGoohan

http://boingboing.net/2012/12/04/painstak-prisoner-rem.html

-Bill