Looks like DS9 will not get Blu Ray

[dub]

I wouldn't be so quick to say that. There are plenty of things you can say are "likely" at this point, but ANY facts about viewing habits on streaming apps are totally unknown right now.

I never disagreed with that, but it is "likely" enough to me to take it as read until the surprising possibilities become facts.

Fair enough. There are always possibilities.

Even on a huge TV you would need to sit fairly close to see the difference. 4k is very much an incremental improvement.

Again, I want to reiterate my ignorance on this topic since I haven't seen 4k in all of its true glory. I've shot in 4k testing cameras out, but I haven't seen it on a screen large enough to truly experience it. I'm interested in the topic which is why I'm asking questions. I know some of you guys have actually seen it, and I appreciate your thoughts.

Having said all of that, what you mentioned above seems to be the most popular view, at least from those I have discussed it with. Someone recently told me about how a filmmaker shot in 4k and the actor flipped out and demanded that the footage not be used. Apparently, in his opinion, 4k shows all of the flaws, flaws beyond what you would want the audience to see. And the person telling me this also asked rhetorically - have you noticed most of what is being showed off in 4k are nature shots?

Now, having worked in local TV, I remember when rumors about HD started. Then talk of going to HD went around. The talent were not happy about it. They didn't like the idea of people seeing all of the details - like wrinkles, make-up issues and things that aren't as noticeable in SD. I also remember people in general downplaying HD. So this could be history repeating itself. I'm a big fan of HD. Especially after I discovered a way to add motion blur back into the picture in my TV settings.

But I digress.

 

[Squiggy]

Someone recently told me about how a filmmaker shot in 4k and the actor flipped out and demanded that the footage not be used. Apparently, in his opinion, 4k shows all of the flaws, flaws beyond what you would want the audience to see. And the person telling me this also asked rhetorically - have you noticed most of what is being showed off in 4k are nature shots?

Now, having worked in local TV, I remember when rumors about HD started. Then talk of going to HD went around. The talent were not happy about it. They didn't like the idea of people seeing all of the details - like wrinkles, make-up issues and things that aren't as noticeable in SD. I also remember people in general downplaying HD. So this could be history repeating itself. I'm a big fan of HD. Especially after I discovered a way to add motion blur back into the picture in my TV settings.

But I digress.

Yeah, it was the same 10 years ago when local stations upped to HD. Talent aside, everyone had to upgrade their sets because you could tell how fake everything looked in HD.

 

[Hawkeye_90]

I noticed they discontinued the complete dvd set of ds9 recently even though they are selling the seasons individually still.

 

[BeatleJWOL]

I noticed they discontinued the complete dvd set of ds9 recently even though they are selling the seasons individually still.

They're probably all due for a repackage like the TOS and TNG DVDs recently got.

 

[USS KG5]

I noticed they discontinued the complete dvd set of ds9 recently even though they are selling the seasons individually still.

They're probably all due for a repackage like the TOS and TNG DVDs recently got.

Maybe some fancy thing for the fiftieth anniversary next year.

 

[Richard Baker]

With a collector's box no doubt.

 

[USS KG5]

With a collector's box no doubt.

Deep Space Nine - The Complete "F**k you buy it!" Collection

 

[Servo]

There will be no DS9 Blu-Rays.... until you've all given up hope and bought whatever re-packaged set they're gonna release in the next year or so. Once they've fleeced as many people as they can for those, they'll consider making the Blu-Rays.

As an anecdotal aside; Star Trek is still pretty popular over here in the UK. TNG currently airs on three different channels (SyFy, CBS Action, and The Horror Channel), and TOS, Voyager, and Enterprise all air on various channels. DS9 is currently the only Trek show that is not being broadcast in the UK.

 

[Lance]

Someone recently told me about how a filmmaker shot in 4k and the actor flipped out and demanded that the footage not be used. Apparently, in his opinion, 4k shows all of the flaws, flaws beyond what you would want the audience to see.

I do remember hearing words to that effect related to, um, the "adult video industry", whereupon certain performers were concerned that HD video would show ungainly scars from where their implants had gone in, and that kind of thing, which were apparently less obvious to viewers in standard definition video.

In terms of Trek TV, it didn't escape the eyes of the fandom when TNG got remastered and suddenly we could see where the Enterprise corridor walls hadn't been fully painted, etc. The flaws are certainly more evident in high definition, but on the other hand there's more of a sense of 'truth' about what we're watching ( as Oliver Cromwell once said, "the warts and all" ).

 

[Salinga]

I do remember hearing words to that effect related to, um, the "adult video industry", whereupon certain performers were concerned that HD video would show ungainly scars from where their implants had gone in, and that kind of thing, which were apparently less obvious to viewers in standard definition video.

I hope no one has told them how much detail is seen on all these photos taken of them with these SLR cameras.

 

[drt]

I do remember hearing words to that effect related to, um, the "adult video industry", whereupon certain performers were concerned that HD video would show ungainly scars from where their implants had gone in, and that kind of thing, which were apparently less obvious to viewers in standard definition video.

I hope no one has told them how much detail is seen on all these photos taken of them with these SLR cameras.

Heh, I'd read somewhere that the increasing resolution is basically why if a porn gal is in her mid-20's she's now considered a "MILF".

 

[tomswift2002]

As an anecdotal aside; Star Trek is still pretty popular over here in the UK. TNG currently airs on three different channels (SyFy, CBS Action, and The Horror Channel), and TOS, Voyager, and Enterprise all air on various channels. DS9 is currently the only Trek show that is not being broadcast in the UK.

You know, it's funny, and arrogant, how Americans think that it is only about what occurs in America that affects the decision making in corporate board rooms.

I'm reminded of when Disney released the 1960's Spider-Man cartoon on DVD back in 2004. In the US Disney's main headquarters wasn't interested in remastering the series (even though they owned the original film negatives), and was content with reusing the old masters for the series that were made back in the 80's/90's by New World. I don't know whether Disney USA just wasn't interested in remastering the series or they didn't forecast much profit from it, but they didn't remaster the series. (Disney had already released 2 DVD's using the old masters---albeit the episodes had been put on as bonus episodes).

However Disney's International arm in Europe decided to budget the remastering and cleaning up the episodes of the series under their budgets, rather than getting the go ahead from the main US offices. What happened is that now, Spider-Man'67 is available all over the world because of Disney Europe (Buena Vista International Television) doing the remastering themselves because they saw a chance for more profit from the series, and that they would be able to promote the series better, even if it was standard definition copies of the series, because of the massive clean-up of the series. And because of that restoration for UK and European audiences, when Disney released the series in a Complete set back in 2004 in the US and Canada, those of us in North America were able to benefit with episodes that didn't look like we were viewing them on a TV in a smoke-filled bar. And even today, on streaming networks and TV stations people are still able to rewatch this classic series in the best quality that the have ever seen.

And I even remember way back in the 1990's when Sailor Moon was first being translated into English. Even though the series was being translated in Canada, executives at DIC were only looking at American figures, where due to timeslots the series was not doing that well, and was cancelled after the 65 episodes had made its run. However, in Canada and other English speaking countries the ratings were huge and the series was a good success, and based on that, even a toy company stepped up at the time and offered to pay the cost of translating the rest of the 2nd season into English, and after that the next 2 seasons were picked up by Cloverway and translated in English before Toei said that they wouldn't license the final season.

And on the live action front, within the past decade there have been two shows that I can think of that, while they were Canadian productions, they were both aired on a network in the US, but the US Network cancelled both The Listener and Flashpoint, or in the case of Flashpoint, moved it to a "sub-channel" that is not received in every part of the US (ION), but the series continued to be produced and aired on a major network (CTV) here in Canada. (From what Wikipedia says, The Listener, while NBC cancelled it after 7 episodes in its first season, continued to stream the series on its website till the end of Season 1; during the later seasons ION signed on to co-produce the series.) Even back in the 1970's, The Persuaders was cancelled by ABC for it's poor ratings (and it wasn't that much of a ratings hit in its home market of the UK, but then it did very well in other international markets to make it profitable right after principal photography had wrapped).

So international markets do play a huge role in market decisions and profitability for TV shows, despite what many Americans claim.

 

[BillJ]

You know, it's funny, and arrogant, how Americans think that it is only about what occurs in America that affects the decision making in corporate board rooms.

If TNG Blu-ray's did huge business in Europe (or China) then CBS would move forward. The above is non-sense. Seriously, CBS isn't going to leave money on the table.

 

[Lance]

So international markets do play a huge role in market decisions and profitability for TV shows, despite what many Americans claim.

I don't think anyone here is actually disputing this.

As another example, Star Trek Into Darkness only had a relatively modest take in the US, which is why you will still see people on the internet trying to claim that it was somehow a "failure". But it's international audience was much bigger and paid dividends.

In DS9's (and TNG-R's) case though, the reasoning is presumably based on a profit-versus-expenditure model. The examples you cite of Spiderman are nice, but they're based on the assumption that companies make decisions based on what is the right thing to do (ie, remaster old works), whereas most corporate boards, answerable as they are to shareholders and others, aren't willing to take a risk on something that the numbers sitting in front of them tell them is going to be a money pit. And that's where DS9 and VOY in HD sit at the moment. Short of a visionary being able to cook the books and make it more financially viable, it's beyond the realms of possibility.

 

[Galactic Alignment]

My only remaining vestigial remnant of Trek fandom is pretty much fizzled away now, not that I was all that optimistic about DS9 getting an HD remaster...

 

[Hawkeye_90]

is ds9 the complete series set even avalible right now? I don't mean the individual seasons but the set?

 

[Admiral Bear]

is ds9 the complete series set even avalible right now? I don't mean the individual seasons but the set?

Not in the US it seems, but it's still available in the UK and in Germany. However, the UK sets are cut to shreds and are to be avoided at all costs.

Not sure what CBS are up to, but Amazon.com haven't even got the US edition complete TNG Bluray set.

 

[BillJ]

is ds9 the complete series set even avalible right now? I don't mean the individual seasons but the set?

Not in the US it seems, but it's still available in the UK and in Germany. However, the UK sets are cut to shreds and are to be avoided at all costs.

Not sure what CBS are up to, but Amazon.com haven't even got the US edition complete TNG Bluray set.

Probably wanting people to buy the more expensive seasons sets.

 

[Relayer1]

However, the UK sets are cut to shreds and are to be avoided at all costs.

Details please !

Having given up on a Bluray release I was considering picking up the complete set on DVD.

What have they cut / butchered ? Are the individual seasons the same ?

 

[Lance]

However, the UK sets are cut to shreds and are to be avoided at all costs.

Details please !

Having given up on a Bluray release I was considering picking up the complete set on DVD.

What have they cut / butchered ? Are the individual seasons the same ?

The two I know about are in "To The Death" and "Sons And Daughters". In the former it's only a minor cut, but in the latter the final scene has been butchered to remove Worf and Alexander performing the knife slice on their own hands.

Quoteth memory alpha:

the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) cut this episode by approximately 25 seconds. In the last scene, as Martok initiates Alexander Rozhenko into the House of Martok, there is a ritual performed which involves Martok placing the insignia of his house into a chalice. He then slides a knife across his palm and lets the blood drip into the chalice. In the UK version of the episode, he then pours in some bloodwine and sets the mixture alight, but in the uncut version, he hands the knife to Alexander and Worf, whom both also cut their palm and let their own blood drip into the chalice. Although, visually, there is no evidence of the edit, if you listen closely, you can hear a slight jump in the music key at the moment of the cut. The reason given by the BBFC for the censorship was that because the show was aimed primarily at teenagers, they felt that a scene in which two characters mix blood could encourage viewers to do likewise, hence increasing the risk of HIV transfer.

There are probably other cuts I'm not aware of. The BBFC are notoriously snip-happy when it comes to fight scenes for example, so it wouldn't surprise me if some of the fights have been toned down from the American versions.