2009 blurays v.s iTunes

I plan to re-watch TOS for the first time in a few years. I own the 2009 blurays. Was wondering if anyone can confirm the following for me.

I seem to recall they went back and made some improvements with the new special effects . I believe this may have been done when the remastered version was running in syndication. So my questions are:

Does the 2009 blu ray include the latest improvements with special effects?

If the answer is no , Im assuming the iTunes version does and furthermore how does the overall video quality differ between the 2009 bluray and iTunes?

 

The 2009 blurays have both the new CGI effects and remastered (i.e. cleaned up as best they could) original effects. I don't have the iTunes versions, but I assume they're the CGI versions - video quality would be dependent on whatever resolution iTunes sells/streams (blurays would of course be at 1080p).

 

Yeah I surmised iTunes would only have the new CGI version. Perfectly fine as that's how I prefer to watch. Maybe I'm misremembering but I thought they redid some of the new effects with even newer effects. Or maybe it was minor correction with the rendering. This may have already been done before the blurays hit the market. Don't recall

 

Since the remaster was started in 2006, the 2009 bluerays have the updated cgi episodes. To my knowledge.
All the major streamers have star trek and all show the remastered. ... Except that one with the cloud.. Obsession? .. That one wasn't the new effects on Netflix ... Weird..

 

Should also note i have an Apple tv 4k and a 4k tv . My tv will try to upconvert both the bluray source and iTunes source to 4k.
Would be interested to find out which upconversion would look the best .( I do realize neither option would give me a true 4k image)

 

Ok i forgot how far apart the syndication run was with the bluray release or if it was running concurrently. This now pretty much answers my question thanks.

 

They went back and altered a few things, such as correcting the colour of the deflection beam in The Paradise Syndrome. However, I believe this was all before they were released on blu ray.

 

Yes, the TOS-R DVD set has the orange asteroid deflector beam, contrary to the dialogue, and the TOS-R Blu-ray makes it blue again.

 

The only question that remains for me now is the video quality of Itunes vs Bluyay. Since I have an Apple TV 4K, Im thinking there may be some synergistic advantage with iTunes playing off an Apple device but Im not sure. May splurge and buy a single episode off of Itunes as a test. Even a slight improvement would be enough for me to double dip when you add the convenience of not needing to change disks all the time. But If theres any decrease in quality. I will just stick to my blurays

 

^ iTunes has always looked fine to me.

 

Amazon Prime has both the TOS-R and the original effects. Many episodes of the 3rd season even have the pre-DVD sound mix. It's delightful.

 

When I opened itunes and looked up the purchase screen for TOS it listed the episodes as being in 720p, not 1080p resolution. Is that true from what you can tell? (TNG was also listed as 720p)

 

Can you describe this? Is this the mono mix from the blu-rays, a stereo version from tapes of some kind, or is it the original sound mix?

 

The Amazon Prime original effects prints are a combo of the DVD prints with that sound mix (seasons 1 and 2) and earlier prints with pre-DVD sound (a lot of season 3). The Blu-Ray mono sound mix is for much of season one and just about all of seasons 2 and 3 (other than Amok Time) wrong. I don't know if the Prime third season episodes actually have the true NBC broadcast sound mix or just an earlier than DVD mix - like the VHS/Laserdisc prints.

 

I wonder if you're thinking of when they did some extra fixes for the release of TNG remastered on Netflix after the Blu-Rays were released https://blog.trekcore.com/2015/08/netflix-brings-vfx-fixes-to-star-trek-tng-in-hd/

 

The iTunes versions aren’t great, they sell the original effects and the new CGI as separate versions (so if you want both you have to double dip), there aren’t any extras and neither version has The Cage.

I would expect the Blu-Rays to have better picture quality than iTunes as they won’t have compressed it as much to keep the download sizes down. So the Blu-Rays should be the best version to watch.

 

Then watch those. They will offer the best quality.

 

I've read that no matter how rich you are or what, a physical Blu-ray disc provides the highest quality image you can currently get. This might be not counting some special products on a few titles that are in an ultra-HD format.

 

Depending on the source material, some of my 4K films look sharper than the standard blu-ray. Superman The Movie and the recent 007 films are a step above 2K. But there comes a point when the format is asking for more detail tan in present in the source, or more than the human eye can see.

 

That's not quite an "apples to apples" comparison though. The 4K transfer of Superman is a newer transfer than the transfer used for the Blu-ray. In the case of The Original Series, the transfers on iTunes and Blu-ray are the same.