To be clear, I wasn't advocating starting this myself, nor do in see it working if anyone else started it. I think CBS are the only people who could run this campaign legally, as DS9 is their asset. In was merely interested in gauging fan interest in contributing - think of it as an advanced pre order which takes some of the risk out of it for CBS. Sadly, I think the reaction to this thread says it all regarding the prospects of ever seeing DS9 in HD. It will only happen if we fans are prepared to but our hands in our pockets en mass. And I don't think we are.
^considering that there are perhaps a few hundred members usually active on this board, less than a dozen of which were interested in casting a vote, and CBS needs somewhere in the range of 40,000 purchases just to break even* (*assuming a total cost of $10 mil for all seven seasons with complete series box set at $250/each) there's simply not a big enough population available on this forum to get even a sample criteria.
You're right, BUT I wasnt expecting a sample size sufficient for a statistical analysis. Maybe the people who visit this board are diehard fans, and as such would be more willing to stump up larger amounts of cash. But if we're not willing to pay out, then no one else will be... So, while not a sufficient sample size, the results do tell us something.
I'd love to see it happen, I would buy it and probably contribute more .. but I would really want more than just HD transfers ... new extras is really the key for me buying anything on DVD anymore when I can just watch it on Netflix (or some streaming service) .. and this is coming from someone who used to own a ton of LaserDisks , DVDs, and VHS. Really 2 criteria for me 1) Show/movie I really love and will watch over and over. DS9 checs that box easily 2) Bonus material like commentaries (which given a choice I would take that over HD), and documentaries/bonus material. More important now as time is marching on and the people that could do that sort of thing will not be around for ever.
The extras and bonuses are irrelevant to me. I would be willing to pay $400 for 4K releases of DS9 and VOY. I am one of the literal lifelong fans that will continue to expend money on many things Star Trek. I also happen to be a step below a videophile and audiophile, in that I appreciate high quality, and am willing to pay for it, but not at great extremes. Therefore, I am literally the target audience. At this point, even though I'm not even fully equipped for 4K content, I would consider that mandatory. HD is past its prime, which means if such a project were to be undertaken, if ourt wasn't released at 4K, it would be mastered in 4K, and then released a few years later for Lo more money. What CBS has done, to me, is lost some of my goodwill. Release after release of the same material with the same flaws is unacceptable. Incomplete releases, and being forced to buy multiple copies of the same thing to receive an specific bit of extra content. In general, I feel taken advantage of as a fan.
If they release it on HD, it will make it to HD on Netflix/some other streaming service ... sure the physical disks will look better than streaming, but not enough better for me to spend $ on it
I said $100, and even that's stretching it a bit. For me, the value is in the stories, not the format. And I've seen the stories -- many times over, and while I'll spend a bit for a modest upgrade, I'm just not inclined to spend a lot of money on a product I already own.
Would LOVE to see DS9 in HD and am really hoping the #DS9Doc hits its $500k stretch goal so we can finally get to see at least some selected clips in high quality. I would probably donate $500 to get the series on Blu-ray, although perhaps I'd increase to $750 if the campaign needed more of a boost...
$100 for the purposes of crowdfunding is about as high as I could responsibly afford. And it would really depend on the associated perks. I gave $80 to the DS9 doc when originally I'd planned to give $35 just because the perks appealed to me at a higher level. So, my $100 buy in is solely a vote with your dollars symbol. If they offered some nice perks at higher buy ins, I could part with a little more maybe. But it's a bell curve. That said, I still very much doubt we'll ever see DS9 in HD. A crowdfunding campaign probably couldn't muster the funds necessary to do the work and CBS won't bother updating it unless they're certain they can make a profit on it (which they definitely can't right now).
I think that's basically the problem with this, and the reason TNG didn't do too well. Fans already have the episodes, often having bought them a couple of times already. We'll happily pay for new content, like the documentary, but it's much harder to convince people to buy the same thing again, albeit in better quality. I think that's the hurdle that CBS haven't been able to jump.
I hate to quibble, but because the product itself would be unchanged, we wouldn't be offered "better quality" so much as "greater clarity." That said, if we were actually being offered something better -- extended versions, director's cuts of popular episodes, fresh commentary, new/different special effects -- that would make me open my wallet.
I'd assume if the project got off the ground some of that stuff would he forthcoming, such as the extended Measure of a Man or the alternate cut of WNMHGB, or the deleted scenes.
The difference in picture quality between the original TNG and remastered version is incredible. A similar upgrade for DS9 would be more than worth it for the PQ alone...
I'd be happy with just the episodes being upgraded to HD. We have a lot of extras from the DVDs and the forthcoming documentary seems like it will cover a lot of the retrospective ground the TNG/ENT special features did. Although some new commentaries would be really nice. I voted $200 but upon further thinking I could see myself paying ~$50 a season so closer to $350 is more accurate.
The lack of commentaries on all the Star Trek TV home releases has always kind of frustrated me. If shows like The Simpsons can do commentaries for every single episode, sometimes even multiple commentaries, depending on the episode, I kind of wish they could at least do more than a handful of commentaries on the Trek sets. Maybe they could even do it as a podcast with the Okudas, where they host guests that worked on particular episodes and go through each episode of Trek. Users could download the commentaries, or wait for rereleases of season box sets with the podcast commentaries integrated with the rest of them.