ENTERPRISE on Blu-Ray OFFICIAL Discussion Thread

[BillJ]

Enterprise could look as good as TNG if they rescanned the negatives and re-rendered the CG but that isn't going to happen, like you said it looks really good so why spend a lot of money to make it better when most will already be happy with how it looks now.

CBS doesn't want to spent lots of money on making the Blu-Rays for something they know will have low sales.

Is this foreshadowing for the DS9 and VOY releases?

As I have repeated before, it is hard to read CBS' relative lack of investment in Enterprise as indicative of what the studio would do for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine or Star Trek: Voyager.

1. Enterprise was mastered in HD. The other spin-offs were mastered in SD. There is no way for CBS to put out the same half-assed product.

2. Enterprise was the least popular live action Trek series. As such, it is hard to guess what CBS will do with the other series based on this one.

I tend to agree with your reasoning for the most part. But what makes me wonder about the amount of money that CBS will be willing to invest in DS9/Voyager is the fact that both seemed to struggle in strip syndication.

Neither series seemed to have much life after their first runs here in the States.

 

[Dream]

As I have repeated before, it is hard to read CBS' relative lack of investment in Enterprise as indicative of what the studio would do for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine or Star Trek: Voyager.

1. Enterprise was mastered in HD. The other spin-offs were mastered in SD. There is no way for CBS to put out the same half-assed product.

2. Enterprise was the least popular live action Trek series. As such, it is hard to guess what CBS will do with the other series based on this one.

Actually they've screwed up twice on the TNG BDs already. First the audio errors in S1 and the shoddy effects job that was done in S2, some fans are still refusing to get S2 for that reason. Maybe they'll finally get things right with season 3, three times the charm?

 

[Harvey]

I fail to see how the audio mastering errors on season one (which the studio fixed at their expense) and the picture quality of season two (which the studio didn't fix, but did address, by replacing HTV on subsequent seasons) have anything to do with the subject at hand.

 

[Harvey]

I tend to agree with your reasoning for the most part. But what makes me wonder about the amount of money that CBS will be willing to invest in DS9/Voyager is the fact that both seemed to struggle in strip syndication.

Neither series seemed to have much life after their first runs here in the States.

I think they've been more widely syndicated than Enterprise, but you may be right. HD remasters are hardly a sure thing for either series, because syndication revenues are the main reason to make the investment. In comparison, home video is ancillary revenue, the market for which is rapidly shrinking.

 

[tomswift2002]

I don't get what BillJ means about Voyager struggling in Syndication. Up here in Canada Space airs TOS-R, TNG and Voyager in a 3-hour time block Monday to Friday from 3 p.m. To 6p.m. (With Voyager occupying the 5-6 block). Seems like Voyager is doing alright. Space did air DS9 uptil about a year and a half ago. I think for Enterprise it's about 3 or 4 years since it last aired.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

Both DS9 and Voyager do not air in syndication anywhere in the US which is what BillJ was referring to.

 

[bn-7bc]

As I have repeated before, it is hard to read CBS' relative lack of investment in Enterprise as indicative of what the studio would do for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine or Star Trek: Voyager.

1. Enterprise was mastered in HD. The other spin-offs were mastered in SD. There is no way for CBS to put out the same half-assed product.

2. Enterprise was the least popular live action Trek series. As such, it is hard to guess what CBS will do with the other series based on this one.

I tend to agree with your reasoning for the most part. But what makes me wonder about the amount of money that CBS will be willing to invest in DS9/Voyager is the fact that both seemed to struggle in strip syndication.

Neither series seemed to have much life after their first runs here in the States.

Well at least in the UK all the seriers (minus tas) are still runing (at least for sky costumers, I can't comment on virgin /OTA). I'm not shore if the US or the UK is representative for the reste of the world so if someone else can comment on this point it will be helpfull (unless someone at CBS can commennt directly)

 

[Dream]

Isn't VOY huge over at the UK? I keep hearing this...

 

[Oso Blanco]

Deep Space Nine and Voyager are still on air here in Germany, each one has one episode per day and after the series finale they are starting all over again. I don't know how many people are watching, though ... I don't because I can't stand the German dubbing. But I have everything on DVD anyway.

 

[BillJ]

Isn't VOY huge over at the UK? I keep hearing this...

Unfortunately, I don't think the smaller markets alone would be enough for CBS to commit the resources to a remastering project. The question will be: how well will it sell in the U.S. syndication market?

 

[ChristopherPike]

I don't know what's keeping my S1 Blu-ray set. Amazon posted it last week...

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VCN6wdjn-8&list=FLt0zsPT_7vdhA6QqIl4finw&index=1[/yt]

Don't know whether this has been mentioned yet. Actually makes Season 2 seem better than I remember!

 

[BillJ]

I don't know what's keeping my S1 Blu-ray set. Amazon posted it last week...

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VCN6wdjn-8&list=FLt0zsPT_7vdhA6QqIl4finw&index=1[/yt]

Don't know whether this has been mentioned yet. Actually makes Season 2 seem better than I remember!

That's what happens when you condense twenty hours of material down to two minutes!

 

[LOKAI of CHERON]

Amazon finally delivered my set yesterday! I've watched the first two discs and can only say I'm quite disappointed from an HD perspective. Although there appears to be a boost to overall contrast and the colours are more vibrant, for me, the show still has that somewhat drab and washed out visual sheen.

There is precious little of what is often described as "HD pop" by professional reviewers, and the image veers toward the downright soft far more often than not - sharpness and detail is particularly noticeable by its absence in close-up shots.

I won't add to the discussion reference the problems with the upscaled FX - as that's been covered by others extensively. Suffice it to say - the problems are certainly there, they are certainly noticeable.

The DTS Master Audio mixes I've heard thus far are pretty good, nothing spectacular, but more than adequate. Dialogue is clear and intelligible.

I have to say though, I haven't revisited ENT Season One in such a studious manner in some time - and honestly - I'm really quite enjoying it!

 

[feek61]

I do think as a whole; the series gets better with repeated viewing. As far as the Blu-Ray discs go; I agree with your assessment. They SHOULD have been much better but still I am very much enjoying them and love the extras.

 

[ChristopherPike]

ENTERPRISE S1 set arrived yesterday, and I'm slowly picking my through it. One thing I noticed straight away, which won't make any difference to anyone in the US, but makes this worth reowning, is the different sounding audio. Because our SD TV system is PAL, everything film-based is sped up slightly. I doubt many in the UK even notice. More and more do, as they watch films on a format capable of 24 frames per second.

Even "Faith of the Heart" sounds a bit more tolerable now it's deeper!

 

[LOKAI of CHERON]

ENTERPRISE S1 set arrived yesterday, and I'm slowly picking my through it. One thing I noticed straight away, which won't make any difference to anyone in the US, but makes this worth reowning, is the different sounding audio. Because our SD TV system is PAL, everything film-based is sped up slightly.

Even "Faith of the Heart" sounds more tolerable now it's deeper.

For this reason, my entire Star Trek DVD collection consists of imported US box sets! PAL speed up produces a pitch increase of nearly a semitone!

 

[ChristopherPike]

Brannon Braga is a bit harsh about "Terra Nova" during the documentary. (ENT episode not the recent series with that name, obviously.) They bleeped out his swears on my copy. Yes, it's no classic. Many hundreds of episode aren't. But I always found it had a real TOS episode feel about it... So I felt the need to check it out again. Let's see doomed colonists, humans gone a bit native, using projectile weapons. Archer arguing they're human and should be brought home. T'Pol saying there's a whole Novan culture now. Perfectly fine ideas for Enterprise to explore and something no other Star Trek (except possibly TOS) could do. Great to hear about history between First Contact and 2151. That bit where the camera lingers on Malcolm spinning the wheel on an abandoned bike, is an homage to "Miri" I'm sure. The photography's beautiful on location, and dark enough to make the in-studio caves seem convincing.

The thing I like about it, having been attacked and chased out of the caves... is the continuity kept when Archer is discussing what happened down on the planet. He's still dirtied up, clearly having just that minute got out of the shuttlepod and called his bridge crew to the situation room at the back. Something about the direction at times. It's like the camera is that extra person following people around from place to place.

I'm undecided how much of an improvement it is picture quality wise. I'll dig out my DVD and give that a watch now to refresh my memory. Which, I guess means "Terra Nova". Ah. I'll still have to skim through it in SD, I suppose. While I can still remember it fresh.

 

[Start Wreck]

ENTERPRISE S1 set arrived yesterday, and I'm slowly picking my through it. One thing I noticed straight away, which won't make any difference to anyone in the US, but makes this worth reowning, is the different sounding audio. Because our SD TV system is PAL, everything film-based is sped up slightly. I doubt many in the UK even notice. More and more do, as they watch films on a format capable of 24 frames per second.

Even "Faith of the Heart" sounds a bit more tolerable now it's deeper!

This was the first thing I noticed when I watched the TNG Blu-ray sampler disc last year. It was the first time I've ever heard any Star Trek show at the correct pitch. An unbelievable difference; I can't imagine how anyone wouldn't notice.

I have literally every single series on DVD, all PAL. That means I'll have to upgrade to Blu-ray all at once - no way can I stand changing pitch mid-series. Madness!

EDIT: It also means all our episodes are slightly shorter. We've been getting ripped off for years!

 

[Jefferies]

I tend to agree with your reasoning for the most part. But what makes me wonder about the amount of money that CBS will be willing to invest in DS9/Voyager is the fact that both seemed to struggle in strip syndication.

Neither series seemed to have much life after their first runs here in the States.

I think they've been more widely syndicated than Enterprise, but you may be right. HD remasters are hardly a sure thing for either series, because syndication revenues are the main reason to make the investment. In comparison, home video is ancillary revenue, the market for which is rapidly shrinking.

Are you sure they only look at syndication revenues? From what I heard Season 1 of TNG in HD made its money back just from blu ray sales in the first few months. Also there is the money they make from people watching online through Netflix etc. Who sits down in front of broadcast TV these days anyway? The elderly thats who and they wouldn't watch Star Trek even if they were payed to do so. Therefore, I'm sure they take all types of possible revenue into account. I'm also sure they look ahead and have thought about how they will be selling this stuff in 5-10 years. Online watching will play an even greater role then.

 

[BillJ]

Not only syndication, but I think it plays a pretty large role in the decision to remaster.

Plus, CBS may wonder if they need all 700 episodes in HD. Once their done with TNG and Enterprise, they'll have over three hundred episodes of Trek to sell to various markets/formats.