Looks like DS9 will not get Blu Ray
- Thread starter IronMaiden
- Start date
That, and advertising only works as well as people think it will sell. TV and such is one thing, but if the stores think "nah, this'll never sell" and don't put out the provided display or anything of the sort (kinda like, oh, I dunno, Best Buy did, when somebody had to pull S7 and AGT from the BACK for me days after release?), then it's all for naught anyway.
How true. But try telling most of these fans that at other places on the 'Net, and they won't ever listen. I tried to tell somebody on YouTube that there will never be a DS9 Blu-Ray DVD box set due to bad sales for the TNG one, and he of course wouldn't listen to me; in fact, when I pressed the issue, he got mad at me.
That seems a reasonable response. After all, you were annoying him with your sensible statements...
Yeah that's the Internet for you, well these days, it used to be a lot friendlier.
The prime argument for the "There might be Blu Ray of DS9" camp seems to be "You don't KNOW there won't be", which is a bit of a straw man.
Sure people don't KNOW there won't be, but it looks unlikely. We are on our second thread now basically debating that one point.
Has led to some interesting discussions however, especially about where physical media etc. are going. Plus an opportunity to commiserate, I really wanted DS9 on Blu!
The prime argument for the "There might be Blu Ray of DS9" camp seems to be "You don't KNOW there won't be", which is a bit of a straw man.
Sure people don't KNOW there won't be, but it looks unlikely. We are on our second thread now basically debating that one point.
Has led to some interesting discussions however, especially about where physical media etc. are going. Plus an opportunity to commiserate, I really wanted DS9 on Blu!
True, reminds me of a conversation I had with someone on Facebook. He was actually arguing that the Blu-Ray market was growing rapidly, and that since old movies were released on Blu-Ray, DS9 had to be as well.
I'm not sure where your friend gets his info. The Blu-ray market has not been growing at an appreciable rate for years, and has seemed to level off. There are no indications that is changing in the near future which is why the Blu-Ray Group has unleashed the next push... "Ultra HD"
As I said waaay back in 2008, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD were both vying to be this generation's laser disc. Once streaming through Netflix was unveiled in 2008 it was the beginning of the end for physical media. Right now Blu-Ray seems to be more of a format for movie aficionados who want to hang on to a physical copy of their movie... or newbies to the HD market who soon realize they can find most of what they want through the streaming service apps on their player, or are content to upconvert their existing DVDs.
It's really unfortunate that Blu-Ray won the format war because if HD-DVD had won there was a chance that prices for physical media would have been so cheap that movies would have soon been priced like DVDs. Unfortunately Blu-Ray is frequently overpirced giving customers less of an incentive of making the jump to a high-def disc.
Frankly the Star Trek season discs are overpriced compared to other TV series blu-ray sets; that probably explains a lot of the poor disc sales for TNG. And of course there's the issue of need... If you've already invested a few hundred dollars buying the entire run of TNG on DVD is it really worth it to double dip and spend another $300-450 bucks.
Unfortunately this makes it extremely doubtful we will see DS9 given the high def treatment in the near future. However, many studios are going back and revisiting old shows like Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, X-Files, TJ Hooker, Charlie's Angels, etc. and remastering these shows to 1080p. Hopefully the powers that bee will jump onto this bandwagon, but I think it will take a few years.
Yeah, I'm on the verge of buying Voyager complete DVD box for £50 off Amazon as it seems like a bargain and I'm 99% sure it won't get a Blu-ray release. The only thing that might get it out on Blu-ray is me buying it on DVD.
Unfortunately, being a better show, the DS9 box is more expensive...
True, reminds me of a conversation I had with someone on Facebook. He was actually arguing that the Blu-Ray market was growing rapidly, and that since old movies were released on Blu-Ray, DS9 had to be as well.
I'm not sure where your friend gets his info. The Blu-ray market has not been growing at an appreciable rate for years, and has seemed to level off. There are no indications that is changing in the near future which is why the Blu-Ray Group has unleashed the next push... "Ultra HD"
As I said waaay back in 2008, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD were both vying to be this generation's laser disc. Once streaming through Netflix was unveiled in 2008 it was the beginning of the end for physical media. Right now Blu-Ray seems to be more of a format for movie aficionados who want to hang on to a physical copy of their movie... or newbies to the HD market who soon realize they can find most of what they want through the streaming service apps on their player, or are content to upconvert their existing DVDs.
It's really unfortunate that Blu-Ray won the format war because if HD-DVD had won there was a chance that prices for physical media would have been so cheap that movies would have soon been priced like DVDs. Unfortunately Blu-Ray is frequently overpirced giving customers less of an incentive of making the jump to a high-def disc.
Frankly the Star Trek season discs are overpriced compared to other TV series blu-ray sets; that probably explains a lot of the poor disc sales for TNG. And of course there's the issue of need... If you've already invested a few hundred dollars buying the entire run of TNG on DVD is it really worth it to double dip and spend another $300-450 bucks.
Unfortunately this makes it extremely doubtful we will see DS9 given the high def treatment in the near future. However, many studios are going back and revisiting old shows like Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, X-Files, TJ Hooker, Charlie's Angels, etc. and remastering these shows to 1080p. Hopefully the powers that bee will jump onto this bandwagon, but I think it will take a few years.
Absolutely agree. He just seemed to be in denial and/or delusional about it. He also seemed to think there was a huge audience for a DS9-R.
I think there's an audience, but I'm not sure that it's big enough to justify the expense. Basically CBS would need to bite the bullet and just realize that making money on the project would be a long term proposal.
I do think if they remastered all of the series, and went to providers like Hulu or Netflix, they could probably get a better cut of such a deal. And some cable network would would certainly pay for the broadcast rights if all the shows were in HD. However most networks would probably want the shows remastered in 16:9
Lots of options, but the home video market, in terms of Blu-Ray sales, is pretty small.
I do think if they remastered all of the series, and went to providers like Hulu or Netflix, they could probably get a better cut of such a deal. And some cable network would would certainly pay for the broadcast rights if all the shows were in HD. However most networks would probably want the shows remastered in 16:9
Lots of options, but the home video market, in terms of Blu-Ray sales, is pretty small.
Unfortunately I don't know that I even agree that there'd be a cable network chomping at the heels for it. Not right now, not here in the States. Maybe in a couple of years, if the new SW movies resurrect a huge desire for a fair bit of space entertainment.
There is an audience, but I think it's nowhere big enough to justify a remaster based on Blu-Ray sales alone. Maybe if there was some kind of deal with Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon, but that seems like a long shot to me. We may get a up conversion of DS9 and VOY, but I'd be very shocked if they get the remaster treatment like TOS and TNG did.
They usually have huge lightning deal offers on the Trek sets around Xmas, I think my brother got DS9 for about £40 one year, something similar.
You could try setting up an alert on CamelCamelCamel as well.
Why the frack does everybody keep leaning on those services for this?
Because no place exists on the CBS schedule for Star Trek. So if it comes back, it has to be elsewhere.
When the day comes that physical media is no longer available, I do hope that the infrastructure is in place to support the new and future media. My country, the United States, has, in fits and starts, done minimal work in maintaining and improving its infrastructure.
I hope as well that the new and future media is not plaqued by technical issues which are brought about by ignoring the idiom, "If it ain't broken, don't fix it."
I hope as well that the new and future media is not plaqued by technical issues which are brought about by ignoring the idiom, "If it ain't broken, don't fix it."
I do say it is very much a big long shot here, I'm not being delusional. Just saying there may be a tiny, tiny chance of this happening if enough people stream the shows on netflix, etc..., and let's say that Netflix pays a percentage of the costs, and gets first rights to have the remasters available. I wonder if that is why only Amazon Instant Video (In the USA at least, don't know otherwise) has the remastered TNG.
Near as I can tell from the PS3 and PS4 apps I use for all my streaming consumption, Trek shows perform fairly well on the regular, and TOS/TNG/DS9 in particular (yes, DS9!) are trending often. There's staying power with this franchise, of that there can be no doubt; it's why none of the shows have been dropped from Netflix, not after going on five years of uninterrupted offering.
But even then, there's staying power with lots of other things that I doubt have the kinds of fanbases who unite on a daily basis across the net and at myriad conventions to talk about "what this means for the future of M*A*S*H." There's staying power in a lot of things, and that's never a guarantee of action.
It's a good thing, though. It's far, far better than nothing. Whether it means DS9 ever gets anything remotely close to the TNG HD treatment... no, probably not, but maybe in another ten years if fans don't shut up about how good it is and it still pops up on whatever "trending" metrics these companies are using in 2025, maybe, just maybe, there'll be some kind of update.
But even then, there's staying power with lots of other things that I doubt have the kinds of fanbases who unite on a daily basis across the net and at myriad conventions to talk about "what this means for the future of M*A*S*H." There's staying power in a lot of things, and that's never a guarantee of action.
It's a good thing, though. It's far, far better than nothing. Whether it means DS9 ever gets anything remotely close to the TNG HD treatment... no, probably not, but maybe in another ten years if fans don't shut up about how good it is and it still pops up on whatever "trending" metrics these companies are using in 2025, maybe, just maybe, there'll be some kind of update.
I'd say that you are being arrogant and are spewing non-sense.
Blu-rays are only a small portion of the picture.
Also it has only been six months since Season 7 was released, while there was a 41 month gap between The Cage being finished in April 2008 and CBS's announcement of TNG being upgraded to HD in September 2011, while it would not be until the end of the 45th month after The Cage's remastering (and 37 months after the TOS Season 3 Blu Ray had been released here in NA in December 2009) that we first saw the Remastered []Encounter At Farpoint, The Inner Light & Sins Of The Father[/I] on The Next Level Blu Ray.
And as far as sales figures for Blu-Ray, I have not been able to find anything definite for the Blu Ray's since March 2013 (the release of Season 3 and The Best Of Both World's). Since then, in terms of sales figures, all that's available is pure speculation.
I just looked on Amazon.ca to see what they're Top 100 of Science Fiction TV shows is (as of June 5, 2015). Here's what I found in terms of Trek:
TOS Complete Series Blu Ray is #11
Voyager Season 1 is #15
The Borg Collective DVD is #16
DS9 Complete Series is #27
Enterprise Season 4 Blu Ray is #29
Enterpise Season 2 Blu Ray is #32
Enterprse Season 3 Blu Ray is #33
TNG Season 4 is #35
Enterprise Complete DVD series is #44
TNG Season 6 Blu Ray is #46
TNG Season 7 Blu Ray is #55
Voyager Season 7 is #66
TNG Season 5 Blu Ray is #72
Voyager Season 6 is #78
TNG Unification Blu Ray is #79
Voyager Season 5 is #82
Voyager Season 4 is #86
TOS-R Season 2 is #93
TOS-R Season 3 is #94
TAS Complete Series is #96
While this is does not give us the full picture of the sales for the Blu-Rays, and is only a small slice, it does indicate that the last 4 seasons of are in the Top 75 TV Science Fiction titles for DVD and Blu Ray. And when you look at that, no individual season of DS9 made the list, however all 7 Seasons made the Top 30 with the Complete Series DVD set. And Voyager had 5 out of its 7 seasons in the Top 90.
So with what scant information is available now, and this is only a small fraction of the data that CBS will be looking at as well, indications seem to show that TNG HD was a good thing to do (and it's funny how, aside from the Borg Collective DVD, none of the SD versions of TNG made the list) and is increasing sales of TNG. And indications point towards DS9 and Voyager being lined up for HD remastering. But we are still very early in the review process of how well TNG did, and the last official word from CBS on Voyager and DS9 HD was prior to December 2014. Since then there has been no word from CBS as to which way they are leaning.\
Also, BeatleJWOL, right now DS9 and Voyager are "locked" at 480i (interlace) not 480p (progressive). Right now, for digital streaming, either CBS has paid a lot of money for a good quality deinterlacer to convert the interlace material to progressive, or they have placed them on the web by using a fairly cheap deinterlacer (and the majority of editing systems have this built in) where it throws away half of your resolution, by dropping one field, and then doubles the remaining field so that you have a "progressive" video. And from what I've seen of the episodes on iTunes, when I hit the 90 second test, it looks like CBS has taken the cheap road.
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