Question on DS9 DVDs

[iMike]

Good morning All,

I have a question about DS9 DVDs. I have TOS, TNG, the TNG standalones, the films, and ENT on Blu-Ray I would prefer to have DS9 on Blu-Ray as well. I think it's clear that CBS-D has no immediate plans for DS9 on Blu or we'd have heard about it by now. I'm really hoping they don't wait until DS9's 25th, which would be 2018.

Anyway, I'm considering ordering the series on DVD. I checked Amazon UK and they have some slimline sets that are far cheaper than the US sets, however unlike the Trek Blu-Ray sets sold on Amazon UK, the DVDs are not region free.

I absolutely hate streaming DS9 and VOY on Netflix because the video quality sucks. Are the DVDs any better?

 

[Admiral Bear]

I absolutely hate streaming DS9 and VOY on Netflix because the video quality sucks. Are the DVDs any better?

The answer is likely to be somewhere between no and not much.

How big is your TV? I assume you'd be playing DS9 DVDs from your Blu-ray player ie upscaling?

You need to read the latter half of the DS9 on Blu-ray thread. All of what you want to know has been discussed on there.

 

[iMike]

50" Samsung Smart TV. Thanks for the advice I'll check out the thread.

 

[Admiral Bear]

Obviously, if you decided to buy the UK sets, you'd need a multi-region upscaler which I assume you have. But with a 50" TV, something we have in common, I wouldn't bother unless you're desperate. I have the US DS9 sets, and for the most part they look awful, especially the early seasons, although they were slightly better with the upscaling turned off.

The only way you're likely to get any viewing mileage out of DS9 is to see if you can get an old CRT TV on the cheap.

 

[USS KG5]

I absolutely hate streaming DS9 and VOY on Netflix because the video quality sucks. Are the DVDs any better?

Basically, no they aren't. Netflix are no slouches on quality, only Blu Ray is genuinely superior.

The DVDs of DS9 and VGR are better than VHS - but that is absolutely the nicest thing I can say about them.

 

[The Laughing Vulcan]

The UK DS9 discs have BBFC mandated edits to two episodes, you'll be missing about 40 seconds of violence if you import. Might be worth getting a second small TV to watch them on, or watch them on a laptop. I've kept my old 28" CRT TV for old DVDs, but when that goes I'll be getting a 32" LCD to replace it with, small enough to hide the imperfections.

 

[Admiral Bear]

The UK DS9 discs have BBFC mandated edits to two episodes, you'll be missing about 40 seconds of violence if you import. Might be worth getting a second small TV to watch them on, or watch them on a laptop. I've kept my old 28" CRT TV for old DVDs, but when that goes I'll be getting a 32" LCD to replace it with, small enough to hide the imperfections.

To the Death and Sons and Daughters immediately spring to mind, the latter missing about 30 seconds from the end in memory serves. Quite hilarious that To the Death was cut and still given a 15 cert. SyFy fairly recently showed the uncut version in upscaled HD at 7pm. I've got it on my Sky box as evidence!

I would cut my paws off to see LeVar's original version of that episode.

 

[scotthm]

Are the DVDs any better?

Sad to say, the picture quality of the DS9 DVDs is pretty weak. This series is in desperate need of a home video upgrade that will probably never happen.

---------------

 

[BillJ]

The DVDs of DS9 and VGR are better than VHS...

I actually wonder about this? Yeah, the VHS picture is going to be softer but I don't remember macro blocking during fast action scenes.

 

[Lance]

Yeah, compression artifacts. The VHS picture is ultimately inferior, but DVDs have got their own problems related to trying to fit four episodes on a single disc. Something's always gonna give.

 

[USS KG5]

The DVDs of DS9 and VGR are better than VHS...

I actually wonder about this? Yeah, the VHS picture is going to be softer but I don't remember macro blocking during fast action scenes.

They are piss-poor DVDs, no question!

 

[MacLeod]

The UK DS9 discs have BBFC mandated edits to two episodes, you'll be missing about 40 seconds of violence if you import. Might be worth getting a second small TV to watch them on, or watch them on a laptop. I've kept my old 28" CRT TV for old DVDs, but when that goes I'll be getting a 32" LCD to replace it with, small enough to hide the imperfections.

To the Death and Sons and Daughters immediately spring to mind, the latter missing about 30 seconds from the end in memory serves. Quite hilarious that To the Death was cut and still given a 15 cert. SyFy fairly recently showed the uncut version in upscaled HD at 7pm. I've got it on my Sky box as evidence!

I would cut my paws off to see LeVar's original version of that episode.

But times change what once we get a 15 certificate might only warrant a 12 today.

As for importing the R2 DVD's as others have mentioned make sure you player can actually play them. As for quality, that's a bit subjective whilst I haven't watched one in a while they seemed fine to me. But I couldn't tell you what my player settings where. As for upscaling rember the R2 PAL discs will have a slightly higher native resolution at 576i vs NTSC 480i so that might help a bit with upscaling.

But you could always try auction sites to try and get a good deal.

 

[Tosk]

I still have some DS9 laserdiscs. Sometimes I wish I bought all of them as they were probably the best quality of all the releases so far.

 

[The Laughing Vulcan]

The UK DS9 discs have BBFC mandated edits to two episodes, you'll be missing about 40 seconds of violence if you import. Might be worth getting a second small TV to watch them on, or watch them on a laptop. I've kept my old 28" CRT TV for old DVDs, but when that goes I'll be getting a 32" LCD to replace it with, small enough to hide the imperfections.

To the Death and Sons and Daughters immediately spring to mind, the latter missing about 30 seconds from the end in memory serves. Quite hilarious that To the Death was cut and still given a 15 cert. SyFy fairly recently showed the uncut version in upscaled HD at 7pm. I've got it on my Sky box as evidence!

I would cut my paws off to see LeVar's original version of that episode.

But times change what once we get a 15 certificate might only warrant a 12 today.

As for importing the R2 DVD's as others have mentioned make sure you player can actually play them. As for quality, that's a bit subjective whilst I haven't watched one in a while they seemed fine to me. But I couldn't tell you what my player settings where. As for upscaling rember the R2 PAL discs will have a slightly higher native resolution at 576i vs NTSC 480i so that might help a bit with upscaling.

But you could always try auction sites to try and get a good deal.

The UK discs will look worse than the US discs, as those at least are in native US broadcast NTSC resolution and framerate. The UK discs will be scaled up from 480 to 576i (judging by all the late-eighties early nineties US TV I have on PAL DVD, that doesn't look good to begin with), and they're converted from 30fps NTSC (estrapolated from 24fps native) to 25 fps, which either means playing at a faster frame rate and a 4% PAL speed-up with higher pitched audio, or a standards conversion NTSC-PAL which extrapolates a 25th frame from the other 24/30 by means of frame blending, which introduces added softness to the image, and ghosting.

I can tell you from the TNG DVDs I have (I've yet to ditch my DS9 VHS tapes) that the image is soft, with a weak colour palette, and suffering from PAL speed-up with higher pitched audio.

I'm thinking of reclaiming some shelf space pretty soon myself, and I'm wavering towards paying double and importing the US discs for the native frame rate and the uncut episodes, but I'm under no illusions that it will be drastically better than VHS quality. Still £11 a season for the UK sets is hard to turn your nose up at, and that extra money saved can go into the Blu-ray wish fulfilment pot... Decisions, decisions.

 

[SPCTRE]

I'm really hoping they don't wait until DS9's 25th, which would be 2018.