Buffy and Angel Blu Ray?

T

tylermaaynard

Numberonebuffyfan
Joined
Jun 1, 2012
Messages
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Location
United Kingdom
Hi guys. None of you probably don't know me because this is the first time I've started to use buffy boards but i thought id make a thread on the release of buffy and angel on bluray.

After watching buffy and angel all the way through again, I've noticed that some of the earlier seasons aren't very good quality.

However, from research I've read that it won't be possible, because for it to be transferred to blu ray it would have to be in widescreen (16:9) but I thought that buffy was shot in full screen? So, I wonder if converting buffy and angel to blu ray will ever actually go ahead? Especially because friends has been released to blu ray and in all honesty, I think it was pointless just because of how there is no action or any special effects to it.

Just thought I'd post this thread, to get some of your opinions! And I'm sorry if a thread like this has been created already, I haven't saw one so I thought I'd do my own 😀
 
I actually think the quality on the early seasons is good well it's good on my DVDs, I think maybe in the future it be released on Blu ray but not yet as the new DVD boxsets have been released last year, I know people want it on Blu ray but there is already about 3 versions of the boxset in the UK :/ so maybe they won't be doing it on Blu ray.
 
Yet the Netflix verson looks dang good even looking 16:9
 
I kinda hope they don't release it on blu-ray, because then I'd have to buy it, and that would cost some serious money 😛
But not releasing it on blu-ray can't have anything to do with the aspect ratio of the early seasons. As you mentioned, they released Friends on blu-ray. Friends started in 1994. I doubt they filmed the first few seasons in 16:9. And also, they released old movies like Hitchcock movies from the 40s or Citizen Kane and that kind of stuff on blu-ray. And that stuff is a mite older than Buffy's season 1.
 
Anya2012
Anya2012
[No message]
I remember reading an article that said it was very unlikly that Buffy would ever be released on BluRay, one of the reasons being it wasn't show in widescreen, and it had a number of pictures of the difference in the widescreen and normal ratio.

There was a picture of the First Slayer in the desert from restless and on the widescreen version there was a man standing beside her.
And an shot from the episode were she's invisible and using the keyboard, on the normal shot all you see is the keyboard and on the widescreen you see all the string to press the keys
It also mentioned that to convert it to BluRay they have to work off the original records as opposed to the compressed files used for TV and DVD, and it would take time and be expensive to do, so it's only been done to shows that have MASSIVE cult fan bases that buy allot of the DVD's (like Star Trek)
 
BuffyElevated
BuffyElevated
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Well I hope they do release it but I've always known that it would probably be unlikely. It's just recently I have bought a 43" hd tv and after watching buffy on that it seemed like the quality wasn't brilliant, I think this is because of how big the tv is maybe. It would just be nice to see buffy and angel in hi def🙂

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I also think I recall seeing buffy on blu ray on amazon but I've checked this again and it has been removed🙁
 
[MENTION=10438]JCoatsworth[/MENTION] No it wasn't the motion comic. It was just an image of season 1 buffy and it said buffy the vampire slayer blu ray. It wasn't available to buy it just had a 'let me know when this becomes available' button 😛
 
I'm a big Blu-Ray guy, but I'll also be the first to admit that I don't know the technical aspects of transferring a DVD over to Blu-Ray form. However, if they can do it with movies from the 40's, you'd think they would have the capability to make it happen with just about any DVD from the modern era.

One of my big Buffy dreams is to have a massive, complete set of Buffy and Angel released as one in Blu-Ray with a hugely updated and expanded special features section. New commentaries, interviews, everything. That would just be awesome.
 
VisionGirl
VisionGirl
[No message]
I know the first two seasons are shot on 16mm and the later ones are on 35mm. I don't know how this plays into the transfer to blue-ray. I get kind of lost with digital/film and its transfer process to blue-ray. 😛
 
I don't know anything about the digital transfer process or how big the film has to be to look right on certain formats, but I'm just happy to have the DVDs we do now!
 
If I remember rightly (think it was 3 or more years ago now) it was being advertised on a few websites that Buffy was set to be released on Blu Ray, but it was never giving a date,more of "email to be notified". Don't think anything came of it though. There are probably websites that will sell them in HD, but they will be websites where people have converted them and are selling, not companies.
 
There are very few things that I re-buy on Blue Ray.. but Buffy would be one of them. I am about to go research this transfer topic 😛
 
The best you can do for now, this is the last I know on the subject so I could be wrong, is to watch on Amazon with the HD but it is only for Angel. Suppose itunes has the same HD for Angel - I get mine on Amazon for season 5 - all else I watch on my DVD's. Last I checked you can rent or purchase Buffy also, but it is not HD.
 
Syfy HD is currently showing Season 5 in the UK.
Probably an upscale but it looks amazing!
If I knew anything about capping I would do it for people but I can't. 🙁

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nv1mw7.jpg


Not a great photo but I think it shows the sharpness.
 
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I hope I'm not the only one that likes the DVD quality. I wouldn't buy Buffy on blu ray even if it was possible. There is something to be said about a bit of a grainy picture. It's like the way Giles described how he didn't like computers to Jenny. Because of the smell..... they just don't...... with books you get an all encompassing experience with sight and smell and touch. Computers just give you info and then it's gone.

I feel the same way with the show. Having a grainy picture is good because it helps add to the vibe of the show. It feels more real. That is why I will never buy movies like Jaws or Friday the 13th on blu ray. It takes away from the experience.

I have a 60" plasma tv and I was afraid that it was gonna distort the picture like crazy. So I got a blu ray player and HDMI cables etc and with the way they upscale DVDs, the picture is fine. Season 1 looks completely normal. Not high def obviously but not distorted. It's perfect. As each season progresses the picture gets better and better. By season 7 it basically has blu ray quality already. So I am more than happy 🙂
 
Okay, a few things to cover why this will probably never happen:

1) Buffy was shot on film (a little more on that later), but it was transferred to video during post-production before effects were done. That means that the effects were only done to SD video standards in order to save money, so they'd have to redo all of the CGI effects in the show from scratch in order for them to look good in HD. They'd also have to go back to the original film and redo the transfer, which adds a lot of work as well.

2) The aspect ratio thing. Sure, it can be released in 4:3 just with higher resolution, but knowing how executives make decisions, they'll want to make it 16:9, and, well, the cinematography was designed for 4:3.

Robb Stark said:
I'm a big Blu-Ray guy, but I'll also be the first to admit that I don't know the technical aspects of transferring a DVD over to Blu-Ray form. However, if they can do it with movies from the 40's, you'd think they would have the capability to make it happen with just about any DVD from the modern era.
Click to expand...

They can do that with movies from the 40s because they're transferring from 35mm film prints, not from DVDs -- they're going back to the original source, and 35mm film can be shown on massive screens without looking grainy.

Pike said:
I know the first two seasons are shot on 16mm and the later ones are on 35mm. I don't know how this plays into the transfer to blue-ray. I get kind of lost with digital/film and its transfer process to blue-ray. 😛
Click to expand...

This is tricky, but... 16mm can be transferred to HD pretty well. It really depends on the quality of the original film stock. One article (http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=3343) mentions The Shield, which is not coming out on Blu-ray because it was shot on 16mm (and specifically mentions the first two seasons of Buffy)... but there are a lot of movies that have been shot on 16mm that are released on Blu-ray and look really good (they mention a ton, I won't link to all of them here), so that's really not the problem.

Above all, what it comes down to is this: Buffy is a long show. 144 episodes would have be transferred from film (which is far from an automatic process, it's actually quite labor intensive), effects need to be done from scratch, and even if they do it by starting with the first season and seeing if it sells before they try to sell more... well, Season 1 looks bad. The biggest problem with how it looks is more about the lighting setup than anything else, but that is definitely a consideration, and it'll be very difficult, if it's even possible, to make that season look good on Blu-ray, so it might not sell well because of how it looks. Overall, it's too much to try without a crazy-devoted fanbase.

And yes, Firefly and Dollhouse are on Blu-ray -- Dollhouse was in HD from the beginning, and Firefly sells amazingly well on video and is short enough that it's nowhere near as expensive.

Yeah, it's unlikely we're ever going to see them on Blu-ray, but I've found that I don't mind it all that much. Sure, I refuse to not buy Blu-ray anymore if I have a choice, but I'm not holding out hope.
 
nmcil12 said:
The best you can do for now, this is the last I know on the subject so I could be wrong, is to watch on Amazon with the HD but it is only for Angel. Suppose itunes has the same HD for Angel - I get mine on Amazon for season 5 - all else I watch on my DVD's. Last I checked you can rent or purchase Buffy also, but it is not HD.
Click to expand...

Ooh, I had no idea about this- going to go check it out!
 
Mischlings said:
Okay, a few things to cover why this will probably never happen:

1) Buffy was shot on film (a little more on that later), but it was transferred to video during post-production before effects were done. That means that the effects were only done to SD video standards in order to save money, so they'd have to redo all of the CGI effects in the show from scratch in order for them to look good in HD. They'd also have to go back to the original film and redo the transfer, which adds a lot of work as well.

2) The aspect ratio thing. Sure, it can be released in 4:3 just with higher resolution, but knowing how executives make decisions, they'll want to make it 16:9, and, well, the cinematography was designed for 4:3.
Click to expand...

This. Personally, I don't understand why people feel the need to have the series in Blu-Ray. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the DVD sets we have now. I take them for what they are. It's a TV show from the late 90s and early 2000s, so I'm not going to expect 2013 quality standards.
 
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