"Babylon 5" - Will there be a price drop? (1 Viewer)

[Katherine_K]

Mark, it's been repeatedly pointed out that no one has said that. Perhaps you should stop arguing against something no one is advocating.

 

[Andy_Bu]

People who pull "facts" from where the sun don't shine often make us laugh.

Andy

 

[Mark Talmadge]

If you want to know part of what I'm talking about, just look at this:

http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAP...erid=itrimming

While the number is low, between 15-30 percent, and I can point out that I mostly look for anime DVD's, this is indicative where nanime sellers are concerned. I've also seen other such indicators, though not as big on other auctions such as normal DVD auctions and such. When you buy TV DVD sets on ebay and they have 512 negative feedback comments from buyers within 30 days is a very big problem that ebay doesn't deal with.

I'm not saying that everyone is like that on ebay but the number is too high and it's like playing russian roulette with ebay.

 

[Katherine_K]

Anyone who buys from a seller with that much negative feedback is not taking reasonable steps to investigate before they bid Mark.

 

[DanielKellmii]

Joey, you could try your library????
But, just buy the first season and see what you think. I bet you will be happy to spend whatever it costs to get the remainder. That is one set that I still watch even though I know every episode already. It is just fun.

 

[Joey Gunz]

I've already seen Babylon 5 when it aired on the TNT channel a few years ago. Thankfully they aired it in its proper order. I loved it but the first season was such a struggle to watch. Very slow and boring. But the next 4 seasons were incredible. Its definitely worth buying, but $80 per season is a bit too much.

 

[danDo]

Those are some impressive numbers for that seller. I guess the day change has reduced his negave feedbacks from 512 to 497. A pretty big number. Of course the seller also has 18,857 positives in that same 30 day period. So that comes out to 2.6% negative feedback rating. That's pretty amazing for the volume of business they do.

If they had a movie I was looking for, I would not hold their current ebay feedback against them.

 

[Mark Talmadge]

Well, that's a big risk that you could end up getting ripped off.

 

[Paul McElligott]

2.6% is a big risk?

 

[TheLongshot]

It depends. Sometimes, you have to look over the positive comments to see if someone is stuffing their rating, which some sellers do on EBay.

Getting back to the subject, another way I saved on these sets back in the day was to order from Canada. Back when these were released, the exchange rate pretty damn good, and I could get these for about $55 + shipping. Course, nowadays the exchange rate probably isn't as good and the savings may not be there...

Jason

 

[Andy_Bu]

And please note that anyone who has used EBAY at all realizes that at least half of the negative comments are from moronic buyers who either did not understand what they were getting or were upset about something so trivial that it never should have been a negative comment.

Andy

 

[Joey Gunz]

I borrowed my friend's copy of "B5" and I was very surprised at the poor picture quality. I've only seen the first 2 discs of season 1, but it seems grainy and unclean at times. Given the price of the sets, I'm pretty disappointed at the shoddy treatment the studio gave the DVDs. Do the later seasons look any better?

 

[Peter Overduin]

as a matter of fact......our dollar closed at above 88 cents to the US dollar, a multi-year high to be sure.

I discussed sets such as B5 and Band of Brothers with someone in the business, and wondered why indeed they were impervious to price drops, whereas sets such as 24, SG1 and a host of other TV programming saw significant price drops. Essentially, he tells me, stuff like B5 and BOB do not have the mass appeal that stuff like 24 has and a significant price drop in those products would not trigger any measureable increase in sales. In other words, the research shows, obstensibly, that while people WILL buy 24 or SG1 when it goes on sale; they will buy B5 and BOB at full retail. At some point, when it is felt that sets like B5 have reached what the studio feel is the market penetration level, the price may come down some. However, BOB, for example, is such a perenial best seller, price drops are not required. B5, while not a best seller, is a consistent seller that meets the expectations of the studio and price drops are not considered a viable market tool to spur sales when they are satisfied with where they are now.

Hope this helps...please dont shoot the messenger! Thanks

 

[TheLongshot]

Unfortunatly, there is a reason for it that is beyond the studio's control. As you may know, the original run was done at 4:3 AR, but was filmed composed (at least after the first season. First season is debatable) for a 16:9 aspect ratio. But, at the time, the effects were rendered at TV resolution to get them out on time. The original plan was to eventually rerender things for future formats (DVD and HD) when the time came.

Problem is, when Netter Digital turned over all of their files for the models to WB, they got lost at some point. So, there is no way to rerender the SFX without some signifigant work and cost.

So, to do the DVDs, scenes with effects work are basically cropped versions of the original 4:3 tapes. This is why the video quality is highly variable.

Course, when they came out, there were a lot of arguments about what WB should have done with it. There were a good number of people who would have liked to have a 4:3 version. Personally, I think any version of B5 was going to be a compromise and not ideal, so I like the current releases.

At least I know that unless they do a lot of work, I won't have to replace this with an HD version in the future. This is probably as good as it is going to get.

Jason

 

[Kevin Grey]

To add to what Jason said, the video does improve with later seasons as the cinematography (and the rest of the production values) improve. Unfortunately the effects issue never goes away.

 

[Katherine_K]

There is also an issue with the early B5 material because the masters were partially eaten by rats after some earthquake damage to the vault they were stored in.

 

[DaveGTP]

Argh

A thread about the best show ever aired on television has been derailed into a discussion about ebay.

I started picking these up on release starting with season 3, using Triple pts weekend pre-orders on my Replay card at Suncoast. Effectively they cost me about $65 a piece. And worth every penny.

BTW: DeepdiscountDVD has them listed for $43, listing "Release Date: 03/14/06". I'd assume this is a re-release of some sort, but I haven't heard anything about it. Looks like good news for the OP.

 

[Holadem]

You have got to be kidding me.

--
H

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

The DDD thing sounds like a price drop in the offing. (Probably being issued with a new SKU.)



Sadly, no. The problem was first discovered in 1997 or 1998, when they went into the vault to pull the original film elements for the re-edit of The Gathering. Water damage and rats chewing on the original negatives left them with very limited choices in re-editing certain scenes, but luckily there was enough to rstore the film to something closer to JMS's original script than the badly-paced monstrosity the director and the network between them had made of the original. (

 

[Katherine_K]

I did see the pilot in 1993, it had moments of brilliance, but .... long stretches of slow paced dialogue. As I recall the worst offender in that pilot was the trip through the Alien Sector with Sinclair and Lyta. Thankfully, it was cut in the re-edit.

My understanding is that the rat problem also extended to some of the early first season material as well.