Sarah Conner Chronicals, Good Enough on sd dvd? (1 Viewer)

[troy evans]

I love Blu-ray and the format is usually the undeniable way to go. As I've been reading the specs for both upcoming sd and Blu releases of this title I've been questioning it, to say the least. Both have the exact same special features. The exact same audio mix, 5.1 DD. The only difference is the BD is (3) 50 dual layer discs as opposed to the sd dvds (3) discs. Reviewers have said the PQ is superior. One reviewer I read said, even though the sound is 5.1 DD on both, the BD sounds better. Hmmmm? Well, I've decided to buy this on both formats because my curiosity would get the better of me. I'm expecting that while the Blu may be slightly better PQ wise, it may not be enough to pay the extra expense for some. I am interested if anyone else is in the same place or has had to make a call on a simular tv Blu release? Was the investment worth the extra price?

 

[DavidHAN]

Can't wait to hear your thoughts on the differences. I have been on the fence about which format to get on this and some others as well. I'll be buying "Firefly" again on BD. I would also consider "Alias" if it ever came out on BD.

 

[troy evans]

I will say that given the price difference here is only $10, you could argue it's not that big a deal. When the price differences are around $30 to $40 for Blu vs. sd dvd, then it becomes an issue for me. I just want what I'm paying for and if the differences are minimal then it's ridiculous to pay the extra money. Especially, if there's no exclusive content or a lossless sound mix. The slight improvement in picture quality is just not worth it.

 

[troy evans]

I was able to get the sd dvd version early and have watched the first four episodes. These episodes look damn good...I mean, DAMN GOOD! The only trouble I have seen so far has been one scene in the pilot. The scene where the terminator is chasing john from school and climbs on top of the turned over school bus. The moment he climbs on to the bus the scene goes to hell. Very harsh grain and a slight loss of detail. Even though it's not a hugh problem, you really notice it because of how well the rest of the episode looks. The next scene after that, we're back on track. I'll use this scene for the Blu-ray comparison and hopefully it's, at least, brought to the same levels as the rest of the video. The 5.1 mix on the sd dvd is very good, but, it is soft at spots and there is a bass heavy feel to the scenes. Whether this was intentional or not, it is overkill for bass. Warner has been impressing me lately with how they package their tv dvd product. This set is no exception. Very nice character only shots on silver discs, reverse insert art and sturdy dvd holders. Just, spectacular stuff. Here's hopin' for a rave review of the Blu.

 

[Wayne_j]

The BD has DD 5.1 at 640K, the DVD probably has it at 440K.

 

[RogerH]

I'll be getting the blu-ray version. I have only seen the first episode when it was on TV so I'm really looking forward to it.

 

[Dalton]

I watched it in HD when it was broadcast and the PQ was outstanding. I have an excellent upconverting player and a Blu Ray player and 99% of the titles i have repurchased on Blu Ray look very noticiably better than their sd dvd counterparts. I will be getting the Blu Ray for sure.

 

[RogerH]

I just watched finished watching the season on blu-ray (I still have the extended cut of Demon Hand left though) but coming from person that never seen the whole season on TV I loved it. I'll def. be watching the 2nd season next month.

 

[Jon Martin]

While I haven't gotten into Blu-Ray yet, I thought one of the big selling points was the storage capacity, how they could fit a whole season on one DVD.

Is that not the case anymore?

 

[JeremyErwin]

The Sarah Conner Chronicles were broadcast in 720p with dolby digital 5.1 sound. If you want the same picture quality (minus bugs, dropouts and macroblocking), you'll have to go with bluray.

 

[TravisR]

I know lots of people said that early on but I don't think it was ever actually the case. A 1080p transfer takes up alot of space on a disc so you can fit a little more on a Blu-Ray disc but not that much more. For example, Lost: Season Three has five episodes a disc on Blu-Ray and the DVD has four episodes a disc.

Although I would imagine that you could fit alot of episodes of an older show shot on videotape on Blu-Ray disc but what are the chances of seeing of any of those any time soon?

 

[JeremyErwin]

Consider this. An atsc channel is 19.38 Mb/s.

A standard episode is, what? 47 minutes long? So, 2820 seconds and ... about 7 gigabytes per episode. A BD-50 should be good for 7 episodes, if you limited yourself to broadcast quality mpeg-2/ac-3.

 

[David Lambert]

If we're talking about DVD-quality episodes, then yes...that COULD happen.

But hi-def episodes would require more space, of course.

The benefit to consumers of Blu-ray (and HD-DVD, when it was still being produced) has been explained to consumers as being superior video and sound...not "more storage". That storage is there, but it can be used for EITHER the superior video and sound, OR instead be used for more of the same-old-same-old.

Since the advertising of Blu-ray is all about the video/audio, the studios have not taken a chance on using a Blu-ray release for simply packing in more episodes (or movies) at the standard-def level onto a single disc.

 

[Will_B]

On the blu, you can read all of the terminator's viewscreen information. The show is blu worthy. Even if the sound isn't too impressive.

The show suddenly gets much, much better for the last two episodes in terms of storytelling. Had the strike ended at that point? I recall reading, early on, that the showrunner was on strike so the editing of the episodes was done pretty roughly by people other than him.

I suppose I'll find out when I listen to the commentary tracks.