Star Trek: The Next Generation - Next Level Blu-ray Review - Page 2

Looks great; I especially like that he says they'll look at all the series. It may take 10 years, but they'll have all the shows in HD, so they can show them and sell them for the next 50 years.

 

 

Even if it does take until 2015 for the entire run of the series to come out, I'm okay with that.  Not only does it amortize the cost over several years (and, at that point, I'm more agreeable to a higher price point), but we get the chance to enjoy each season as its released.  The original release schedule for all the season sets was just monstrous and draining.  This means, for me anyway, I won't be getting rid of the DVD sets quite yet.  Quite possibly as each new season is released, but not in one chunk.

 

I intended to grab the sampler disc last night, but life interfered.  It is on my To Do list this week and I'm very stoked about it right now.

I'll be keeping all my DVD's of TNG. I still have all my DVDs of TOS. They are still playable on.my older systems. Plus I don't plan to sell DS9, Voyager or Enterprise. The blu rays will be for the main system in the house with the 1080p display.

Looks like I'll be collecting through 2013 then. I've given some serious thought about this, and seasons 1-3 are by far my favorite. I know most don't care for the first few seasons, but to me the exploration aspect(away misssions) of the show are strongest in these seasons. It's what I like best about the show.

Seasons 4-5 are pretty good, but seasons 6-7(especially 6) are in my opinion pretty bad. Brannon Braga may be one of the worst television writers That I can think of. His techno babble/horror stories are very un-Trek. I'll keep my standard dvd's of those seasons, but I just can't see myself plunking down serious money for seasons That I have little interest in.

Have to agree the picture quality is impressive. The 13 seconds of upconverted material in Sins of the Father show just how much an improvement it is!

I won't be purchasing these, but I'm really impressed by the positive reactions I've been reading. My hope is that over time, new fans will be drawn to TNG (and eventually to all six series) as a result of this work.

I bet these new sets would sell well in standard definition if they released them for folks with only DVD capability...I've seen some transfers made from HD sources to 480p that looked almost amazing...they'd definitely look better than the TNG SD releases out now...the original sets should have been struck from a better source to begin with, IMHO.
Edited by Carabimero - 2/1/12 at 11:41pm

Network's Space 1999 DVD release (which never made it to the US) is a prime example of this. If the STNG remaster project had started about five years ago, I'd agree with you, that an SD set would be a great seller, but given the 'premium' price always attached to Star Trek properties, I suspect that CBS wouldn't price such a set much below what they'll sell the Blu-Rays for, so I'm thinking the market for an upgraded SD set is shrinking (when there's an HD set being offered) and that they won't take a risk in producing such a set (at least in R1).

I imagine those who haven't bought into the franchise yet are like me: I felt the previous sets were overpriced, especially for the below-par quality. Since I haven't bought them, and have bought into Blu-Ray since then, I'd only be interested in the BR release now. If I had bought the previous sets, I certainly wouldn't double-dip on another set of DVDs (no matter how much better) when I could have Blu-Rays instead.

I finally got to watch Encounter at Farpoint a little while ago.  After all the years of watching this episode, I'm noticing new details (that's the point, right?).  The Q force field, for instance, looks much deeper and three dimensional than I remember it looking previously.  But more than the picture, I'm impressed by the audio.  Gone is the hissy, muted sound I remember from the DVD's; the Enterprise warping in and out is amazing. 

 

My only problem is EaF is a very crappy episode.  I'm going to try to spin Sins of the Father tomorrow and then Inner Light over the weekend.  Truth be told, I've never loved Inner Light, so I'm hoping I can come around and see why everyone is over the moon for it.

Personally I like THE INNER LIGHT because it is a chance to see Picard have a family and a life, fundamental experiences that being Captain of the Enterprise never allows him. I love little touches, like Stewart's son being in the show; I love Picard learning to play the flute, and most of all, I love the score to that episode. I wish the entire score was out, not just one piece and a suite.

I have seen episodes of TNG more times than any other show. I have watched them consistently for nearly 25 years. And they have never looked like this! Wow! The image on this blu-ray might be the biggest revelation yet of the format. If the studio had any question about the value of what they are doing, it is most definitely worth it.

I never believed that CBS would take the time and money to do this series right for HD, but I cheerfully have to admit that I was wrong. These look terrific, and make me want to watch the whole series all over again. The amount of detail that is now revealed is amazing. I have no problem re-purchasing my season sets on BD, and hope that they continue on with the other Trek series, especially DS9.

- Mark

Watched these over the weekend and they look stunning, I would have thought if they'd sourced these HD from film elements then it would have been possible to go "wide".
I'd hope that these will find a new audience now but the only thing that will forever date these is the 4:3 aspect ratio, but guess there's nothing they can do, well there is and I think someone should have forgotten about the older fans seeing these square originally and just run with reframing these as wide for a whole new generation, I know Babylon 5 got some criticism about how they turned there dvds in as widescreen but it was a smart decision to blow up that 4:3 image and recrop in to a wide 16:9 frame, doesn't look as dated, loss in resolution sure but I'd forgo some pixels for 16:9.
Anyway these are amazing even square "87 style" I can't wait for Season 1 this year, I hope they'll release season 1 of DS9 this year too, Voyager can stay SD....second thoughts seven of nine in HD would be visually appealing.
Edited by ChrisRy - 2/5/12 at 10:35am

I'll take dated photography over cropped photography any day of the week.

Big thumbs up to Paramount for respecting the work done by the artists and not listening to people who are willing to the sacrifice the photography of the show so they can fill their screen. TV is a visual medium so I can't believe that there's been so many people at a board like this that want to change or see so little value in something as vitally important as the aspect ratio of the photography.

 

 

I'd love to see DS9 get this same treatment in the near future, but I don't think there's any chance of it happening this year.  CBS should want to see how the TNG season sets sell first before releasing all this product.  If they stick to the 2 seasons per year strategy as has previously been mentioned, we'll have S1 and S2 in 2012, S3 and S4 in 2013, S5 and S6 in 2014 and S7 in 2015.  Best guess is that the next series to get the HD treatment will also get a sampler disc/first season release in 2015 to keep up the "2 per year" schedule.

 

This is still three years away, so a lot of things can change between now and then.

Well, then, all you have to do is hit your "zoom" button. Sorted.

Agreed.   I'm pretty committed to buying the ST:TNG sets just in hopes that it tells CBS there is a market for DS9.

unfortunately there's a whole generation waking up to Trek now that sees 4:3 as dated, I'd hope Star Trek is around way after we've gone because I think 4:3 content will find it hard to live on in the future.

Babylon 5 (DS9) wide looks better than B5 4:3.
From the Earth to the Moon was made wide in the same way B5 was, it too was 4:3 doesn't look too bad in widescreen.

wow thanks for solving that problem for me.

I think they'll commit to TNG on BLU now although BLU is seriously dying fast, it''ll be gone by 2014. DS9 and VOYAGER will no doubt get remastered the same way but go the sale on iTunes/amazon in HD route.

The funniest thing i have read all week.

But of course we will all be dead before the end of 2012, so who will be left in 2014 to prove you wrong!

I have no doubt that downloading is the future but it sure isn't going to be the only way for consumers to purchase movies or TV shows in just 2 years.

I don't know about the Region A version of the sampler disc, but those of us in the UK only have to send an enclosed form and our proof of purchase in to a Freepost address and we get a £5 cheque cashback - no discount voucher off the box set, just proper cash money.

I'm completely blown away by these reconstructed episodes (they go far beyond a simple "restoration" or "remaster"). I've only watched Encounter at Farpoint so far, and in comparison with the original DVD version it's like watching a completely different show.

I've heard comments that a 16:9 version of the show would be welcome and I would agree with the proviso that a set should include MAR and OAR versions if MAR versions were to be made available.

bwahahahah.. your network connection must be better then the majority of the US.   Living in a city, I'm glad I live somewhere where I can get a 100mb connection to my home.   Meanwhile, for the rest of Kansas, 80% can get less then a 512k connection; 30% can only get EDGE/GPRS (2G) level data.   There is no rush for download only without wiping out huge levels of consumers, not counting international markets, etc.

Yeah, I don't buy into the Blu-ray is dying scenario.

 

 

I FAR prefer DS9 to TNG, won't be getting TNG. Will hold out hope for Blu DS9.

I love you all fellow trek fans seriously the fact you guys love this show means I have a huge respect for you all, I know you're all really nice decent folk.

But Blu is going away really fast, music stores are disappearing and physical media is like kodak film, it just can't sustain.

Blu is pretty flawed too, this is why people aren't embracing like they should, it's slow 90's tech, the boot times, the menu times, it can't improve, 50gb on a data disc = slow today and slow tomorrow, a flash based Blu Ray disc that didn't actually spin that would work but it's too late we won't fork out in time for another attempt at dvd 2.0 - streamed = instant and if your connection is slow today trust me it's going to get a lot faster soon.

Guys I have a 2mb connection but I have no wait times playing my 720p Enterprise episodes from iTunes, they're instant, they're in the cloud and it's just ease, it's just so effortless to pull up a show and hit the play button on an AppleTV2.0, sure Blu has the best quality right now but soon we'll be buying 1080p from iTunes and later 2k and 4k, these latter formats will bypass physical media altogether, they'll only be in the cloud or downloaded to your TVs/Computers.

I'm a New Zealander living in the UK, music stores have almost disappeared in NZ (there's a couple of chains but they're just hanging in there for now) here in London they're going too, they're practically deserted in the weekdays.

It's a bummer, but it's the future, I'd be careful investing in Blu-Ray discs, your dvds are obsolete now, there's no resale there, not that you were thinking of selling but they're not always going to manufacture Blu-Ray and DVD disc players and how many of you now have your dvds sitting in boxes under your homes ? me too, they even look dated on shelves.

Rip your favourites to hard drive (losslessly with 1:1 software like makemkv) store on portable hard drives, stream episodes from your iPhone/ipad from your computer to your tv with software like AirVideo, it's a star trek future, you of al people should be embracing this time.

The Death Of Blu is not a bad thing it's a Star Trek thing, it's a future thing but I'm sure we'll all get a chance to buy the first seasons of TNG before they pull the plug, I doubt we'll see a physical Season 7 in 2015 that will go straight to iTunes/Amazon.

Anyway Love you all for loving such beautiful TV.

it'll get faster though, atleast you live in America.

I have to disagree on so many level.

First off who needs physical stores to buy content. Most of mine is purchased online. Next kodak film is still available for purchase for those that want it.

There is nothing wrong with the speed of reading a blu-ray disk. The fact is they created a model using Java providing too much freedom that producers have overdone the menu's and provided capabilities that slow start up times. This cam improve over time based on more standardization and better processing in players

You are forgetting that the more the model goes the streaming/download route the more the demand. Infrastructures never keep up with demand. Speed will always be a probem for many. And don't forget people like content they feel they own that has substance. They get this with a disk. Streaming/downloading will always be contain various protection schemes that can continue to change since the content is on their side not the consumers.

Some people always overestimate the speed of progress and when technology becomes obsolete. You can still buy devices to play vinyl records and CD's. There will be devices to play blu-ray and DVD content for decades yet. I have no interest in streaming, i much prefer a disk, and the market will still contain this model for years to come. Back in 1995 a neighbor told me that HDTV's would be available to all for under $200 within the year. Well it took a decade and even now not all have embraced it completely. We still have standard digital content being broadcast.