Battlestar Galactic: Season One HD DVD Packaging Woes (1 Viewer)

[Paul_Scott]

an understatement.

I tried playing disc 5 (one of the more scratched ones in my set) and it locked up before it even finished the first "previously on" on the first episode.
I'll call up Amazon monday to get a new one.
After that I only watched a couple minutes of another disc- what I saw didn't seem to me to be a big leap at all in terms of a/v, over the standard def regular season eps. I was quite satisfied with those when I rented them out last spring- and given the QC issues, and the higher HD price tag, I think the standard def sets may be more compelling.
My attitude might change if I could directly a/b them, or as I actually log some real time with them- but right now, all aspects of the experience considered, it seems a dubious upgrade.

on the other hand, even just watching a few brief minutes of one of the weaker epsiodes (Bastille Day) I was reminded all over again of just how amazingly great this show is. The perceptual upgrade may be minor- but if there was ever any property where I would pay extra to own it in the finest quality available, it would be this one.

First time viewers like Sam are in for one hell of a treat. And as good as season 1 was, I thought season 2 was even better (haven't seen S3 yet- hopefully by then these will be day and date).

back to the packaging- The only thing I don't like about these hubs are that you need to have a lot of light on when you put the discs back on them. Because of the way the rubber adheres to the plastic, and because there is no tray to guide the disc back on the hub- it is a bit tricky to get them back on (especially in a dimly lit room). On the other hand, I love the fact there is absolutely no stress whatsoever placed on the disc when you take them off the hub. they hold fast, but come off ridiculously easy (just remember to twist off).
I also appreciate the height being the same as a regular HD case. Even things like Close Encounters and Planet Earth don't quite fit on same shelves as my other basic HDMs. I just wish they could drop the 'cute' packaging and just concentate on basic and functional.
I'm actually suprised and disappointed that its the HDDVD format that has to put up with all the QC problems, cutesy/lame packaging, and less frequent discount pricing.
These were points that I was certain would affect the PS3 format far more, and yet it's been just the opposite.

that may be one of the worst aspects for me out of all of this.

 

[Don May Jr]

Oh fer cryin' out loud...

So I got my replacement HD DVD of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA SEASON 1 from AMAZON.COM today and, as luck would have it, none of the discs exhibit any deep circular scratches. One disc has a very, very tiny imperfection on the surface, but I doubt it would have any impact on playback. I guess I got really lucky... 5 of the 6 discs look perfect.

But...

Unfortunately, unlike the original set I received, AMAZON decided to ship me this replacement set in a flimsy padded envelope (my original set was shipped in a nice box with the set shrinkwrapped to a piece of sturdy cardboard inside) and, yep, you guessed it... the entire case is cracked, crushed and bent. Nice going AMAZON... it looks like this padded envelope was drop-kicked and stepped on.

Sigh...

This time I'm calling them to complain and I'm hanging onto this one until the replacement one arrives in a non-stepped-on case.

 

[Paul Arnette]

Yeah, I don't know what Amazon is thinking putting this release in a padded mailer. Are they running out of boxes because of the Christmas rush?

Anyway, I finally got a set I can live with. Now I just have a few returns to make. Best of luck to you, Don.

 

[Paul_Scott]

now you now better.

its good to know there are good sets out there to be had.
guess I'll call up for my replacement now.

 

[Michael Boyd]

I sent mine back today. The worst of the bunch, disc 5 froze up 19 minutes in. I just asked for a refund, no replacement.

 

[troy evans]

Got a chance to look at this set in my local Best Buy today. Wow, that packaging .....well, you know. Looked inside through the clear top to see if the discs were secure on thier hubs and all looked good. Price tag was $99.99. I debated, said F... it!, and decided to purchase it. I hadn't even left the aisle before an employee and customer came looking for it. The employee saw it in my hand and scanned the shelf and then told the other customer they didn't have anymore. Mine was the last in stock apparently. I was able to listen to the exchange between the two and guess what? The other guy was returning it because the one he bought was defective. Shocking, I know. I gave the other guy my copy, since I hadn't purchased it yet and told him, "Good luck with this one". He seemed happy. I hope the one I had works. With all this crap about this set I think I'll just hold onto my original BB exclusive season one set. The transfers of that look stunning on my Tosh A20 anyway. Good luck to all of you that pursue this set. For me, I'll wait till they work out the bugs of it until I drop $100.00 on this.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

The original SD Set seems to be the better deal in this case.

 

[Sam Posten]

Show was a little slow to start but it's picking up now. What's the deal with them not worrying about cursing about half the time and the other half of the time using made up curse words? Wasn't this shown on SciFi channel late at night where they could do whatever they wanted, within reason?

 

[Adam Gregorich]

What the frack are you talking about Sam?

I actually don't remember any "real" swearing.

 

[Paul_Scott]

I thought you said you loved the original show Sam?
Frak was one of the quaint little cheats in the original series (don't remember if they use feldercarb in the remake or not- that might be a little too cute for this universe).
I think with Sci-fi channel being on basic cable, you can get away with son of a bitch but fuck would be a little too over the line...just like with the blue noses at the mpaa

 

[Paul Arnette]

lol I don't think so, and its omission, as well as Dirk Benedict's, assist in giving it its rare "better than the original" distinction in my book.

 

[ReggieW]

High Def Digest has given this set a less than stellar review.

I haven't purchased it yet, but would like to hear the thoughts of others here who've purchased the set. If the video really isn't that great, then there is no reason to purchase this set over the much cheaper (and obviously sturdier) SD release. It would be a real shame if Universal dropped the ball, not only on the packaging, but the content as well.

 

[Patrick Hannon]

I bought BSG yesterday (a week late showing up in this neck of the woods!) and on opening the package, sure enough three of the discs have the scratches....not badly scratched, but scratched none the less..... I tried one of the discs and it played OK, but maybe it did not read over the scratched area...(the laser position indicator in my old 999ES was useful in checking out scratched areas of DVD's..a useful feature afterall). As noted previously, the scratches do not seem to be packaging related. Disc one had a few smaller marks that washed off with a gentle damp wipe.... Hopefully the discs will play, as there appears to be no point in returning the set unless there is a skipping problem. Quality control.....

Cheers,
P.E.H.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

I have'nt seen the BG package, But I received the Smallville S5 release for Xmas on HD-DVD last year, and that seemed like a good effort. One Disk came off the Tab, but that's an issue with HD-DVD Boxes, still I Judge each release to see if it's really worth it. Upconverted WS TV Shows like Smallville still look pretty decent, and can be usually found real cheap after they've been out for a bit. HD-DVD and Blu Ray TV Releases need to come down a bit in price before I start buying them over their SD Counterparts

 

[Dave Moritz]

I love this show but with all the reports of damaged discs and cheap packaging. I think I will just stick with my SD versions for now.

I would like to hear from everyone that picked up the HD set of BSG, does the HD version warrent the purchase on HD?

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Maybe they'll do a repackaging like they did when the run of Cylon head cases ran out for the original series.

I can dream, can't I?

 

[Paul_Scott]

so I called up for a replacement set. It came in and each disc is scratched to varying degrees in this one as well.
I say screw it and start to dive into the set anyway.
I'm also completely finished with the set, and haven't encountered any playback issues at all when all of a sudden I have a hard, repeatable freeze at the point where
Boomer shoots Adama
. The last few minutes left in the entire season, and the disc craps out on me.
I just got off the phone with Amazon and they won't send me another replacment- so both sets are going back unfortunately.

Though I understand Amazons position, I find this extremely disappointing.
Even though I just got thru re-watching it, I would honestly rather own this set than 90% of the stuff I've bought in BOGOs these last few weeks. In fact I would happily trade dozens of those discs back just to get one pristine set of this...but thats just not going to happen apparently.

Also I was wrong earlier. The mini-series was a step up in PQ over the SD DVDs, and by the midway point of the season, the PQ was off the charts. It was some of the prettiest looking HD footage I've ever seen. the colors, the details, the richness of the blacks- all this combined with such conceptually rich and rewarding content makes it a desert island title for me.

And yet I'm not going to be owning it because the quality control is so poor.

For shame Universal...for shame.

 

[Dave Moritz]

Based on what I am hearing in this thread and after actually seeing what the set packaging looked like at my local retailer. I will not be owning this title until Universal gets there act together and changes the packaging. This was by far the worst packaging I have ever seen in my life! There is no way I am going to pay top money for an HD transfer with trash packaging! Its great that its HD and it great that they offered a Dolby True HD audio track. But with cheap flimsy packaging like that and the chance of getting damaged discs, I say no thanks I will pass!

And I actually really did want to get BSG in HD but now I will wait!

 

[Walter Kittel]

I had not performed any comparisons, but after completing Season 1 on HD DVD several days ago, I watched the first episode of Season 2 on standard definition last night. The differences were very obvious on my system. The HD DVD release represents a major step up in presentation quality (at least based on my observation of episode 1 of Season 2 on SD.)

Two of the discs in my Season 1 set had minor scratches, but played fine. While I agree that Universal did a poor job of packaging this series; if you can get a set that plays okay the HD DVD release is pretty terrific.

- Walter.

 

[wot.fm]

very kwl