CSI: Season One - Box and Disc Art (2 Viewers)

[Alex Spindler]

Dredging this one up. Is anyone hoping that they may relent and release a widescreen version of this season in the future. I know the answer, but I have to have hope.

 

[Paul_Stachniak]

I'd just like to bring up this petition I started a while ago, to let CBS, Alliance, and Paramount to know out stance on future releases of CSI... sign it if you'd like.
CSI on DVD in WIDESCREEN

 

[andrew markworthy]

The Who's "Who Are You?" theme song was not featured on the UK, Canadian or Australian releases, replaced by some generic rock song in a apparent bid to avoid paying royalties.

It's worse than that (I had a tiny rant about this in the 'Regional DVD' section a month or so ago). Not only is the replacement music indifferent muzak, but the pacing of the titles is all wrong, since they were cut to match 'Who are you?'. I skip the intros on my R2 set because they are now such an abberation. Get the R1 version if you can. And if Pete Townsend was behind refusing the rights to the music in R2, then I hope he changes his mind before the next series comes out on DVD - it's not like he doesn't need some good publicity right now.
Just one thing about the 'full screen' issue. It is categorically *not* pan and scan. There's probably a technical term for this, but it was one of those series where the scenes were shot with both full- and widescreen in mind (i.e. like a lot of other TV shows at the moment). The full screen version isn't necessarily 'wrong', since this was one of two versions shot at the time. So I don't think avoiding it because it's an 'incorrect' version is valid.
IMHO, where there are dual full and widescreen versions of the type described, I generally prefer the fullscreen one - the widescreen version often just contains extraneous information.

 

[Aryn Leroux]

Has anyone seen any reviews for the R1 release around ? You would think there would be something with it less than a week from streeting.

 

[Yumbo]

I'm too lazy.

summary is above.

 

[Jerome]

The "Who are you" song is on the French Region 2 DVD. We only have the first part of Season 1.

 

[Alex Spindler]

I think I'm resigned to purchase this as an "open matte" version (I think that was the term you were searching for Andrew). To emulate the widescreen broadcast, I'll try a standard TheaterWide ratio and hope that the widescreen framing is consistently in the center.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Has anyone seen any reviews for the R1 release around ? You would think there would be something with it less than a week from streeting.

Here's Gord Lacey's Review at tvshowsondvd.com

 

[Aryn Leroux]

Thanks Mike

 

[Mark_Wilson]

Maybe you can compare some of the screen shots from a Season 1 episode. I posted screen shots from a 16:9 HD widescreen broadcast.
Link

 

[Alex Spindler]

Thanks Mark. I'll have to run these through. I was trying to zoom the image to match what a widescreen presentation would look like, but it was hard without a reference.

I think it's aimed squarely at the upper section of the image, but with this I can be pretty certain.

 

[Mark_Wilson]

Ok, I broke down and bought this set hoping it was open matte. Its NOT!
Have a look:


and this one:

 

[Alex Spindler]

Yep, I've been burning through the episodes and it's clear that it wasn't open matte. I really couldn't get the composition right.

Kind of a bummer, especially as I'm assuming that later seasons will be released widescreen.

Still a great show, but I wish they had taken the extra effort.

 

[Paul_Stachniak]

I hope the next season will be in 16x9, however, I'm really impressed by the sharpness of the transfers on the First Season set.. it's very good... just missing the sides.

 

[Martin Blythe]

Season 2 in the US will be 16:9.

 

[Kwang Suh]

I hope that means Season 2 in Canada will be 16:9... This is the only American TV series that I am buying.

 

[Alex Spindler]

Excellent! Being in a CBS HD deprived region (Kansas City), I've never been able to enjoy the series in widescreen. Really looking forward to the next season.

 

[Paul_Stachniak]

Indeed this is excellent news.