Has anyone been completely satisfied with a TV DVD release? (1 Viewer)

[Casey C.]

Seinfeld
NewsRadio
Freaks and Geeks
Undeclared
The West Wing
Sports Night
Six Feet Under
The Sopranos

 

[Ethan Riley]

I am completely satisfied with:

I Love Lucy: nearly flawless
Star Trek: TOS : no problems here.
The O.C.: ditto
Are You Being Served? Beautiful image quality from the BBC and good extras
The Simpsons: this is the way to do dvds.
Desperate Housewives: wants for nothing.
The Flying Nun: few extras, but what beautiful sound and image quality for these 40 year old comedies.

I would have put Lost on this list, but they did not include the webisodes for season two, which they initially said they would put on the dvd.

Mannix: the Dallas episodes that aired on TNN (or Soapnet) are cut for syndication. The dvds have--to my knowledge--always been restored to their original airdate lengths. I haven't heard anyone complain of missing scenes so far. Good job, there...but I do feel the image quality on Dallas could be better. A little restoration would go a long way.

As for Buffy/Angel...the worst thing about them is the awful, awful image quality for Buffy season one. Have any recent re-issues corrected that crappy compression? I mean, my dvr does a better job of compression in the LP mode!

 

[Don Giro]

I'm plenty satisfied with Lost, Seinfeld, The Simpsons, Freaks and Geeks (Yearbook Edition), and The Twilight Zone (Definitive Collection), and that's just off the top of my head.

The "alterations" to Buffy don't bother me a bit, since I've only seen the show on DVD.

 

[HowardPaul]

Sure:
1-Have Gun, Will Travel (Superb B&W transfers)
2-Lost 1&2
3-Smallville 1-5
4-The first 4 years of Law and Order
5-Twilight Zone
6-CSI both original and Miami.
7-Leave it to Beaver 1&2
Etc.....I've not had a series that was really bad other than Gunsmoke. (Awfully poor B&W transfers)
And, I'm NOT easy to please.

How

 

[Andy_Bu]

I have a ton of TV series I am completely satified with. But maybe I am not as picky as sum are.

1) Firefly
2) Buffy The Vampire Slayer
3) The Sopranos
4) Oz
5) Star Trek
6) Star Trek - The Next Generation
7) Star Trek - Deep Space Nine
8) Stargate SG1
9) White Shadow
10) Robin of Sherwood

To name 10, but I could name many more as well.

Andy

 

[Jim-M]

Completely satisfied with:
The Amazing Race Seasons 1 & 7: Unexpectedly enjoyed the commentaries a lot.
Daniel Boone Season 2: The restoration done on these episodes is fantastic. Plus, my young son enjoys them as much as I do which exceeds my expectations for the set. 29 episodes, including one 2-parter, makes this set a fantastic value.
Magnum P.I. Seasons 1-3 (haven't watched 4 yet): Despite the dual-sided discs, I've enjoyed these as much as I did when they were originally broadcast. No extras, but the episode content is what really counts most.

 

[Juan Books]

Gilmore Girls
The Simpsons
The X Files
Three's Company

pretty much any non-Sony or non-Universal set.

 

[Juan Books]

You mean the tiny minority of copies that actually play.

 

[Jeff Willis]

In alph order including miniseries:

BAND OF BROTHERS MINISERIES
BEWITCHED ALL SEASONS SO FAR
BIG VALLEY SEASON 1
BIONIC WOMAN SEASON 1 (PAL) (Numero Uno for me; PAL xfrs are excellent) Couldn't wait for an R1 release...if it ever occurs (legal issues)
BLACK SHEEP SQUADRON SEASON 1
COLUMBO ALL SEASONS SO FAR
COMBAT! COMPLETE SERIES (in my top 10, #1 or 2) Regardless of undetectable (to me, anyway) "Time Compression" with S1-4, this series was packaged with a lot of care and effort by Image. Outstanding. For anyone that might be on the fence about this series, although S1-4 do contain Time-Compressed eps, there are no cut scenes anywhere in this series release. That was the selling point for me to get this set.
DICK VAN DYKE SHOW COMPLETE SERIES (same) Another awesome effort by Image.
EARTH 2 COMPLETE SERIES
HILL STREET BLUES ALL SEASONS SO FAR
HAPPY DAYS SEASON 1
HARDY BOYS/NANCY DREW SEASON 1
HOGAN'S HEROES ALL SEASONS SO FAR
I DREAM OF JEANNIE SEASON 1
JONNY QUEST SEASON 1
LOONEY TUNES ALL VOL'S SO FAR
LOST WORLD SEASONS 1 & 2
MURDER SHE WROTE SEASON 1
MURDER ONE SEASON 1
NEW AVENGERS COMPLETE SERIES
NYPD BLUE SEASONS 1 & 2
OUTER LIMITS ORIGINAL SERIES COMPLETE
PERRY MASON SEASON 1 VOL 1
PRETENDER SEASON 1
RAT PATROL SEASON 1
RAWHIDE SEASON 1
RIFLEMAN COLLECTION SETS
ROCKFORD FILES SEASONS 1 & 2
SECRET AGENT MEGASET COMPLETE 1-Hr SERIES (in my top 10)
SHOGUN MINISERIES (same) I recommend this one for anyone that is in the mood for an early 80's miniseries blind-buy or those that saw it years ago and haven't added it to their collections. For the story/content alone, "Bravo"
TIME TUNNEL COMPLETE SERIES (top 10, # 1 or 2) Probably my #1 childhood favorite that has stood the test of time for me. Unbelievably-clear xfrs & Extras excellent.
TWILIGHT ZONE (DEF) COMPLETE SERIES (top 10) Another A++ for Image. This set's just too good to be real Maybe this IS the Twilight Zone
VOYAGE TO BOTTOM OF SEA SEASON 1
WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE SEASON 1
WILD WILD WEST SEASON 1 (I have the Columbia vol sets for S1) (top 10) Couldn't wait for the season release for this one. Except for expense, no regrets. Outstanding xfrs and fairly good extras in the form of "Production" notes for each ep.

If the xfrs are good to excellent, and the eps are uncut. that's the big selling points for me. Extras, interviews, etc are a nice bonus but they don't determine the sale for me.

I'm happy with most of my sets. Above list represents my favorites.

Here's a few that I wasn't too excited about but mainly due to the xfrs:

BARNEY MILLER SEASON 1 (xfrs extremely "soft" but outstanding series)
DALLAS SEASONS 1-4 (xfrs are fair to slightly below ave)
FANTASY ISLAND SEASON 1 (Xfrs are a little inconsistant in this set)
LOIS AND CLARK SEASONS 1-3 (Xfrs "soft", similar to Barney Miller but clearer than "Capt Miller's"set)
RICH MAN POOR MAN BOOK 1 (PAL) (xfrs weren't remastered but this one's been on my "Holy Grail" list for a long time) Been out in the UK siince '03...nothing in R1 yet.

I've held off on getting the Gunsmoke collections for the reason that Howard posted. I'd heard too many negative reviews on xfr quality to get these.

 

[Scott_F_S]

I do remember one set that I thought was a complete disaster: Larry Sanders S1. The packaging was cheap, the transfers were really bad, there was only one short interview clip and the pricing was outrageous. No wonder it didn't sell very well.

 

[Lynda-Marie]

I have been completely satisfied with the following sets:

Frasier
Hogan's Heroes
MASH - not only am I getting uncut episodes, but I can turn off the damned laugh track!

 

[JohnMor]

Oops, I forgot about Law & Order (Seasons 1-4). And if we're including mini-series, then I'll add Backstairs at the White House which was unexpected, and has some nice little historical extras.

There are several series that I'm not completely satisfied with, either because of the transfers, or the prints used were less than stellar. But that's for another thread I guess.


Ethan, I know what you mean. I actually have more of a problem with some of the early Season 2 episodes, especially "When She Was Bad." I know the 1st 2 years were done on 16mm, but man some of them look grainy and muddy!

 

[george kaplan]

The Dick Van Dyke Show is the most perfect, but there are lots which are great (no music replacements, syndicated cuts, etc.)

 

[ScottR]

I've been most pleased with The Twilight Zone and I Love Lucy.

 

[AnthonyC]

I'll add another vote for The Amazing Race sets (come on Paramount, let's get the rest of these!)--I suppose I have a minor complaint that you can't view the Side Trips on their own but that's a minor quibble since both released sets have tons of deleted scenes and some commentaries.

Survivor OTOH is disappointing with the lack of extra footage...

 

[Tony J Case]

Easy - yes!

The classic releases of Doctor Who are nearly flawless, loaded with extras, lovingly restored frame by frame, and produced for the BBC by a bunch of fans who know where their towel is at and really care for the show. And now with a greatly increased release rate, I don't have that to complain about!

 

[Johnny S]

The Simpsons (Commentaries on every episode, including animatics, illustrated commentaries and various other extras. Also, some of the nicest box art I have seen minus the head packaging.)
Futurama (Pretty much the same as Simpsons.)
Family Guy (Pretty much the same as Simpsons.)
Lost (Some of the best extras ever, no wonder it won all of those awards.)
Desperate Housewives (BV Knows TV on DVD.)
Seinfeld (More content than the average human being can watch! )

 

[Gary OS]

Yep. THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW sets are easily tops in my book. There's no beating the world class way those dvds were handled.

Gary "if all the classics were done up like the DVDS sets, I'd be elated" O.

 

[JoshuaB.]

I've enjoyed the stunning transfers of Star Trek and The Twilight Zone on DVD--well worth the pricey season sets! I'm also happy to be able to collect contemporary and classic shows alike on DVD like the Wild Wild West, Miami Vice, KIds in the Hall and Homicide: Life on the Street.

As long as I get uncut episodes with good A/V, I'm usually more than satisfied. I'm just happy I can own so many short-lived TV series on DVD: Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared, Firefly, American Gothic, The Flash, Millennium, The Job, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The Outer Limits, Sledge Hammer!, My So-Called Life, The Prisoner, Space: 1999, etc.

 

[Ron68]

I'm completely satisfied with the following:

King of the Hill (Seasons 1 and 2)
Simpsons
Futurama
24
Lost
Time Tunnel (Even though I don't like the 2 double sided discs in one slimcase)
The X-Files (Season 1)
Wonder Woman

I'm considering adding Battlestar Galactica OS with the Cylon Head packaging but there is a lot of grain in some episodes.