Blu-ray Review Frasier: The Complete Series Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

[Josh Steinberg]

Frasier is one of the all-time great sitcoms.



Frasier (1993–2004)



Released: 16 Sep 1993
Rated: TV-PG
Runtime: 22 min




Director: N/A
Genre: Comedy



Cast: Kelsey Grammer, Jane Leeves, David Hyde Pierce
Writer(s): David Angell, Peter Casey, David Lee



Plot: Dr. Frasier Crane moves back to his hometown of Seattle, where he lives with his father, and works as a radio psychiatrist.



IMDB rating: 8.2
MetaScore: N/A





Disc Information



Studio: Paramount
Distributed By: CBS
Video Resolution: 1080P/AVC



Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audio: English 2.0 DTS-HDMA



Subtitles: English SDH
Rating: Not Rated



Run Time: 98 Hr. 5 Min...

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[RMajidi]

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What a comprehensive and knowledgeable review of one of the greatest creative works ever on television.

“…it now plays like a timeless show set in the 1990s rather than a show from the 1990s.”

Awesome!

 

[BobO'Link]

Nice review, Josh. This one's been on my "must buy" list since it was announced and your review just cements that position.

 

[Mark Mayes]

I'm on season 9 now. Never tire of it and the added clarity is sensational! Great review.

 

[Noel Aguirre]

Great informative review with lots of details Thanks!

 

[Nelson Au]

Thanks for the comprehensive review Josh. There is a lot of work and territory to cover in an 11 season TV series set!

I have not gotten to season 10 and 11 yet, so I didn’t know those are 1.78 aspect ratio. For the Christmas episodes this year, I have not ripped the blu ray’s Christmas episodes beyond the 5th season. The DVD’s are 4:3 when I watched High Holidays. I look forward to getting to the last 2 seasons to see how they look now.

 

[KPmusmag]

It is so interesting to me that one episode from S7 is 16:9. I checked the streaming version on P+ and it is 1.33. The last 2 seasons on P+ are 16:9.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

It is so interesting to me that one episode from S7 is 16:9.

It’s clearly an error.

They probably have a full set of 16x9 masters for syndication.

 

[Jeffrey D]

Great review, Josh. Funny that I watched a few episodes from seasons 10 and 11 this past weekend, and I was a bit let down by the softness of the image, so I definitely agree with your take.

 

[KPmusmag]

It’s clearly an error.

They probably have a full set of 16x9 masters for syndication.

I wonder why they didn't use the 16:9 masters for the blu-ray then or on P+.

 

[BobO'Link]

I wonder why they didn't use the 16:9 masters for the blu-ray then or on P+.

Because it wasn't broadcast that way. AOR is preferred by collectors.

If they had released the entire series in 16:9 I would never consider a purchase as that's not how it was originally aired.

I somewhat expect a replacement program to fix that errant 16:9 episode, putting it back in proper 4:3. It'll be interesting to see what, if anything, they do about that.

 

[LeoA]

If it's not cropped vertically and we're just seeing extra space on each side, I'm not sure that there would be much backlash unless it's suddenly revealing things like mics that we never never meant to see.

Perhaps that's just me, but I don't mind something like The Dick Van Dyke Show on Blu-Ray that has been widened up a bit, as long as we're not adding space to the sides at the expense of things that we were always meant to be able to see at the bottom and top of the frame.

A good example of when it's distasteful was the Bewitched comparison in one of these threads a while back, where Elizabeth Montgomery's legs are cut off in the widescreen screenshot with nothing of worth gained in exchange.

 

[BobO'Link]

So... that sounds like it was shot in 16:9 with the main action in a protected 4:3 area. Essentially cropped for 4:3 with no loss of important information on the sides. That's absolutely acceptable as long as the original protected 4:3 image area is untouched (no cropping of any type). If the entire series was shot that way it'd be, IMHO, the best presentation for a BR release as it should please both WS and OAR camps since nothing's been cropped to make the 16:9 image.

 

[Jeffrey D]

So... that sounds like it was shot in 16:9 with the main action in a protected 4:3 area. Essentially cropped for 4:3 with no loss of important information on the sides. That's absolutely acceptable as long as the original protected 4:3 image area is untouched (no cropping of any type). If the entire series was shot that way it'd be, IMHO, the best presentation for a BR release as it should please both WS and OAR camps since nothing's been cropped to make the 16:9 image.

I got the impression of this while watching a few episodes from the 16X9 years- seemed to me that there was nothing of importance on the left or right side of the screen, and the action was right in the middle of the frame, so the DVDs in seasons 10 and 11, while being 4X3, didn’t chop anything off the sides that you would miss.

 

[KPmusmag]

They remastered Friends for 16:9 and I was absolutely going to get the blus. But the DVDs had a few minutes of cut footage added for many episodes while the blus were same as broadcast and I preferred to have the content, so I stuck with the DVDs. As long as the content is the same, I would love Frasier in 16:9, regardless of how it was originally shown (due to the tech limitations of the time). That's just me I guess.

 

[The Obsolete Man]

Going by the discussion elsewhere, that errant 16x9 Frasier episode in season 7 is indeed just opened up and not cropped. The framing looks a little wonky in spots because of it, but you're only gaining extra information, not losing anything.

 

[Wayne Klein]

What a great and insightful review. Love the series.

 

[Chewbabka]

Going by the discussion elsewhere, that errant 16x9 Frasier episode in season 7 is indeed just opened up and not cropped. The framing looks a little wonky in spots because of it, but you're only gaining extra information, not losing anything.

Right. But the lack of “lost” picture information doesn’t justify botching the framing. There’s that scene with Niles on Daphne on the balcony in that episode, where the perspective keeps shifting, and the “dead air” jumping from one side if the frame to the other is distracting. Framing isn’t an accident…

 

[David Deeb]

Am a huge Cheers fan. But only seen Frasier episodes randomly through the years. So I’d really like to get this as a digital HD purchase though.

Why can’t the studios release more complete digital HD series? Frasier is only available in SD digital and at a price much higher than the BD discs.

 

[bmasters9]

They remastered Friends for 16:9 and I was absolutely going to get the blus. But the DVDs had a few minutes of cut footage added for many episodes while the blus were same as broadcast and I preferred to have the content, so I stuck with the DVDs. As long as the content is the same, I would love Frasier in 16:9, regardless of how it was originally shown (due to the tech limitations of the time). That's just me I guess.

Why would the Friends Blus be as broadcast on NBC, while the DVDs were more than was broadcast on NBC?