Monkey (Region 2) - horrible artifacts! (1 Viewer)

[Jonathan Kaye]

I've been looking forward to the DVDs of the classic TV series 'Monkey', particularly as each disc will contain one of the untransmitted-in-the-UK episodes.

However, having bought the first two volumes, which were released yesterday, I'm afraid that the quality of them leaves a lot to be desired. There's some awful MPEG blockiness on fast-moving shots (particularly on the opening titles, where several people rush towards screen just before Pigsy's credit).

Hopefully they can correct this for future releases, not only 'Monkey' but also 'Blake's 7' later this year.

 

[Brendon]

Jonathan,

This doesn't bode well! One of my work collegues was dead keen on getting this series, and held of the region 4 discs due to their poor quality encoding.

From your description, it sounds like the UK discs are just as good. Or not. As the case may be.

Cheers,

Bren

 

[Jonathan Kaye]

It doesn't bode well at all. I too was tempted by the Region 4 discs, although in my case I dithered until the whole series was announced/released over there. Then I read about the Region 2 releases on the Monkey website (http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/8153/), hence the wait.
I've e-mailed Fabulous Films at [email protected] to report the problem, and I'll post any response I get on here.

 

[Brendon]

Thanks in advance for posting any replies you may get Jonathan. I'm really not sure at this point in DVD's life that there is any excuse for poor encoding.

Even if the source materials weren't in particularly good condition, upping the bitrate a little should prevent MPEG encoding artifacts around dusty/damaged areas.

Bren