Jeff*H
Premium
Having picked up the original WISEGUY releases a few years ago from Ventura Distribution, I was naturally curious to see what Mill Creek has done with the property in the new release (The Complete First Season) that came out this week. Here's my initial observations, positives and negatives...
-Price is MUCH more affordable (It's $9.99 on Amazon for the complete first season, whereas the previous releases were around $40 for each half of the 1st season)
-Release is indeed the entire 1st season (the previous releases split it in half, with one DVD set of Steelgrave, and another DVD set of Profitt)
-"Knights in White Satin" song has still been replaced in the Steelgrave finale (it was replaced with the same instrumental music in the original DVD as well)
-The song originally used in the first part of the Mel Profitt arc as Vinnie and Roger arrive at the yacht party was substituted with generic music on the original release, but in this DVD, that particular song HAS BEEN RESTORED!
-The prints used appear to be the same remastered prints from the original release, but they don't look as sharp (in fact, they look fuzzier) simply because there is more compression and probably a lower bit rate being used in the disc authoring (they have placed 5 episodes each on Discs 1 and 2, and 6 episodes each on Discs 3 and 4)
-The audio is Mono, compared to the 5.1 soundtracks on the original release
-No extras whatsoever (the originals had audio commentaries, interviews with much of the cast, and some bonus stand-alone episodes from other seasons)
-The discs each come in black envelopes held in place in a snapper case
-Menus are static (originals featured video), but they have a great selection of music from the opening of the "New Blood" episode, and have the episodes listed as part of Vinnie's "file"
-The series' pilot was featured in 1 complete part (as originally aired) on the original release, but is split into 2 parts in this DVD set (and it's a weird break, not at the halfway point but much later). The second part opens immediately without any credits
-Chapters have been added to the episodes (the original Steelgrave set didn't have any) but the chapter breaks are not at the commercials
While I haven't watched each episode yet to determine if there are any glitches with the audio/video, my initial observations are that it's a pretty good set considering you get all 22 season 1 shows (counting the pilot as 2 parts) for a very low price, and they look pretty good even upconverted on a 46-inch HDTV as I viewed them. However, if you already own the first DVD sets, I see no reason here for an upgrade, unless you want the original song featured in the 1st Mel Profitt episode which is now intact, or unless you want to have the entire first season all contained in 1 box (don't sell off your original sets, though).
-Price is MUCH more affordable (It's $9.99 on Amazon for the complete first season, whereas the previous releases were around $40 for each half of the 1st season)
-Release is indeed the entire 1st season (the previous releases split it in half, with one DVD set of Steelgrave, and another DVD set of Profitt)
-"Knights in White Satin" song has still been replaced in the Steelgrave finale (it was replaced with the same instrumental music in the original DVD as well)
-The song originally used in the first part of the Mel Profitt arc as Vinnie and Roger arrive at the yacht party was substituted with generic music on the original release, but in this DVD, that particular song HAS BEEN RESTORED!
-The prints used appear to be the same remastered prints from the original release, but they don't look as sharp (in fact, they look fuzzier) simply because there is more compression and probably a lower bit rate being used in the disc authoring (they have placed 5 episodes each on Discs 1 and 2, and 6 episodes each on Discs 3 and 4)
-The audio is Mono, compared to the 5.1 soundtracks on the original release
-No extras whatsoever (the originals had audio commentaries, interviews with much of the cast, and some bonus stand-alone episodes from other seasons)
-The discs each come in black envelopes held in place in a snapper case
-Menus are static (originals featured video), but they have a great selection of music from the opening of the "New Blood" episode, and have the episodes listed as part of Vinnie's "file"
-The series' pilot was featured in 1 complete part (as originally aired) on the original release, but is split into 2 parts in this DVD set (and it's a weird break, not at the halfway point but much later). The second part opens immediately without any credits
-Chapters have been added to the episodes (the original Steelgrave set didn't have any) but the chapter breaks are not at the commercials
While I haven't watched each episode yet to determine if there are any glitches with the audio/video, my initial observations are that it's a pretty good set considering you get all 22 season 1 shows (counting the pilot as 2 parts) for a very low price, and they look pretty good even upconverted on a 46-inch HDTV as I viewed them. However, if you already own the first DVD sets, I see no reason here for an upgrade, unless you want the original song featured in the 1st Mel Profitt episode which is now intact, or unless you want to have the entire first season all contained in 1 box (don't sell off your original sets, though).
