Millennium box set on Blu-ray?

[The Old Man]

Thanks for the confirmation guys! Great signature by the way!

[Guest lilblackgirl]

I'm wondering if this was even considered as a release option, but i also wonder how the transfer would be. I'd likely pick up the full box set if it were released on BD even though i have the 3 separate seasons.

anyone know if this will happen?

[The Old Man]

I wish! I guess it depends on demand. One can dream!

(I've merged your new topic with this one.)

[tobyx]

I don't want to bust anyone's dream but I think I have to... All recent shows have been produced as an HD digital intermediate. This means the shows were produced and mastered in 1920x1080 resolution even when network TV was still showing standard definition PAL or NTSC. The release of these shows on Blu-Ray is trivial and not a big deal. Easy money.

Millennium was not mastered in HD, it was mastered in SD. Releasing it on Blu-Ray would mean: HD telecine of the source material of ALL episodes. Matching the color grading of all original episodes. Reframing of all episodes to 16:9. Recreation of all visual effects. Saying this endeavor is non-trivial is a huge understatement. The chances of FOX doing this are so low I would bet my life on it not happening.

Summary:

Release of the show on SD is taking finished material (on tape) and encoding it in MPEG-2.

Release of the show on HD is doing all episodes again sans principal photography and editing.

[The Old Man]

Thanks Tobias, I wonder if The X-Files will ever get the HD Blu-ray treatment? Its more popular obviously, but more episodes and seasons mean more work as you've described above. We could undoubtedly see an XF release first before MLM.

[tobyx]

We truly could, but at least all the seasons that were finished in 1.33:1 aspect ratio were only completed in SD. I doubt any X-Files season finished in HD, but I honestly can't say :)

To be honest, I am very pleased with the MLM and XF DVDs in terms of quality. Having good 1080p upscaling won't make it HD but it let's us cherish what we loved about the shows.

[ethsnafu]

Hi Guys,

Just for those always late to the gadgets-party amongst us, does Blu-ray really afford much improvement of the enjoyment of a show or movie? I know more and more shows and movies are being released on this format these days and I remain one of those who hasn't splurged on this yet. I watch a lot of movies, specifically horror, including those in great quality and some independent productions that look as though they have been shot with a mobile phone, and probably have. I still get huge enjoyment from the flicks regardless of the quality of the images, would Blu-ray really make a huge improvement to the viewing experience?

*checks piggy bank* maybe I should just plunge in and see for myself?

Eth

[tobyx]

Blu-Ray won't change the quality of the writing or acting, it will just let you enjoy the programming as it was originally intended. HD comes almost true to the resolution of film as you would see it in a movie theater (not going to break lose a discussion of 2K and 4K now :D). If your TV set is rubbish and you don't have the appropriate sound system to go with it, I don't think the plunge into Blu-Ray is worth it.

I agree with you, eth. I can enjoy a movie on my iPhone in bed as well as on my laptop on a trip or on my TV at home. I don't like the movie more just because it's in HD, it's better but different :)

[Guest lilblackgirl]

Hi Guys,

Just for those always late to the gadgets-party amongst us, does Blu-ray really afford much improvement of the enjoyment of a show or movie? I know more and more shows and movies are being released on this format these days and I remain one of those who hasn't splurged on this yet. I watch a lot of movies, specifically horror, including those in great quality and some independent productions that look as though they have been shot with a mobile phone, and probably have. I still get huge enjoyment from the flicks regardless of the quality of the images, would Blu-ray really make a huge improvement to the viewing experience?

*checks piggy bank* maybe I should just plunge in and see for myself?

Eth

Generally speaking, Bluray will improve the sound and video quality of anything if the effort is put into it. That being said, there's a lot of trash out there on Bluray that doesn't belong. But if proper care is taken (as Toby mentioned), the blacks will be darker (no pun intended), the blood will look wetter and the sound is usually pretty spectacular. I've become kind of a BD nutjob over the last year and even some of the films you'd think wouldn't do well in BD are getting some pretty good reviews. For example, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, filmed around 1965 is about as gritty as a film gets. My belief is that it would be a bad candidate for BD, but apparently, the picture is supposed to be pretty amazing with a few, small issues. The audio is another issue with this film since all the speaking parts were dubbed into the film after it had almost finished production, so it pretty much sucked to begin with.

sorry, got off on a tangent.

I think once the price of producing a BD film gets cheaper, we'll probably see what we consider less likely candidates appearing in this format. The two XF films are available on BD and i could see Fox eventually working on the series. If not a "conglomeration" of the most popular episodes like we saw an influx of before the second film.

I could see an argument both ways for putting MM on BD. I hope it does, but if not, a BD player will make the regular DVDs look much better. The upscaling on a BD player is pretty awesome.

just my thoughts,

lil

[Guest Bad Boy Dazza]

I'm pretty sure Millenium would have been shot on film - rushes off to check IMDb..... YEP, shot on 35mm film. Only problem is the special effects would have been rendered in SD I dare say.

Still, another great show which was shot on film with special effects rendered in SD was put on Blu ray.. That show was Firefly and it looks amazing on Blu ray.

Millenium was a VERY visual show, so I really think it would benefit.