Anyone else got Babylon 5 Season 1 yet?

SpliffCartel

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Well I have to say I am impressed with it. The box artwork is cool and the series itself has never looked better! Its a pity they had to zoom the cgi bits to match the widescreen transfer, but it was the best solution available really, and it beats vhs any day of the week. The special features are also well made and interesting. Roll on the release of Season 2! :D
 
amazon.de posted my copy today. I wonder how long delivery from Germany takes.
 
I'd be interested in any comparrisons of how the German R2 release matches up to the English R2 since the German set is much cheaper.

Is it purely down to the coverart etc?
 
Originally posted by Desticado
I'd be interested in any comparrisons of how the German R2 release matches up to the English R2 since the German set is much cheaper.

Is it purely down to the coverart etc?

It appears that the coverart and disk art are the only differences. The extras are still present, as are the English, Frencch and of course German DD5.1 soubdtrack.
 
R2 UK version.
The cover art may be good but it's in another one of those damn semi-cardboard cases, with a binder made of cardboard holding the plastic disc holders together. :mad: Yeah, Warner! This is really going to last for a long time! I think NOT!:mad: I bet in about a year's time they will come out with another version in a complete plastic case. Why is it that these companies keep producing these crappy cardboard holders, I would be prepared to pay extra for complete plastic (plus the plastic cases would match most of my collection). Warner should wake up to the quality that other producers are issuing their DVD's in and quit using *@#!£$% CARDBOARD!:mad: :mad: :mad:

As you can see, I can sometimes get quite emotional over this issue.:D
 
Got mine this morning, DVD's are fine, bit disappointed by the packaging as well, especially as mine arrived damaged courtesy of the GPO.


Cardboard isn't terribly resilient!
 
Got mine from Play yesterday.
The packaging is far from ideal, however I'm a real tart anyway when it comes to nursing my DVD's in and out of their packaging, so it's no problem... ;)

Brilliant set of discs
 
Yeah, fair point, the packaging is annoying (mine came dented on the corner) - however, i'm also just grateful that its out on dvd at all!

BTW - have any of you noticed certain scenes in early episodes with thin blue lines down the screen?
 
got it today (was shipped on monday) bravo!
gotta try it tonight
cheers
 
Got mine on Monday and am also pleased with the transfer in the main, but a shame how the original clearly (?!) wasn't looked after. There are speckles and blue lines in one episode in particular thus far that I've seen. Though most of the live shots look great and the CGI is pretty good too, especially for its age and aspect play-around.
Seeing it on a plasma is a delight, in the main, by highlighting the live anamorphic shots and good ship shots. But also showing some shimmering CGI errors - i.e. B5 spinning shimmer, which I used to think was reflections from stars on me CRT! -, although there's little ailiasing and nothing to kill the overall effect by any means.
The box does suck and may well require someone being in to get it from postie as it's pretty brick-like - which could further account for transport damage; beit damaged box or loose discs as has been reported elsewhere.
A definate worthwhile VHS killer.:)
 
The transfer is actually pretty good (the live action stuff)... however, all the Specia Effects were done in 4:3 thus any scene that contains special effects is zoomed in to fit the 16:9 frame (i think this was done for season 1 only) - which is shy the CGI looks blurry and shimmers somewhat. A pity, but it doesn't distract too much. There are quite a few flecks and print damage that appears, but the overall image is quite filmic and pleasing to the eye.

paul
 
Is it me or is there a problem with the second disc on the 'And the Sky is full of stars'?

I was watching this disc the other day and noticed that at various points the picture seemed squished and stretched, as if viewing a 4:3 image in widescreen mode. Especially near the start and in the knights' room. Seconds later is it fine again. The title sequence also seems to suddenly jump to 2.35:1 or something, instead of 16:9.

This is on the UK set - can anyone else confirm this? I haven't had a chance to watch it again and it doesn't appear to happen on any other episode (up to disc 3 so far).

C.
 
Just rechecked this on my laptop and it is definitely a problem. The first instance appears when the two 'knights' go into their room to discuss Sinclair - distance shots and the hologram bit are 4:3, close ups switch back to 16:9.

To test it I set the player not to keep the aspect ratio setting, so the picture was 4:3 with everyone tall and thin until suddenly everything was normal, then pow, it switches back to tall people.

This is obviously a mastering error on disc 2 of the UK set - anyone have the US one to compare? Anyone know what you do in these cases?

Chris.
 
Yes, the problem is on the whole episode, and occurs on any scene with pure cgi, or cgi mixed with live action. Its unbelievable that it slipped through quality testing!
 
I've noticed this quirk too.
Not sure on which episodes it occurs (since I'm watching quite a few at present) but it definitely has happened on more than one..........
Certainly VERY noticable on the scenes in question, but what the hell it doesn't spoil the overall experience for me. ;)
 
Arrived this morning via courier in a nice solid cardboard package so no damage at all to the goods.

As expected the cover art and printed episode guide are in German.

All of the menus are in English :) , I haven't had time to go through things carefully, but all of the same extras appear to be there.

Got to say that for £23 ish this is a steal :p
 
But is this problem on both the r1 and r2 sets?
 
Mine finally arrived this morning. I hate the packaging, and will keep the disks in individual cases which I'm searching for some custom cover art for.
 
I saw it all (yes I know, I must be nuts!) in last three days!
Apart from these minor aspect problems there is nothing to complain about. It is known now and must be better in season two. More to read in rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
Picture is much better than on pilot DVD and JMS's commentary is totaly unexpected and cool.

One huge fan is pleased to the max!!!

Let's hope the second season is going to come out soon, (and is going to cost the same on amazon.de :) ) I do not care about german covers, never read'em anyway
 
I'm a big B5 fan but only just bought this box set today as I saw it in Virgin while out Christmas shopping.

I'm looking forward to watching it, but the packaging is really nasty :(
 
On the subject of Babylon 5 DVDs has anyone heard any news of a release date for series 2?
 

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