Fawlty Towers Complete Collection bluray

Can't wait to see the painted scenic backdrop outside the entrance doors in all its HD glory!
:p
 
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UPC: 5051561004940

Great British TV -already a negative review posted:
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That's true of course but hopefully they can tidy it up a bit and dig up some of the documentaries on the series so it's worth our investment.
 
Great news. Great series for a begone age before we had the term political correctness.
 
Bah, humbug. I'm not going to triple dip!

Not until it's around £5 anyway!
 
According to the IMDB, the outside scenes at least were filmed on 16mm.

If it were a Network release then it might have been possible that it would include the 16mm shots (if they still exist) but in this instance I am sure it will just be an upscale along the lines of the Red Dwarf blu-rays.
 
If it were a Network release then it might have been possible that it would include the 16mm shots (if they still exist) but in this instance I am sure it will just be an upscale along the lines of the Red Dwarf blu-rays.

They found the filmed scenes for the old 405 line TV version of Quatermass And The Pit.

Bri
 
All this chat about upscales is most amusing. Most 4k blu Ray films are upscales.
Anything shot of celluloid on 4k blu Ray is a downscale as celluloid has a much higher native resolution than 4k
All decent 4k TV upscale.
You can go on forever. What matters is the quality of actual film or TV material. Upscale downscale, so what as long as it looks good.
Virtually everything we watch is upscaled or down scaled.
It's a red herring
 
All this chat about upscales is most amusing. Most 4k blu Ray films are upscales.
Anything shot of celluloid on 4k blu Ray is a downscale as celluloid has a much higher native resolution than 4k
All decent 4k TV upscale.
You can go on forever. What matters is the quality of actual film or TV material. Upscale downscale, so what as long as it looks good.
Virtually everything we watch is upscaled or down scaled.
It's a red herring

And here in lies the issue, this show was shot on tape so the majority of it is forever locked into ropey SD territory however the exterior shots and other pieces were shot on film so naturally if they wanted to make this release look the best it could with true HD material they should use the film elements (if they still exist) like Network are doing with the Monty Python releases.

In this instance I think whether the Blu-ray release will be a full upscale or if it will include true HD material is worth discussing.
 
All this chat about upscales is most amusing. Most 4k blu Ray films are upscales.
Anything shot of celluloid on 4k blu Ray is a downscale as celluloid has a much higher native resolution than 4k
All decent 4k TV upscale.
You can go on forever. What matters is the quality of actual film or TV material. Upscale downscale, so what as long as it looks good.
Virtually everything we watch is upscaled or down scaled.
It's a red herring
True, but, IMO, not exactly a red herring because:
The closer we get to (or exceed, even) our own ability to "see", the less important differences in detail become. That's affected, of course by any number of factors including, but not limited to, display equipment, closeness to the screen vs. its size, and of course our own visual acuity.
For many, I suspect, at normal/comfortable viewing distance (vs. screen size), regular HD vs. UHD is so close to the limit of perception that differences are either wholly or substantially invisible - even if we compare exact 1:1 pixel mapping where source and display match vs. something that mismatches and is scaled one way or the other (as long as it's done well, and preferably just once).
However, I'd suggest that SDTV is probably (in this context) so much further short of this limit of perception that we are more likely to be aware of its inferior detail.
 
Any actual reviews for this? Will avforums be reviewing?
 
the review or the release?

The release so I wouldn't expect any thoughts on it until the start of next week but I don't see it being anything more than a marginal improvement over the remastered DVDs, if this were a Network release then perhaps but being BBC don't expect anything special IMO.
 
Any reason given for the delay?
 
I haven't had a chance to crack it open today. I hope to watch some tomorrow. I'll try to compare it to the DVDs.
 
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OK, I have done a brief comparison between the DVD and the blu ray. I watched the first 10 minutes of the first episode on the remastered DVD and the blu ray. I tested them on my LG OLED TV using the same blu ray player and the same pair of untrained eyes and...

There is a difference - the blu ray is sharper - but it isn't massive when viewed from normal viewing distance. At first, it was disappointing - the grass outside the hotel in the opening titles isn't really any more distinct on the blu ray - it's just a green patch - and the title caption still looks oversaturated. Things improved in the studio scenes in the episode proper - there is less grain/artifacting and it is more obvious that the actors are wearing makeup.

Overall, I'm glad I upgraded but I think some of you more discerning people may be disappointed, depending on your expectations.
 
Reports are it has quite a lot of DNR, which would fit in with your comment on less grain. Will prob stick with the remastered DVD set.
 
I really did hope they had put some effort into this release but sounds like they have done the bar minimal and even made things worse to a degree with DNR, great shame.
 
I do wonder now if it wasn't makeup I was seeing but the effect of the DNR.
 

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