dsa_shea

So, do they compensate you in any other way for getting a word or two out about movies or sets? I could see this being as one of the main reasons for me spending my time doing reviews. Yet, I spend my time out and about Yelping because I enjoy it and I get my nice little Elite status next to my name.

DJariya

Coming June 2nd.


"One of the most daring dramas in the
history of the medium" - The Baltimore Sun

"One of the great achievements in television
artistry" - San Francisco Chronicle

THE WIRE:
THE COMPLETE SERIES

BLU-RAY WITH DIGITAL HD

Acclaimed Series Available for the First Time
on BLU-RAY Disc with Digital HD June 2, 2015

Loaded with Bonus Content Just in Time for Father's Day Gift Giving

All 60 Episodes Beautifully Re-mastered in 16x9 Full Frame HD



New York, NY (March 5, 2015) - In the six years that have passed since the conclusion of the HBO series The Wire, the critically acclaimed drama has turned into a worldwide phenomenon that has been hailed as "the best show in the history of television" by MSNBC. This summer, the series will make its highly anticipated debut on Blu-ray disc for the very first time. The 20-disc box set featuring all 60 episodes of the hit series in a stunningly re-mastered 16x9 full-screen HD format is showcased with newly redesigned box art. The Wire: The Complete Series on Blu-ray with Digital HD ($199.99) is loaded with an exciting slate of bonus materials, including four behind-the-scenes documentaries, three prequels that explore life before The Wire, and an all-new cast and crew Q&A from the Paley Center for Media's The Wire reunion event. The Wire: The Complete Series on Blu-ray with Digital HD will be in stores June 2, 2015 - just in time for Father's Day and summer binge watching - and is a must-have for all TV connoisseurs!

The Wire depicts an American urban dystopia, framed in our time, in which easy distinctions between good and evil and crime and punishment are challenged at every turn. In five successive seasons, the series depicts a Baltimore in which institutional prerogatives, economic inequalities and a brutalizing drug war confound the efforts to advance the city and its people. The series' first season lays out the futility of the drug war, while the second highlights the deindustrialization and the death of the working class. The third season introduces the city's political culture and lays out the forces that stand in the path of actual reform. The fourth season addresses the educational system and the actual opportunities that remain to coming generations. The fifth and final season examines the media culture and its role in perpetuating the status quo. Amid all of this, carefully drawn characters on both sides of the law and from a variety of Baltimore cultures move forward as best they can, human to a flaw, struggling against a system that seems weighted against civic progress.

The Wire: The Complete Series
Blu-ray Disc with Digital HD
Street Date: June 2, 2015
Rating: TVMA
Runtime: Approx. 59 Hours
Price: $199.99


Taken from: http://tvshowsondvd.com/n/20837#ixzz3TYQmMuov

E Unit

Yeah, I'm getting some of that.

kefrank

I doesn't sound like the Blu-ray set will include the 4:3 framing as an option. I may have to finally pick up the DVD set.

slop101

Any new extras? A retrospective would be nice.

hdnmickey

Makes me glad I already have it and picked it up mega cheap during an HBO sale. I imagine once it's well known that the BD's are not 4x3 the DVD's could go up in demand.

auto

I'd like it but sure wish they'd include the 4x3 versions.

DJariya

Why would you want it in 4:3 if you're upgrading to it in HD? Isn't the point to have it fill your HDTV than have Black Bars?

I suspect this will be at least $80-90 when its released this summer for retailers.

E Unit

That's when I'll buy. It would be nice to have OAR, but the HD remaster was damn good. Had it looked bad or even average, I wouldn't be excited to get this. Either way, I have my DVD set to preserve the OAR. Of course it's collected dust there for years.

DJariya

Did you read the press release I posted? It mentions it there.

hdnmickey

Hopefully you're not serious. If you are, then I guess you would never be interested in the awesome BD releases available for movies like The Wizard of OZ, Casablanca, Citizen Kane (to name only name a few).

hdnmickey

You mean this: "and an all-new cast and crew Q&A from the Paley Center for Media's The Wire reunion event" ?

If I'm right, that's not what he meant by retrospective. And he's not alone.

DJariya

He asked Any New Extras? Then he said a retrospective would be nice. Not specifically asking if there was a new retrospective documentary.

As for the 4:3 thing, I'm well aware that many shows and movies were originally shot in 4:3 like Star Trek TNG, TOS and the early seasons of The Shield.

I'm just saying since this was an upgrade project by HBO and the show was shot on film right? If they have the ability to increase the picture size and perspective for HD audiences spending the extra cash to get this, then why not do it? The early seasons of The Shield were released by FOX DVD in 4:3, but Sony re-mastered them for their re-release in 16:9.

Also, another example: Seinfeld airs on the Sony HD channel in 16:9 even though that was originally 4:3 when it aired on NBC. They obviously made the effort to get it that way than lazily air a 4:3 version.

I know many shows, especially older, just don't have the elements for a new 16:9 re-master because they were shot on tape and some the special effects were made in SD.

hdnmickey

If they are indeed opened up to 16x9, great. But if it's cropped, many folks will not be interested despite the upgrade in resolution.

Decker

I wonder why they chose to use those two newspaper quotes and not Entertainment Weekly which dubbed it the greatest TV Show of all-time.

Guru Askew

Don't understand why there is no 3D version.

slop101

Yeah, the Paley Center Q&A doesn't count. All the work they supposedly put into this new transfer and they can't be arsed to do any real new extras?

DaveyJoe

badlieut

I hope they don't put the discs in book like sleeves but I'm not counting on it.

rocket1312

I'll leave the Wire alone because it's kind of a special case when it comes to it's re-formatting and has already been discussed at length, but the idea that going back to the original elements and remastering a show in HD somehow demands that it be re-framed to 16x9 is ridiculous.

Shannon Nutt

I have no more interest in owning The Wire in 16x9 than I do owning The Sopranos in 4x3.

I can't believe they didn't master versions at the correct ratio when they were mastering them for 16x9.

hanshotfirst1138

Yes, well, unfortunately, the hacked up reverse panning and scanning is all we're ever going to get.

Shannon Nutt

Guess I'm hanging on to my DVD set.

Dan

As vaguely "interested" as I am in seeing the new 16x9 version, I wouldn't double-dip on this set without the 4x3 OAR as an option. It's incredibly disappointing.

E Unit

Since I'm not good at seeing what's wrong with this type of stuff, is there something you can show or a link to read on this type of transfer? Watching it in HBO, it looks really great.