Is there any difference at all between the Paramount releases of South Park seasons 1 & 2 and the earlier Warner releases?

The warner releases weren't season sets. They were random episodes, AFAIK. If you are asking if there are any differences in the show. No. The "fireside" and "cowboy" chats were on the warner discs as well.

I wasn't talking about the individual discs released by Warner/Rhino; I was asking about the season sets. Both season 1 and season 2 were initially released by Warner in boxset form and are now released under Paramount instead. I was curious if there was any difference in the boxsets as they were released under Warner vs. Paramount.

warner had a msrp ten bucks less for season one....other than that same disc....also a bonus disc came with season 2 which had the pilot episode with warner, but you had to snag it first week

That bonus disk was a limited Best Buy exclusive.

I didn't know Paramount took over making the season 1 & 2 sets. I wonder if anyone will be picky enough to re-buy them just so all the spines match.

Wow. I never even noticed they switched companies.

BTW...the pre-box set individual discs and VHS tapes weren't random episodes. They were in air order, just like on the box set discs.

I got my bonus disc for it at Suncoast but then again, back then Best Buy owned Suncoast.

I've asked this before, but nobody seems to know. The original WB Season 1 sets have a lot of audio pops during the first 4 or 5 episodes. Does anybody know if Paramount corrected this or if there are still glaring audio issues on them? I'll probably rebuy Season 1 if the audio pops were fixed, because they're really annoying.

I never noticed audio pops. Have any examples of where a couple might be located? I have the Warner box, so I'd be interested to check it out. Haven't watched it in a while.

I have both versions (had season 1, but couldn't pass up BB's deal on 1-5).

I've never noticed a problem with my old WB set, however, if someone could post an episode that is particularly troublesome, I will compare tonight to the new(er) Paramount set and report back.

I've not watched the Paramount set, but the two season 1s look 100% identical besides the studio logo.

I started watching my Paramount Season 1 this week. The audio pops are still there, so they didn't fix them.

I returned my first season set two or three times because of the audio pops. Of course, the set I have still has them. I didn't realize at first that it was a wide-spread DEFECT. And I have to say the problem has made me pause before considering buying any more S Park DVDs.

Thanks RichardW for answering my question. Guess I won't waste my time looking for a new set. As far as I'm concerned this is one of the worst examples of an unfixed defect in a DVD release ever. And it's even worse that it's come out from two different studios now and both have the pops. Grr.

The rest of the season sets are fine, it's just season 1 that has the pops (and I think it's only about the first third of the episodes). I'm not pleased about it either, but thankfully season 1 is the season I rewatch the least, because it drives me nuts when I do watch them. I wouldn't let it stop you from buying further South Park sets though, especially now that season 5 is out and the best seasons are starting to show up.

The Paramount set seems to have more up-to-date promos for that annoying cable channel South Park gets shown on. But yes, the audio pops are still there.
BTW did anyone notice Scott Tenorman went up a grade in the new set, compared to on the Insults To Injuries disc? He's an 8th grader in the old disc, but they say "9th Grader" on the new one.

In the episode, Scott is referred to both as an 8th grader AND a 9th grader

That's not particularly true; they did a series of releases where each disc would have four episodes in air-date order, but they also did a series of releases such as "Timmy!", "Christmas In South Park", etc., all of which pre-dated the season releases. It seemed as if they had stopped doing this until "The Passion of the Jew" came out.

more info here

Has Season 1 been released in any region without the sound problem?

Has the "spirit of christmas" short ever been released on DVD?

No.

The Paramount set doesn't include the commentaries correct? Is it still possible to order them (just season one right)?

the promotion expired a few months after Season 1 was released. The only way to get them now is secondhand or on ebay.