I noticed that this quietly came out today. I was curious how the set is

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Incoming!!!
Sgt. Hulka

Sorry to tease you with a response, but I was interested as well. I'm a big baseball fan, but caught very little of this series when it came out. With all the other new releases like the Bond set I didn't purchase it.

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I can't believe I ate the whole thing

Just received this from Express. (!)

After a quick look (I've popped in and checked two discs plus the extras), it seems like a great set. Ten discs -- each episode is in its own Alpha case, with no insert. This is a big set, but I actually don't mind that each episode is packaged separately, since each is virtually a separate film on its own. Very handsome packaging, I believe using the photos from the covers of the video run.

The tenth disc is a disc of extras -- more than four hours worth. There's the PBS "Making of Baseball" documentary and five Charlie Rose programs -- I think they are all presented in their entirety. (Ken Burns, Rachel Robinson, Bob Costas, Yogi Berra, Bob Gibson). One of these is an interview with Bob Costas about the 1998 season, which is a great touch for me as a Cub fan and a nice update to the main program. (I love the film, but it really gives short shrift to non New York teams).

As far as the episodes themselves, picture and sound are excellent -- not quite awesome, but little room for legitimate complaint. No subtitles (on the one I popped in there is an English track, but nothing came up), no alternate languages. The discs also have the full corporate sponsorship tag at the start, exactly as it aired when the program was first shown. (Pew Charitable Trusts, Arthur Vining Davis Foundation, etc.) There are minor extras on the individual discs (video baseball cards of key players in each episode) that are ok but look like nothing worth writing home about. The menu for each episode is music and short film from that particular episode.

I would make a wild guess that some players could have problems of some sort with these discs. My Pioneer DVL-909 seemed to chew on them and protest a little before playing, but finally started them up fine.

So, that's the quick and dirty. If you liked the film and love baseball, looks like it's definitely worth picking up.

Check out the posts near the bottom of the thread below. They contain some reviews of the set. Sounds great. In fact, as I said in the thread, they've convinced me to buy the set.
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/uub/...ML/016321.html

thanks for the review. I have my copy onpreorder from buy.com and can't wait to spend a few days looking at it.

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Incoming!!!
Sgt. Hulka

As I've watched these more I've noticed one slightly irritating thing on this release. One of the features on each disc is the "video baseball card". Whenever one of the players for whom one of these cards has been included pops up on the screen, a little PBS logo appears in the corner -- the idea being that you can hit "enter" on your remote and the card with the player's stats shows up.

The only problem is that you can't turn the little bug off. It's not a big deal, but frankly I wish they'd have set it up so you could turn this off, like the multi-angle indicator on "Tomorrow Never Dies".

I believe that this is what subtitle track one is for, but it won't turn off.

I'm surprised more folks haven't commented on this nice, big set -- probably still too hung over from everything else this/last week.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Trinitron:
I believe that this is what subtitle track one is for, but it won't turn off.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

There was a similar problem with The World is Not Enough with Toshiba players.

The solution was to hit the subtitle button once the movie started playing and turn the Subtitle to "ON".

Worth a try....

-David

My copy just came today from buy.com. I have watched the first two DVD's so far, and I am very impressed by it. The PBS logo hasn't bothered me yet, but as the series progresses and it pops up more, I could see how it could be a distraction.Hopefully this release will be a success and The Civil War will come out soon eough.

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Incoming!!!
Sgt. Hulka