Spyderz

i enjoyed this british comedy masterpiece back in the old days
but theres two releases of the collector's edition in amazon US&UK
the technical details are quite brief,especially for the UK release
anybody knows which release is worth picking up???
cheerio

logboy

this is the newer UK, supposedly more complete :

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...229544-7282840

SinSix

Not sure if you have looked yet, but at dvdcompare.com it says this:

R1 America - (Warner Bros Home Entertainment) Extras:

Disc One
The Blackadder series
Blackadder Sing-Along
Who's Who in Blackadder - actor biographies narrated Tony Robinson
What's What: Interactive Guide to Historical Figures and Events

Disc Two
Blackadder II series
Blackadder - The Cavalier Years (Comic Relief Special)
Who's Who in Blackadder - actor biographies narrated Tony Robinson
What's What: Interactive Guide to Historical Figures and Events

Disc Three
Blackadder The Third series
Blackadder's Christmas Carol special
Who's Who in Blackadder - actor biographies narrated Tony Robinson
What's What: Interactive Guide to Historical Figures and Events

Disc Four
Blackadder Goes Forth series
Interview with Richard Curtis
Who's Who in Blackadder - actor biographies narrated Tony Robinson
What's What: Interactive Guide to Historical Figures and Events

Disc Five
Blackadder - Back & Forth
Baldrick's Diary - The Making of Back And Forth
Who's Who in Blackadder - actor biographies narrated Tony Robinson
What's What: Interactive Guide to Historical Figures and Events

Picture format:4:3 Non-Anamorphic NTSC
Soundtrack(s):English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo English DTS 5.1 (Back & Forth episode only)
Case type:Special Case
------------------------------------------------------

R2 United Kingdom - (BBC)
Extras:
Disc One
The Blackadder series

Disc Two
Blackadder II series

Disc Three
Blackadder The Third series

Disc Four
Blackadder Goes Forth series

Subtitles:English HoH
Picture format:4:3 Non-Anamorphic PAL
Soundtrack(s):English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Case type:Special Case
------------------------------------------------

Hope that helps.

logboy

i would be careful, theres been mroe than one set issued in the UK over the years, dvdcompare up to date? dont know... its a fairly recent new set and wasnt really promoted very well.

SinSix

I would say that dvdcompare is not up to date. Has nothing on the 6 disk set you (logboy) provided with that Amazon link.

animatedude

the UK NEW boxset (which is still not listed over dvdcompare) is the best as it includes english subtitles and all the extras from the R1.i can't confirm this though.

Nebiroth

The new boxset in the UK certainly includes all the series and the Cavalier Years, Christmas Carol and Back and Forth specials.

I think DVDCompare is listing the old r2 "complete set" which only had the four series and nothing else.

For a long time the r1 set was considered "definitive" because of this.

AFAIK they haven't re-authored the discs, but have used the same ones used for the original releases - and that isn't good. These were notorious for poor image quality; I only own the first series, and it's horribly overcompressed with artefacts and motion blurring in abundance, which is why I haven't got the others. I held off in the hope they'd produce a new set (yes) with spanky new remastered discs (no).

Also some of it is oddly placed; the Christmas Carol special is crammed onto the already packed disc three (alongside Blackadder the Third), while Disc Five only has Back and Forth on it at a mere 55 minutes.

What's annoying is that while the r1 set keep intact the line about "nailing up the dog" that is cut from Christmas Carol (and indeed all UK aired repeats), the r2 edition of Back and Forth is properly widescreen while the r1 edition has been cropped!

So you can't win!

Rammsteinfan

I have had the R1 box for years and its worth every penny if your a fan. Ive watched it numerous times and it has never failed to please.

Spyderz

thanks,i will definitely pick up the new R2 release

Dai

Love the look of the new R2 box!!!

mythmaker18

IMO, both sets are lacking. The UK boxsets (all of them), as said above, are poorly authored (as far as picture quality) and they cut the "nail up the dog" line from Christmas Carol.

The R1 set, which supposedly fares a little bit better in picture quality (though I'm told, still not up to standards many videophiles would expect) and has the uncut version of Christmas Carol, has the improperly-framed Back and Forth on it.

I think I'll just bide my time with the VHS tapes for now (which some UK viewers have said are as good as, maybe better, than the R2 discs) and wait for the inevitable "complete works" in a few years time, which will then hopefully include remastered/cleaned-up prints and the unaired pilot episode as a bonus, as well as some of the other one-off sketches (like the one for Prince Charles' 50th birthday).

logboy

i dont know - the production values versus the quality its possible to represent with DVD argument is here again, you cant represent quality that isnt in the production so youre always potentially going to think 'they could have done more', when in fact theres nothing more to be done : hard to tell. as with the VHS, perhaps people naturally expect less and are shocked when theres a really nice tape - kind of the opposite problem...

Nebiroth

I can tell you that the repeats of the four series we had here in the UK on digital satellite all looked quite a bit better than the DVD's do.

The DVD's are poorly authored, it's as simple as that. They cram far too much onto the discs, and as a result look awful - no better than a VHS recording at times.

And this is keeping in mind that digital satellite channels here don't have a stellar reputation for image quality either, because they tend to overcompress things and have low bitrates as well.

The DVD's retain their advantage of never wearing out over VHS, with random access, but that's about it. Not much to choose between image quality over my old off-air VHS's I'm afraid.

logboy

thats definitive then, i expected the tv series to have increased in production values over the years, but considering their age and the expectations put on DVD its worth being clear that you know theres a difference between the broadcast quality and the DVDs plus the reason why theyre not necessarily as good as they could be - seems the DVDs have been cocked up a couple of time then, shame. oh well, at least youve cleared that one up for us all... thanks.