The Season 4 packaging is no longer the hard-bound paperboard clamshell like Seasons 1-3. Its just 4 slim cases with a thin paper slipcover.

Opened mine...disappointed in the inconsistency with the previous seasons, but not too big a deal.

I'm fine with the packaging change as two of my previous Wire sets had cracked dvd trays - and you can't replace those like you can with the slim cases.

This is by far the best season so far...hopefully the final season will be as good

I only paid $27.49 at Amazon, but I noticed it's at $38.99 now, so that price is gone. I pre-ordered months ago, so I guess it dipped to the low price at some point and I got it with their pre-order price guarantee. It came on Tuesday in the mail, but I'm trying to wait until Christmas vacation to watch it since the first three seasons pretty much consumed my life when I watched them.

Ditto, but today, the 7th. $27.49

whoa - the issue with this release isn't the packaging, but that the video isn't even progressively flagged. What the shit is that all about? Showtime maybe, but I expected much better from a new HBO release.

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but what does that mean?

http://www.techterms.com/definition/progressivescan

Generally, when something is shot on film (and if it's not from some bargain basement dvd production company), the transfer is progressive. Progressive scan gives the image a more film-like appearance and smooths over the "jaggies" that are much more obvious in an interlaced image. Over 90% of major releases (less for television) are progressive - especially if the transfer was film-sourced. But I guess since the previous seasons of Wire were also interlaced, that's just what they need to do. Or maybe it's shot on video and not on film, like I assumed.

Got it. I do remember that I couldn't even watch Season 2 on my big screen (with an Oppo player) because the jagginess was so obvious. The image would stutter every few seconds. When I watched it on my 27" CRT Wega with a Yamaha player, there were no problems. Not sure if that's connected to what you're describing, but it sounds like it.

I missed out on this for $27.49 when it was on sale at Amazon during the Black Friday weekend. So, the best price for this seems to be $38.89 at DD and $38.99 at Amazon. However, DD is out of stock right now, should I just get it from Amazon?

Yeah, that's totally it - the bigger/better the TV, the more it'll magnify faults in a transfer, though inversely, it'll make really good transfers look much better.

Season 4 was incredible. Episode #12 sealed the deal. In my opinion the Wire is without a doubt the best show on TV and easily ranks in the top 3 shows on all time (Homicide is still the best in my opinion). Season 5 will slay almost anything on network TV.

What exactly is the point of the outside slipcover when it's identical to the inside one except for adding the bar code? It's the weirdest packaging - hate it.

I sincerely hope they spring for a "complete series" box when it gets reissued in Hi-Def.

This season is shaping up to be good (just saw the first ep), but the intro song is the worst rendition yet.

Totally agree. HOMICIDE is still king, but this is the best recent show.

Homicide was only a little dull in season 6, but aside from that it is easily the best show TV has ever produced.

What's much worse than the packaging with season 4, is how they went to 4 discs instead of 5, like the previous seasons. They've crammed 2 discs with 4 1-hour episodes each. That's a hell of a lot of compression.

Agreed. It's already pushing the envelope when it's four 40-minute episodes, like most network dramas, but when they fill up a whole hour without commercials, the extra space is essential. They're not charging less for this set than previous ones, so there''s really no excuse.

I guess we should be grateful they didn't package it as two double-sided discs. Didn't HBO used to be the classy, deluxe, luxury TV-on-DVD provider?

Actually the MSRP for this set is lower than for previous seasons. But I agree, the compression is really showing on my projection screen...I notice a lot of flickering due to the progressive issues, etc.

This is probably a stupid question, but for somebody who loves The Wire, is Homicide a good blind buy? I've only heard of the show, but never seen an episode.

The price just went up on Amazon to $44.99. It's still $38.89 on Deep Discount, but they are out of stock.

Well, it's $59.98 in every retail store here in Toronto, which is the same price as the earlier seasons. Guess that American:Canadian dollar parity still hasn't kicked in on the retail level. (Yeah, Amazon.ca has it for a couple of bucks less, but I've learned the hard way that they specialize in shipping badly damaged covers - I'd rather pay full price myself and get one in half-decent condition)

Nope, the MSRP on season 4 is $60, as it was/is on the previous seasons. It's just that, for whatever reason, it's been discounted far more than the previous seasons were when they were released.

MARLO rules.