Charles 22

I want to ask how tv series have been doing on BD. IOW, are they being put on BD?

At the moment, I might opt for BD if only they would ever start making the old tv series for it. I see little or nothing made in the last 15-20 years in tv series that would interest me. The only thing I can think of that I might not mind having would be the Star Trek series, since I do know it's on BD, but it is typically costly too.

Can anybody think of any tv series on BD that was filmed before 1980? If as many tv series were on BD as are on DVD, I would jump into BD straight away, but from what I've seen at the stores there's an absolute absence of them. I don't even think you can get Smallville on BD before season 6, and it being a currently runing show makes that hard for me to believe.

BTW, none of the Star Wars series (movies) has seen BD treatment have they?

I appreciate you getting me a bit wiser as far as BD and older tv series are concerned.

milo bloom

The only Star Wars on Bluray is the new Clone Wars series (which is great by the way).

The Twilight Zone is coming to Bluray and was done on film so it could look pretty good.

TomOpus

Welcome to the forum. There's a HD Talk forum where all things Blu-ray are discussed.

Oh, and what milo said

Charles 22

Oh yeah, I do recall seeing that Twilight Zone would be in BD, but then I don't want that entire series anyway, though it is classic. In my neck of the woods it seems Twilight Zone has gone on non-stop since the 70's, so that removes part of my incentive to buy seasons of any particular tv series, that it is on tv so much I don't miss it.

I'm not familiar with "Clone Wars series". Is that something animated? It's certainly not one of the original six movies, is it?

MTRodaba2468

As you mentioned, Star Trek looks quite good. The Prisoner is also on Blu-Ray, and looks phenomenal as well.

The Twilight Zone is also slated to get the Blu-Ray treatment.

EDIT: Didn't see your comment about TZ when I posted. Also, Star Wars: Clone Wars is a CG animated TV show. The six movies have not been released on Blu.

Charles 22

Yes, thanks. I'm so blown away at the size of this forum that I'm still confused as to what to post where. I would still question whether this was the best place to post what I did nonetheless, because while I agree that I might get beter answers in the HD forum, I am also running with the possibility that I see a few more like-minded people here (those not into BD yet), that wait as I do for a really good selection of old stuff before BD is of much value to them.

My only consolation with BD is that it will play DVD's, but when I make the jump I would have to buy 2 BD players, not just one, most likely (one for computer and one for the living room). To make matters worse, if I would do that, I would also likely be compelled to replace my computer monitor (720p LCD) with something fully HD.

Charles 22

I would have to get The Prisoner pretty cheap, since it's basically a blind buy for me. I might like it nowadays, but when I was a kid it didn't interest me. The Invaders might be interesting as well. I don't think I have seen anything black/white in HD yet, that would be almost freaky. Makes you wonder if it would make TZ just look too clean for a series that went so much into mists and shadows.

ST would definitely be one of my considerations if I had BD, but the series doesn't interest me enough to get entire seasons (and the expense). During every format change, I have bought around 2-4 of my favorite episodes. As expensive as BD usually is, it makes me wonder if ST would ever get into selling 1-2 episodes on cheaper discs?

Spottedfeather

Don't do that. I've done that before. There would be a show that I like and an episode came on. But I did something else instead, thinking that I would catch it again. But I couldn't because the channel stopped showing the series. If you have the chance to get a show on dvd or blu-ray, but are holding off because they show it on tv so often, don't. Get it while you can.

Charles 22

There are some series which are very touch and gone, but TZ certainly isn't one of them. When it's off the air in Dallas for over 5 years then I'll believe. I would say there's very few series that have the stamina of TZ on local tv, so your advice is good for most. OTOH, if a really good picture is what we want, then the discs are always better. I don't have an endless budget, so not only do I have to balance whether something will ever be on the air again, but whether it's something that just screams for a better picture, and of course whether I even like it in the first place. In any case, tv series I see on dvd can be purchased, used or new, many years after it originally came out and usually for cheaper prices. There's no doubt I would like to see all of TZ, for example, since there's plenty of them I missed over the years of repeats, or don't recall how they went in any case, but the expense just isn't worth it, especially for BD, since BD would involve my possibly spending $500 on hardware alone (2 BD's [one on computer] and one full HD computer monitor).

I definitely know where you're coming from though, as most series play once every ten years at best (Land of the Lost will never see the airwaves again), but there's several in this area which play so frequently over the years it's almost unimaginable that they'll leave the area altogether for 5-10 years or more. TZ, Andy Griffith, and Gomer Pyle are examples of this. Then again, back to your point, with series of profound age, such as TZ, you're never really getting the full episode anymore are you? That is, if it's on tv. If you really like a series, tv isn't the way to go just for that reason alone, but it's all the more difficult to bear if the series you buy on dvd is also cut to pieces. At least dvd/BD sets aren't stuck with a station logo on them.

Heck, you got me to thinking again! It doesn't happen very often down in Dallas, but there's only one thing worse than having a station logo on a recording you want to keep, and that is the WEATHER REPORTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You can have a storm 70 miles from Dallas, which in no way will come that direction, and a good number of the OTA stations will paste up another 1-2 areas of the screen showing the damn weather on radar and possibly scrolling text as well. Do tv stations really want us to watch their shows when they do that? And it's so ridiculous too, because the same stations will do this for practically half the day without break (it doesn't matter whether the show is old or new). Funny too, how they take those damned inclement weather reports off for the commercials as it shows what they have the respect for. So there's all sorts of dangers out there as far as trying to record an entire season from OTA broadcasts, that is, if you can even find a station that will air them all consequetively in the first place. I really pity people who try to record new shows too, because you also have the hassles of hoping there isn't a mandatory presidential boredom message coming on, or some sporting event, or a local disaster interrupting the program.

davidh777

Offhand I can't think of any vintage shows on Blu other than those already mentioned. Heck, I can't think of any pre-2000s shows--Lonesome Dove, I guess, if you'd count that.

Charles 22

I guess Lonesome Dove would count, but it is pretty new AFAIK, but then again I didn't find it interesting anyway. The list does seem as short as I expected. It does surprise me that with all the baby boomers out there we don't at least have one 60's tv sitcom, and yet there's Lonesome Dove. I didn't think LD had that much of a following to warrant making it on BD yet. Rather funny you can get BD for the garbage advertised as I type this, a movie called She's Out of My League, and yet nothing for any 60's tv sitcoms, one (or more) for The Prisoner, and ST, and that's about it. Well maybe The Prisoner going BD is a good sign, as I can't recall it having too much of any following either. I'm just waiting for Famly Affair to go BD (lol).

Cronenbergfan71

If they can make them look as good as The Prisoner I would be thrilled with more sets of older shows coming out. I always thought of it as being more of a cult show, although a well regarded one.
I first saw it years ago thanks to Iron Maiden referring to it in several songs and I never would have dreamed it could look as good as it does on BD.

Charles 22

A lot of black/ white looks so good anyway, it's almost unimaginable that it wouldn't be easier to make it BD worthy compared especially to older color broadcasts.

joltman

Though not specifically a TV 'series', there has been one release of original Peanuts specials, with two more releases coming in the fall.

Mr. Salty

That's just not the case. If the show was shot on film, which it would have to be in order to transfer it to HD, color will look fine. Witness "Star Trek."

If the show was shot on video, it's not in HD.

Charles 22

That's a shock considering how good Peanuts looks already. I can't imagine them being any better than my Great Pumpkin dvd. Peanuts was often a bit pricey for the little amount of film made available for the price. Hmmph, just can't imagine what good it would do to see Charlie Brown in BD.

Charles 22

No, what I'm saying, all things being equal, let's say two films, then it seems something that had held up better, say a black/white over a color, then the transfer would be easier. And there are colors that looked better than some of the black/white. I'm not too aware of how much material I saw was video and what was film, but it would seem that what I said would certainly be true if the playing field was level. Perry Mason (if filmed) would possibly be easier to transfer than ST, although ST is certainly one of the older series that even unenhanced held up pretty well from what I saw.

I'm curious if Gilligan's Island was filmed, because it's one of the better "dvd" treatments I have ever seen. If it could be sent to BD, it ought to really shine, at least as far as older series go.

Adam Tyner

It was.

Mr. Salty

Yeah, I got what you were saying the first time, and you're wrong. All things being equal --- good quality source material --- what you're saying certainly would not be true.

That'sAllFolks

Not released, but I read some years ago that Cheers was being remastered for a HD release.

calhoun07

I am quite happy with how my older TV shows on DVD look up converted. I really don't plan on replacing any of them. MAYBE Twilight Zone...if the price is right on Blu-Ray. But only because I never got around to finishing the seasons on DVD and if it turns out I can eventually get the Blu-Rays for a decent price I may sell off the DVD sets I have and pick them up.

bonepy

I like star wars

rfduncan

Might I introduce you to a little service called "Netflix"? Sure you have to wait a little to receive the discs, but their HD on-demand service is pretty amazing. And if something is available on Blu-ray, they're most likely going to carry it.

That is how I'm watching all the remastered ST:TOS episodes right now. While I'm enjoying them, I realize that the replay value for me is extremely low. Maybe in 5 years, I may want to watch them again in which case I will rent them again. For the cost of all three seasons, I could have Netflix for a long while and see tons of Blu-ray titles.

Charles 22

So you're trying to tell me that tranferring a solid black/white to BD, would be more difficult and more costly than transferring a color production which hadn't comparatively held up as well? Care to explain that, if so?

Charles 22

A good option, but I'm more into ownership. At this stage I'm assuming that BD treatments will all be pretty much as good as they can be got, but knowing the vast diferences I saw between various dvd remakes it will probably bear out in BD's as well. All I know is that if something says it's "remastered", should I be looking for excellent transfers, it means nothing compared to digital remastering.