ST:Deep Space Nine Looks Horrible on DVD
 

Well this is depressing. Due to my huge dvd backlog, I finally cracked open my ST:DS9 dvds which have been sitting on the shelf sealed for years. I recently finished Next Generation on dvd and all the movies on blu-ray so DS9 was next.

Immediately, I was floored and bummed out at just how lousy the video image appears in the pilot episode. I swear I've seen better VHS quality. Many shots appeared fuzzy and blurry. In the outdoor shots, I could actually seen haze or halo effect around Sisko's body from the sunlight glare. I don't remember the TNG dvds looking this bad.


I suppose it's possible I have a bootleg, but it would have to be a damn good one especially since I bought it at Wal-mart! The packaging is the exact same as you buy in stores, and everything looks official. The show is damn near unwatchable, and I paid good money for these sets. Did they just do a poor video transfer on these dvds, or have I become too accustomed to blu-ray?

Re: ST:Deep Space Nine Looks Horrible on DVD
 

The TNG DVDs were also bad. I sold my complete set online as soon as I heard the first whispers of the High Def remastering. If TNG does well, that should bode well for DS9 and VOY.

And where the hell is Enterprise on Bluray? That's already in High-def, they should have had those out ages ago.

Re: ST:Deep Space Nine Looks Horrible on DVD
 

I think you're also accustomed to blu-ray. It's always harder going back to DVD.

Re: ST:Deep Space Nine Looks Horrible on DVD
 

It's not that bad... Sometimes when it's darker it gets a bit annoying, but what can you do? I'd rather live with it like that than have to pay for it all over again on Blu Ray.

Re: ST:Deep Space Nine Looks Horrible on DVD
 

No, not in this case. Long before I had Bluray, we were watching TNG on DVD and comparing it to other DVDs and the TNG discs were quite bad. Aside from the overall blurriness, there were numerous instances of macroblocking and other compression artifacts. They were badly done, period.

Re: ST:Deep Space Nine Looks Horrible on DVD
 

I can tell you (had the complete series since 2004) that the worst quality shots are fortunately limited to "Emissary", the pilot. Two shots stand out as absolutely disgusting:

One is the "Stardate (some random number) Three Years Later" establishing shot of a dock with a pond that Jake is sitting by. It's indeed worse than VHS.

Another is a very blurry opening shot of when Gul Dukat's ship is approaching DS9 and you see most of the crew in Ops which are completely washed out in a fuzzy blurry mess.

The remainder of season 1 isn't as bad as that though it's by no means good either.

The quality does improve somewhat in later seasons, and when watching the show upconverted it seems to solve some of the aliasing and color problems. At least that's been my experience. It looks pretty good from seasons 4 onward.

Rest assured you do NOT have a bootleg. Sucks that it can't be chalked up to that considering that's as good as it gets from an official release!

I have both Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D but I'm not a video quality snob who thinks DVD and standard definition is somehow 'beneath' me now or some other nonsense like that though.

Re: ST:Deep Space Nine Looks Horrible on DVD
 

The later seasons look okay (seasons 3-7). It may not have anything to do with the DVDs.

DS9 had an oppressively dark color scheme in its first two years. It was almost like Trek in a dank cave. Ick.

Re: ST:Deep Space Nine Looks Horrible on DVD
 

I also have had the set sitting on the shelf for a year or so and decided to watched "Emissary" over the weekend based on this thread. My take on the image unfortunately is that it is very "soft" and lacking detail. I watch on a fairly big screen and while I was able to watch it, the softness in the image was a bit distracting from time to time. It is good to hear it improves some in the later seasons.

I saw no macroblocking. However, "macroblocking" can sometimes be accentuated as a result of the chipset used in the player during dark scenes like found in DS9. I believe this is a weakness in the faroudja chipset. So that may explain why some are having this issue while others not.

Re: ST:Deep Space Nine Looks Horrible on DVD
 

For what its worth:
About 3 years ago I tried to watch the series by netflixing the DVDs and the image quality was just too distracting for me (watching on a 52" TV) that I could only get through the pilot. But about a month ago I streamed it from netflix (and it might be the fact I was watching it on a much smaller TV, 27") but I thought the picture looked a lot crisper. Definitely not HD, but not bargain VHS quality either.

Re: ST:Deep Space Nine Looks Horrible on DVD
 

I watch from a 92" screen (16x9) but sit about 13' away. I'm going to continue watching for now and hope the image improves some after the pilot and in later seasons. I don't want to have to wait for the potential blu-rays to be released before seeing it again.

Re: ST:Deep Space Nine Looks Horrible on DVD
 

That's reassuring! Yes, it was that exact shot by the pond that really depressed me because it looked so blurry and horrible. Hopefully, the series gets better as I go along. It was a chore getting through the pilot.

Re: ST:Deep Space Nine Looks Horrible on DVD
 

I've now watched the next 4 episodes. Either the video quality has gotten a bit better, or I have gotten use to it. It's good enough for me to continue.