I know Lost Season 3 is coming to one of the formats. I do not remember if it is Blu-ray or HD DVD.

Wasn't The Office rumored to be coming this summer?

Sure, they could do that, would they is the question. Revered classics like Casablanca are safe for OAR, but TV shows? We'll see.

That would have to be BD as it is from Disney. However, I hope they also release the first season soon, because I want to start over and get it all in HD. I only have the first season on DVD, and I would feel strange having a series only partially in HD (unless a show was produced that way, of course).

Given that some TV shows on SD DVD have already been converted to 16:9 (for example Babylon 5 and Kung Fu) I would be very surprised if 4:3 TV shows on HD DVD were not also converted to 16:9. Since nearly all HD DVD players are hooked up to 16:9 displays (or projectors), I would expect that studios will convert any 4:3 shows they put on high def discs. These conversions will become the new "Full Screen".

Not being a purist when it comes to TV I wouldn't mind open matte, if it exists. But most conversions seem to be cropped, from what I have seen, and that I don't like.

With the HD formats being such a tiny market it is more likely that the studios won't even bother to release 4:3 shows on HD DVD for some years to come, if ever.

Just to further my posts about West Wing, I preordered it from Best Buy here in Canada, and the release date on my order is January 1, 2030. Doesn't look like it will be released anytime soon.

After watching one of the worst season finales in history I think Universal had better reconsider their MSRP for Heroes. That is looking like a $19.99 set at the most.

!!!!!!!!!!!!

[QUOTE=lizard]Given that some TV shows on SD DVD have already been converted to 16:9 (for example Babylon 5 and Kung Fu) I would be very surprised if 4:3 TV shows on HD DVD were not also converted to 16:9. Since nearly all HD DVD players are hooked up to 16:9 displays (or projectors), I would expect that studios will convert any 4:3 shows they put on high def discs. These conversions will become the new "Full Screen".


I believe B5 was actually shot in 16:9, JMS being a pioneer of sorts in that dept., and then re-formatted for TV broadcast. So what we see on B5 DVDs is the real thing so to speak.

Kung Fu was a 4:3 that was reformatted to 16:9 just for season 1, so that's a real example of that. KF S1 took some criticism for that conversion. I've watched the pilot and it looked "ok" to me; I'd be in favor of some experimentation in that area. Even if 16:9 is too much, maybe something like a 1.66 would be more do-able.

Yes, it was shot 16:9 except for the CGI, which was 4:3. Also any shot with visuals effects was 4:3 which is why the dvds vary in quality from shot-to-shot sometimes.

To elaborate on this, for the DVDs any shot without visual effects should be the original 16:9 photographed image with extra picture on the sides. However, the shots with visual effects were only rendered in 4:3, and are thus cropped on the top and bottom for the widescreen DVDs.

What really complicates this is the fact that the show became heavily reliant on CGI over time, to the extent that even most simple indoor scenes were shot in front of a green screen and have VFX elements in them. So, unfortunately, more of the show is cropped on DVD than not.

24 seasons on HD is a must for me later.

I have a dream one day HD for X files, Buffy and Angel.

I don't think that's a given for all shows -- I'd put money on the fact that Image's inevitable boxed set of The Twilight Zone will be pillarboxed -- but I would expect it to be pretty common. I don't know how many vintage series we'll be getting on HD DVD/Blu-ray, tho'.

Just as an added note, JMS has said that the 4x3 CGI shots were composed such that they could still be cropped and not lose any of the information that was intended to be there.

That's what he claims, but I have just been watching the seasons again and I have seen multiple shots where it looks like the cropping cut off some of the intended information (tops of peoples heads once in a while). Obviously speculation, but my thoughts.

For me, anything released 4x3 I will continue to buy on regular DVD, but anything 16x9 (and especially shot in HD) I am going to wait. The only conundrum I have is for season sets that I have partially completed, like Stargate SG-1. Do I go ahead and buy Season 10 since it is the last season, or wait for the HD versions to come out who knows when? I will probably just end up buying the regular DVD version, even though it's against my better judgment.

I'd imagine that applies to the all-CG shots, but not to live action shots that were cropped because they included a digital effect or because they were part of a fade in/out from a CG shot. They probably intended to rerender the CG shots as they were but cropped on the the top and bottom, then redo the live action special effects shots in 16:9 as the footage was filmed. Of course, all of this became impossible when the data files for the CG were lost.

Well, Smallville season 6 and Supernatural season 2 were announced on DVD today from WB, but no HD news yet. :(

I really want Smallville in HD, as well as seasons 1-4.

this is my number one requested TV title as well. Hopefully they will at least give us S6 day and date.

Crap, Galactica is going HD? I hope season 3 is day and date as well, since otherwise I'll be caught wondering whether to pick up the normal DVDs or wait.

Any chance of Rome ever hitting HD DVD? That series in HD was worth the bill I paid for cable.

http://www.hmv.co.jp/fl/7/196/3/page=6