For those looking for another opinion about the box set, David Vaughn has a nice review up on HomeTheaterSpot.

http://www.hometheaterspot.com/fusio...hp?tid/138340/

I've watched the first four episodes. All of them have the same problems, which does lead me to believe this is a problem with the master, as you mentioned. Wasn't this shot in HD to start?

And personally, I think this transfer is soft, too, which Universal has tried to fix by applying rampant edge enhancement. Does not make for a pleasing picture.

It's shot on film, but very overprocessed in post-production to give it more "pop". The colors have been tweaked as well to emphasize that comic book style.

I need to watch more episodes, but from what I've seen so far it was very pleasing overall, with some caveats.

Having got through the entire series in 2-days (I hadnt seen it before the release) I was highly impressed with the PQ, by no means perfect but excellent overall

That's what I was afraid of. A review I read over at High Def Digest gave the PQ a pretty low rating (3.5/5 I believe).

So personally do you think the HD-DVD version is worth getting over the SD version? I would really hate to pay $100 for this set and have the same PQ as say the SD version played through an upconverting DVD player.

^ $70 on amazon, minus 5% if you use the tvguide5 code - don't pay $100!!! I know that online the difference is quite a bit, but I ordered the HD version from Amazon with discounts it was like $60cdn shipped and the SD version in store on Tuesday in Canada is $50 plus tax which is like $57, so for me personally, the HD version was a no brainer.

In the end, yes, because there's a ton of content not available on the DVD set that the HD DVD has.

Well that sucks about the pic quality. Well, the price sucks too, but I ordered last week. Thanks for the amazon link and coupon, btw. Think this is expensive at $60, have you seen the price for Lost: S3 on BD? my ass if they think I'm paying that.

My review is up: http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=30081

I forgot to include an episode list, I will add it in after work today.

I'm with Josh...there are a few shots scattered throughout the episodes that have some issues, but nothing that would prevent me from giving the video top-marks or near-top-marks. I think the shows look great on HD DVD.

Nice review

Interesting. That doesn't really jive with the DVDtalk review.

Has anyone's amazon order shipped? No go here.

Sorry, Shannon, I'm going to have to disagree. This doesn't even look as good as some G1 HD DVD content like Serenity or Chronicles of Riddick, let alone as good as some of the top transfers coming out now on either format. There are undoubtedly shots of sparkling clarity in the set (the repeating motif of zooming into the New York skyline looks phenomenal), but they're the exception and not the rule.

No surprise there.

Shipped yesterday.

Delivered today. I might start checking it out tonight, but Dawn of the Dead comes first, priorities & all.

My Heroes set arrived today from DVD Planet (along with DotD), hope to start watching tonight. Should I start with the "unaired" pilot or is that the only version of the pilot on here?

Alright. Mine shows shipping between Sept. 11-17 yet when you view the item page is shows available now.

Time to dig up their phone number.

*grrr. Looks like they are out of stock despite the item page saying it is available now. At least that's what I gather from the non-english speaking motherfucker on the other end of the line. God how frustrating. He tried to give me the Super Saving speil. But mine isn't even shipping for 2-3 weeks. That isn't even a factor. Worst case scenario it ships on the 17th and I get it 10 days later, a whole month after release. This from an item listed as available now. Great job Amazon!

Are you using the free shipping? Taking forever to box your discs up is Amazon's way of penalizing you for not paying for shipping. It's usually not as bad as they estimate.

Yes, but it should still at least show shipping from today + 10 days. Not two weeks + 10 days.

Oh well. I think I'm going to pick it up somewhere tonight and do the swap method when the Amazon order shows up.

I don't know how the video quality will meet my standards. But it has to be better than the SD version. And I didn't watch it in HD last year. So I'm sure I'll be happy with it regardless.

Both versions of the pilot are included. The "unaired" pilot blatantly contradicts the continuity of the show, and is meant only as a supplement.

If you've never seen the show before, you should hold off on watching the unaired pilot until after Episode 2, because certain footage from the alternate pilot was re-edited and incorporated into that 2nd ep.

So is the "unaired" pilot the one they showed at ComicCon 2006?

I wish the packaging was a little better for this set.

It seems like the fold-out is a little too tight for the box the HD-DVD's are housed in. Not sure if anyone else has this problem, but I'm getting frayed/damaged edges on parts of my fold-out. A lot of the color on the art getting scraped off, from taking the set in and out of the box.

Sounds picky I know

Other than that, this is my first time watching entire episodes of the show (in full) and I am in love with the series.

The first few episodes on the Smallville Season 5 set aren't the best quality on the set. Once you get past those then the quality gets much better.