Then you probably won't be getting it come release week. Amazon has it for $63 which is probably going to be the cheapest its going to be offered at. Prison Break still has a high MSRP even though its been out for a long time and its a 'catalog' TV title. That's the only Fox on TV show I can think of right now (the only?).

Good point. My HD DVD Serenity and SD DVD Firefly set will do me for a few more years.

Cool news, but damn, $90? Seriously?

For ninety bucks, it had better include a free night with Inara.

Well played... although I'd be a little hesitant after her turn as Adria.

I could be wrong, but I believe this aired in HD. So your argument holds no water. The CG would have been rendered to at least support 720p. Besides there wasn't too terribly much CG in the show to begin with. (Checking IMDB) Yup...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0303461/technical

Exactly. Squeezing every drop they can out of show they treated and tossed away like garbage. I hope Joss can use this to make sure Dollhouse gets a fairer shake come January.

I'll wait for a sale to pick this up on BD.

Firefly aired on the Fox network before they supported HD. At the time, they had an "Enhanced Definition" 480p channel. The show's FX were all rendered at 480p.

The series has since aired on the UHD network. Shots without CGI are true High Definition, but any time a CGI element is introduced (and this includes even minor background details) the entire shot drops down to upconverted Standard-Def. It's very distracting.

Enterprise and the final season of Angel have the same problem, because their respective networks wouldn't shell out for High-Def VFX.

First off, this is Fox we're talking about, so the answer to that is a resounding no. Secondly, even if they wanted to, it isn't just a matter of re-rendering the CGI. They'd also have to re-edit every episode from scratch to incorporate the new footage.

great show, bad MSRP. Really good technical info from Josh Z though.

This is going to be a huge stumbling block for TV on HD (either broadcast or Blu-ray).

Many of the popular effects-heavy shows are not HD-ready. TNG and DS9 were mastered on video (despite being shot on film) and aren't even up to standard DVD quality, and there's also the issue of Babylon 5, where the standard def CGI was zoomed and cropped to fit the widescreen aspect ratio.

I don't how willing the studios are going to be having the shows remastered and having the visual effects redone, but I'd wager they're not eager to put up any significant amount of $$$ to do it. Paramount has already done TOS, but I think it's likely they'll balk at doing the same for 600+ hours of modern-era Trek material. And Warners doesn't seem willing to pump much money at all into Babylon 5, judging by "The Lost Tales." (Then again, maybe all of the CGI in that was some kind of trial run for recreating the FX in the original... I can always dream...)

Star Trek is a tremendous cash cow for Paramount. If they can find an excuse to re-sell the same material to the same fans all over again, they'll do it. While redoing the VFX for The Next Generation and the later series is exponentially more difficult than The Original Series, rumor is that Paramount commissioned a test episode to see just how expensive and time-consuming it will be. So they're at least looking into it.

Unfortunately, while Babylon 5 has a very devoted following, its audience is only a tiny fraction of Star Trek's. B5 never did well in the ratings and never made Warner Bros much money. That means the studio has less incentive to put the money and effort into restoring it.

Babylon Bummer.

The specs, courtesy of highdefdigest, are now in. Looks like Fox heard our cries and dropped the MSRP!!


...



by a dollar

I didn't really pursue the show when it was originally aired, but enjoyed Serenity (the movie) and following up with it when it was re-broadcast. I'd be up for having this on BD. I agree though, that the pricing is a little steep.

(I was super happy to see the remastered Trek at ~$60, vs. the *painful* HD-DVD price of S1 for $179).

OK, that's terrific info - I couldn't quite put my finger on the inconsistency of the HD broadcasts. The FX didn't seem inherently bad, but the entire scene seemed out of whack.

I wonder if they can do a better SD conversion on the set? There's certainly a wide variation in algo's and tech to go SD->HD and pre-rendered is always superior to anything on the fly.

At $88 dollars a pop, they only need to sell a few dozen of these to surpass the theatrical take of "Serenity".

Which is only a 70-cent savings on Amazon

November 11, not September 23.

Seriously, Fox needs to get their head out of their asses and realize that they're MSRP for TV Shows is WAY too fucking high... at my local retailer Prison Break Season 3 is selling for $30 more than Sarah Connor Chronicles (both short seasons)... just ridiculous. I'd love to have Firefly on BD, but not for this kind of money.

Cover art from tvshowsondvd.net:

Man, I love this show, but when will TV box sets come down to reality on BD? I paid $15 for this on DVD and I'm sure most people paid $20 or so since this thing is always on sale. No way in hell you can get me to fork over 4 times the money for HD. Just no way.

Hopefully stores start selling BD TV sets at the same 60-70% off they frequently put the DVD sets on sale for.

where are you getting a newly released TV series on DVD for 70% off???

Newly released? On BD maybe but this is a catalog title and should be priced accordingly. Most sets are at the magic $20 price point or under in 3-6 months from release. I always wait, because most sets end up on sale and we will see a ton on sale come holiday time. I have a ton of TV box sets and rarely pay more than $15-$20 for them. Even my Sopranos seasons have all been under $30.

BD is not getting my money until the prices fall in the $30 a season range for most sets.

Looks ok to me. Though I kind of prefer the DVD box set art better, even though it has the actors' heads all over it. Gee, I wonder if they made the cover art blue enough ...

Yes, newly released on Blu-ray. Firefly is akin to say, Twin Peaks, another "catalog" TV show with no more than a cult following. I've yet to see even the second season DVD box of Twin Peaks for anywhere near $20, let alone the complete series.

I understand you have price point standards, but there are such different economic considerations at this point that I don't think it's fair to expect 70% off prices for most TV on BD anytime soon.

I hate the cover art. They should make it double sided at least with the original cover on the other side. Otherwise, honestly, I don't think I'll want this set (with both the high price and lame cover).