What COULD be released on Blu Ray?

[Anthony Williams]

With the end of the Classic Who DVD range looming, the question springs to mind as to what would transfer well to the HD format? Obviously Spearhead from Space has been banded around as a suggest, but what else could work well?

I'm looking for well-informed answers here, not wild guesses

Ant x

[SiHart]

A bit of a long shot but they could put on all the location/ Ealing films scenes that exist as negatives as a big old bonus feature.

[Lissa]

I'm sure someone involved with the DVDs did say that Blu-ray could be used to give regular stories a higher bitrate and maybe put several stories and extras on one disc. It would be a different way to release the inevitable season boxed sets.

[Si Hunt]

So would YOU buy the whole of a season on a blu-ray disc?

You could in theory eventually reduce your Doctor Who collection down to the size of a paracetamol.

Si.

[Larry]

well ones thing for certain having spent hundreds of pounds getting every story on video and then hundreds of pounds getting every story on DVD, I won't be getting any story on blue ray if they decide to start releasing them in that format.

[Stuart Wallis]

Never confuse it for the siucide pill...

well ones thing for certain having spent hundreds of pounds getting every story on video and then hundreds of pounds getting every story on DVD, I won't be getting any story on blue ray if they decide to start releasing them in that format.

I've tended to avoid paying full price for the DVDs simply because of the money I splashed out on videos. Paying a certain amount for the extras and commentaries is one thing, but... I can't see any opint to buying everything a third time (or fourth, or fifth, or even sixth, if you count novelisations, talking books there of, and laser discs - and don't get me started on reissues!).

[Antony Cox]

You could in theory eventually reduce your Doctor Who collection down to the size of a paracetamol.

Si.

That would be a bitter pill to swallow.

[SiHart]

Imagine- HD title sequences! Oh my, yes!

[Anthony Williams]

I think that for me to change my Classic Who DVDs to Blu Rays, they really would have to be upscaled into HD, or with significantly higher bitrates. Putting entire seasons onto one disc only to replace the DVD collection that replaced my VHS collection just doesn't appeal to me.

Ant x

[Stephen Morgan]

I think that for me to change my Classic Who DVDs to Blu Rays, they really would have to be upscaled into HD, or with significantly higher bitrates. Putting entire seasons onto one disc only to replace the DVD collection that replaced my VHS collection just doesn't appeal to me.

Ant x

Same here, but I don't think the format of the old shows lends itself to an HD format does it? Grainy old prints would have to be well upscaled to match any of todays output, even if it could be done.
Nope! I'm happy with the DVDs as they are.

[Larry]

Same here, but I don't think the format of the old shows lends itself to an HD format does it? Grainy old prints would have to be well upscaled to match any of todays output, even if it could be done.
Nope! I'm happy with the DVDs as they are.

even then I have my doubts it would work I read an article in The Daily Mail, last year saying that a test had been done where people were asked to watch a load of old films that had been upgraded to HD on blue rey and most said they noticed no difference at all.

[Stephen Morgan]

..I read an article in The Daily Mail, last year saying that a test had been done where people were asked to watch a load of old films that had been upgraded to HD on blue rey and most said they noticed no difference at all.

Saying that though, I have the DVD and the Blu-ray of Fritz Lang's Metropolis. The DVD was restored and released about ten years ago, but in the years since that release missing footage has turned up and the whole project re-visited for its Blu-ray release. The difference between the two is startling and I'd defy anyone to say there is no difference. But we are talking 35mm film stock here, not grainy old second or third generation sixties tele recordings and 16mm film. And, let's be honest, money was spent on Metropolis for the restoration, and I don't think the BBC would spend money on upscaling old Who to an acceptable standard for Blu-ray.

[Rob McCow]

We tried a similar thing with Star Trek V last year, where we did a direct comparison. The DVD looked pretty good, but the colours were far better on the Blu-Ray and there were more details visible. With films that rely on their visuals there is a huge difference.

Also, animation (such as the Simpsons or Manga films) and Black and White recordings benefit hugely from being on Blu-Ray.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Whilst I was posting about the BluRay release of Spearhead and whether anything else might follow a thought occured.

The upscaled to HD version of the 2008 Christmas special The Next Doctor (the last episode to be only broadcast in SD) looks pretty good on the BluRay release of the 2009 Specials so my question is this:

Would we like to see BluRay releases of upscaled versions of the first four "new" series from 2005-2008?

[Anthony Williams]

Would we like to see BluRay releases of upscaled versions of the first four "new" series from 2005-2008?

I've seen this discussed elsewhere on a number of occasions.

It would certainly be possible for the three Tennant seasons (and yes, I would like to see that), but there are technical problems that would prevent them from doing the same for the Eccleston year. Primarily, it was shot in Standard Definition, then processed with various filters to give it the look that it's got. Sadly, from what I've heard, the filters etc. that they used would make it look very ropey indeed if upscaled to HD.

Still, never say never, right?

[Si Hunt]

I think the flaw in this logic is that hundreds of pounds over twenty years isn't the same as hundreds of pounds sitting in front of you now. You could spend £2 on milk every week for a year but you can't then turn round and say "If only I had that £100 here now!". The money lots of us have spent on DVD's and videos down the years can't ever be recouped as a lump sum; it's been spent gradually, and repaid in the pleasure gained from watching those DVD's at the time. So I see no problem with buying these stories again now, with new money, and getting new pleasure out of them. Though it was a bit cheeky to make you buy "Spearhead" to get "Terror" so recently and then re-issue it in a better format now.

Still, we'll buy it so you can't expect them not to capitalise on potential sales.

Si.

[Stuart Wallis]

The flaw in this logic is, you can buy a loaf of bread today, and a loaf of bread next week, and you can justify buying the same thing twice because to need to eat, and the price won't have shot up dramatically. (Well yes, with bread it might do, but it won't double in the same way as the price has between buying a Doctor Who video which is less neccessary than the bread, and the same story on DVD).

[Perry Vale]

but it won't double in the same way as the price has between buying a Doctor Who video ....... and the same story on DVD

It hasn't though, has it? A £9.99 VHS from 1991 is about £17 in today's money, and all the DW DVDs can be bought for around the £13 mark online.

[Si Hunt]

And DVD's are a better product than videos - they are digital quality, contain loads of extras and offer instant scene select access. So your logic is SHASH Wallis!

Incidentally, I paid more for many of my videos twenty years ago (£16.99p for The Monster Of Peladon and weep!) than I did for the corresponding stories on DVD recently.

Si.

[J.R. Southall]

Indeed, look at the cost of other things as they once were on VHS and as they now are on DVD: for example, Survivors (the mid-1970s series). On VHS it was released across 18 cassettes at £9.99 each, coming to nearly £180. On DVD, it currently stands at just a little over £20 for the whole lot.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

I think Stuart was making the point that not all of us have sufficient disposable income to be buying new dvds and even less so BluRays every month at full price.

[Andrew Curnow]

That's true - although being in that boat myself I'd say it has its advantages. Take Galaxy 4 for example, the recovered episode coming out in March surely has to be a must buy. So if I was effectively buying another copy of The Aztecs just for that, I'd probably be a bit miffed; whereas in fact I'll probably put some money aside to make sure I can buy The Aztecs PLUS Galaxy 4. It also means I can argue with myself between now and my birthday as to whether to ask for the Mannequin Mania set, or Spearhead on Bluray instead. So, swings & roundabouts.

[Stuart Wallis]

I think Stuart was making the point that not all of us have sufficient disposable income to be buying new dvds and even less so BluRays every month at full price.

Of course, people are welcome to make sandwiches by bunging a slice of cheese between two circular plastic discs containing Doctor Who stories; I shan't pay your dental bill though.