Doctor Who classic 1963-1989 TV series should be released on the Blu-ray format

[HDTV1080P]

Doctor Who classic 1963-1989 TV series should be released on the Blu-ray format

The Blu-ray format came out in the summer of 2006 and is now slightly over 6 years old. I am disappointed that none of the classic Doctor Who programs from 1963 to 1989 have been released in 1080P or 1080i Blu-ray. It is my understanding that there are many of the Doctor Who programs that were shot on film and then later transferred to PAL videotape format for broadcasting.

So the Doctor Who classic programs that were originally shot on film could receive a 4K or 2K master scan of the original film negative and then transferred to 1080P/24 Blu-ray or 1080I/25 Blu-ray depending on the frame rate of the film stock.

Of course if some of the original Doctor Who classic programs were recorded on native PAL videotape instead of film then those programs would only be standard definition when they are released on the Blu-ray format. A 50GB Blu-ray disc using MPEG-4/AVC can hold several hours worth of NTSC or PAL standard definition programs with an overall better quality compared to the lower bit rate MPEG-2 NTSC and PAL DVD’s.

100% of all the classic Doctor Who programs from 1963-1989 could also receive a lossless audio track. Even if some of the original source material is only PAL standard definition the Doctor Who series would benefit from a lossless audio track that is bit for bit the same as the studio master in terms of audio quality. For example a 1.0 or 2.0 PCM, DTS-HD Master audio, or Dolby TrueHD sound track would be ideal.

Doctor Who fans would be willing to pay an extra $5-$10 over the current price of the DVD versions if the classic 1963-1989 series or certain episodes were released on Blu-ray. If both a HD transfer and lossless audio track was made available then BBC Warner could charge an extra $10 over the 480i DVD release.

Below are a list of Doctor Who DVD’s. Many have a $34.98 list price

(Many of these DVD’s came out in 2012, but there was no Blu-ray versions released)

Doctor Who: The Claws Of Axos - Special Edition (pre-release 11-13-2012)

Doctor Who: Spearhead From Space: Special Edition (2012)

Doctor Who: The Robots Of Death - Special Edition (2012)

Doctor Who: Tomb Of The Cybermen - Special Edition (2012)

Doctor Who: The Caves Of Androzani - Special Edition (2012)

Doctor Who: Carnival Of Monsters - Special Edition (2012)

Doctor Who: Resurrection Of The Daleks - Special Edition (2012)

Doctor Who: The Seeds Of Death - Special Edition (2012)

Doctor Who: The Three Doctors - Special Edition (2012)

Doctor Who: The Talons Of Weng Chiang - Special Edition (2011)

Doctor Who: Remembrance Of The Daleks (2010)

Doctor Who: The Key To Time - Special Edition (2009)

Doctor Who: The Five Doctors - 25th Anniversary Edition (2008)

I could list many more examples but the above are just a few titles that could have been placed on a 50GB Blu-ray disc using MPEG4/AVC but instead were only released on the DVD format. Some of the Doctor Who Special Editions are on 2 or 3 8.5GB dual layer DVD’s which would easily fit on one 25GB single layer or one 50GB dual layer Blu-ray disc.