How can Star Trek be saved from HD-DUD and Paramount?

[Sean4000]

I'm a huge ST fan and can no longer stand by and watch Paramount and CBS-D butcher and milk my favorite franchise.

How can I go about making a petition to pressure Paramount to abopt Blu-ray and take the remaster project and give it to a better company.?

I know I might be only one person but I have to make a stand. Together we can move mountains.

Anyone with me?

[BStecke]

There have been countless rallies and petitions, etc. since Paramount went to HD DVD.

You see where it's gotten.

[darinp2]

Originally Posted by Sean4000

How can I go about making a petition to pressure Paramount to abopt Blu-ray and take the remaster project and give it to a better company.?

I believe that the best way by far to get Paramount to release on Blu-ray again is to get Warner exclusively and Universal neutral at the worst. So, it may seem backasswards, but I think buying Warner titles (Harry Potter and Blade Runner) are probably the best things that non-insider people here can do to get Paramount back. If Warner and Universal both move, Toshiba and Paramount won't have a lot of options left.

--Darin

[JTK]

It won't until Paramount's little bribe contract expires or events unfold that allow them to excercise whatever "out" clauses you know their lawyers would have to put down on the contract to begin with.

[bferr1]

Maybe releasing these on BD50s will eliminate the excessive macroblocking I see on a lot of these Star Trek HD DVDs. (Unless, of course, the MB is in the master. )

[JTK]

Originally Posted by bferr1

Maybe releasing these on BD50s will eliminate the excessive macroblocking I see on a lot of these Star Trek HD DVDs. (Unless, of course, the MB is in the master. )

I still can't get over how obscenely expensive those Star Trek HD-DVD combo discs are.

The average "cheaper so it's better" DUD-er isn't going to touch that with a ten foot pole, but seriously...even as big of a Trek fan as I am...Paramount is LONG overdue to start getting real about their Star Trek disc prices.

[bferr1]

The high price is an insult, considering the quality of the final product, everything from flimsy packaging that scratches discs to some really atrocious encodes. For $218-- for any price, really-- nothing less than transparancy to the masters is acceptable. Why do these HD DVD studios not understand the concept of transparancy?

That said, BB had the set on sale for $129, and I had $30 in giftcards and coupons, so I ended up paying $99. That's the only way to do it without feeling like you got screwed. (However, considering how dissatisfied I am with it, I can't help but feel like I got screwed anyway.)

[JTK]

Originally Posted by bferr1

The high price is an insult, considering the quality of the final product, everything from flimsy packaging that scratches discs to some really atrocious encodes. For $218-- for any price, really-- nothing less than transparancy to the masters is acceptable. Why do these HD DVD studios not understand the concept of transparancy?

That said, BB had the set on sale for $129, and I had $30 in giftcards and coupons, so I ended up paying $99. That's the only way to do it without feeling like you got screwed. (However, considering how dissatisfied I am with it, I can't help but feel like I got screwed anyway.)

IMO, it's pretty obvious what's happening there: Paramount knows they can milk a premium off of early adopters in general.

Past that, they know certain zealots for HD-DVD are literally going to buy every new HD-DVD in site "just because."

Those discs reek of "let's put this beta product out now and some day when the format war is over we'll do this thing for real." Re: On Blu.

[bferr1]

I just don't know how the usual suspects over at AVS, if they were being completely honest, can gush over this release. Some of these people have projectors with giant screens, and they're raving about the PQ without a peep about the excessive MB. I have a 65" Mits DLP and I can see those "crawling amoebas" all over the place.

There's loyalty to your prefered format, and then there's being an ostrich.

[WickyWoo]

How can I go about making a petition to pressure Paramount to abopt Blu-ray and take the remaster project and give it to a better company.?

Your petition will be ignored, unless you're willing to stand in a mall and get HAND SIGNED petitions and physically mail them in.

I don't understand who else they would give it to to do a better job. Are you one of the people dissapointed that the FX don't look like the show rolled off the line yesterday? They're simply supposed to clean the footage, and replicate existing shots (and enhancing some per the original desire, but incapable of actually doing at the time) in a manner that's as unobstrustive as possible

If you're complaining about the encodes, well, that's the limitations of HD DVD for you. The only TOS I've seen in HD is a few eps I downloaded off of Xbox Live, which are DVNR'd to death, and have big problems with fine detail (like faces) in medium shots. I can see what's underneath is gorgeous though

IMO, it's pretty obvious what's happening there: Paramount knows they can milk a premium off of early adopters in general.

Paramount has always charged out the ass for Star Trek. This time they really went too far

Those discs reek of "let's put this beta product out now and some day when the format war is over we'll do this thing for real." Re: On Blu

Definately not. Trek is an evergreen cash cow. While they'll probably have to redo the encodes on Blu, don't expect the content to change

[JTK]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

Your petition will be ignored, unless you're willing to stand in a mall and get HAND SIGNED petitions and physically mail them in.

Don't put it past some of the real die hard Trek fans.

I don't understand who else they would give it to to do a better job. Are you one of the people dissapointed that the FX don't look like the show rolled off the line yesterday? They're simply supposed to clean the footage, and replicate existing shots (and enhancing some per the original desire, but incapable of actually doing at the time) in a manner that's as unobstrustive as possible

I suspect they did this part as well as could be given the shoestring budget from the 60's that this show operated under.

I'm basing that opinion based on the episodes they've shown on TV with the remastering.

If you're complaining about the encodes, well, that's the limitations of HD DVD for you. The only TOS I've seen in HD is a few eps I downloaded off of Xbox Live, which are DVNR'd to death, and have big problems with fine detail (like faces) in medium shots. I can see what's underneath is gorgeous though

Same here.

I'd like to see this same source material with a better encode and without the issues you are talking about here.

I suspect the source itself is as good as it can ever be.

Paramount has always charged out the ass for Star Trek. This time they really went too far

Amen!

Definately not. Trek is an evergreen cash cow. While they'll probably have to redo the encodes on Blu, don't expect the content to change

True. If one gets down to it, Trek is still their biggest crown jewel by far.

I'm sure you know the history well, but I think it's well known that Trek has outright saved Paramount on more than one occasion.

You're exactly right on this count.

[bferr1]

Don't get me wrong, guys. The PQ in the source material IS gorgeous. Unfortunately, it's wrecked by some poor encoding.

[Sean4000]

But come on, the new FX look like a PS1 video game. Eden FX could have done a more impressive job and still made it fit in.

CBS-D's motto for keeping the feel of the show was simply an excuse for sub-par fx talent. All of the money in the world can't turn water into wine. They went in house to save money and the subsequent lack of quality is the result. The outrageous pricing has turned me off from probably ever buying this set.

I pray to God they keep their hands off of TNG!!!

[WickyWoo]

But come on, the new FX look like a PS1 video game. Eden FX could have done a more impressive job and still made it fit in

Can you cite specific shots you found unnacceptible?

[Sean4000]

I can see you and I are not going to get along.

Let me compile a list....

[JTK]

Originally Posted by Sean4000

I can see you and I are not going to get along.

Let me compile a list....

This'll be interesting.

[Sean4000]

I take it you're a fan of TOS-R, JTK?

[JTK]

Originally Posted by Sean4000

I take it you're a fan of TOS-R, JTK?

I like it all right on through DS9.

Voyager? Enterprise? What are those?

[Brandon B]

I am probably with Sean on this one. I cannot cite specific scenes, as I only watched a few of these when broadcast, but there were some replacement flyby shots of the enterprise where it looked worse than the original (which I am embarassingly familiar with), because the CGI model had no texture mapping or variation to its coloring, and the lighting was a crap single source plain wash, so the ship looked flat. Like something out of the animated series, to put some hyperbole on it.

I did see some shots in other episodes (Balance of Terror) that looked good, so my concern is that the effort was very uneven, and I was not about to spend money to find out which end of the quality spectrum the show tipped towards.

Basically, from what I saw though, I'd rather buy the series with the original FX in HD than the new version.

BB

[JTK]

Originally Posted by Brandon B

I am probably with Sean on this one. I cannot cite specific scenes, as I only watched a few of these when broadcast, but there were some replacement flyby shots of the enterprise where it looked worse than the original (which I am embarassingly familiar with), because the CGI model had no texture mapping or variation to its coloring, and the lighting was a crap single source plain wash, so the ship looked flat. Like something out of the animated series, to put some hyperbole on it.

I did see some shots in other episodes (Balance of Terror) that looked good, so my concern is that the effort was very uneven, and I was not about to spend money to find out which end of the quality spectrum the show tipped towards.

Basically, from what I saw though, I'd rather buy the series with the original FX in HD than the new version.

BB

What should happen someday is a BD 50 or even a new 100 comes out with things like these and has both the "new" and "original" versions for everyone to enjoy.

Loaded with tons of goodies and extras, of course.