Lorna Doone (2000) -A&E/BBC series

[karsten]

Here's something odd. The 2000 TV adaptation of Lorna Doone, a joint A&E/BBC production, only appears to be available in blu-rays originating in Spain:

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Lorna...Blu-ray/81158/

But what is still more curious is that it seems to be available in two distinct releases -- and, yes, both originate in Spain.

There's this one, with a cover image showing the memorable scene that, I am certain, Peter Jackson ripped off for the Aragorn/Arwen nighttime bit in Rivendell . . .



https://www.amazon.com/Lorna-Doone-B...dp/B00E6XYQ4I/


. . . and then there's this version, with a cover featuring the gorgeous lead actress:



https://www.amazon.com/Lorna-Doone-M...dp/B01CYX5G54/



I don't suppose anyone knows if there is any superiority in picture quality or extras or such between these two releases?

Also, they're both listed as 16:9. This aired in 4:3 on A&E when it was first broadcast. I don't suppose anyone might know if this is a case of an original 16:9 picture that was cropped to 4:3 for the TV broadcast, or if it was shot at 4:3, of which this 16:9 version is a crop?

[karsten]

As a follow-up, here's some worthwhile information for anyone considering purchasing this product.

Between the two blu-rays, I ended up blind buying this one, for the interesting cover art . . .



. . . and that turned out to be a mistake. I wish I'd read this review on Amazon before pulling the trigger. I can confirm this observation to be true:

Excellent Production, Poor Blu-ray Presentation

...I can only give this release two stars, owing to its substandard image quality. Blu-ray is of course a high definition format, whose 1080 lines of resolution allow for much sharper reproduction of celluloid images than was ever possible on the lower-res DVD format.

Unfortunately, instead of mastering this release from the original Super 16mm print (or negative), the producers of this disc have simply taken the (15-year-old) *standard definition* master used for the Region 2 DVD, and put it on Blu-ray. The technical specs listed on the back of the case claim it is "1080i". Well it may be "presented" in 1080i, but a standard definition source is *still* standard definition, whether presented in high definition or not...

...I would have to recommend this Blu-ray over the A&E DVD (which, bafflingly, is more expensive than this Blu-ray). However, anyone expecting an actual HD presentation of this production is going to be disappointed.

And I was. I don't even know if I'd agree that the blu-ray is better than the A&E DVD. I have the latter, and it actually yields a slightly better-resolution picture than the blu-ray. The colours also look a bit better on the A&E DVD.



However, the 16x9 picture on the blu-ray does present a good bit more information at the sides than the 4x3 DVD (although the blu-ray inexplicably crops some of the 4x3's picture at the bottom).

Now I'm left wondering whether this blu-ray of the same film, also originating in Spain, uses the same SD master as the one that I purchased, or whether it's actually based on a new HD transfer.



I have a sinking feeling that it will be same standard-def transfer, and I'm not keen to make another blind-buy purchase to find out.