UFO (Gerry Anderson)

[greenguy]

Just ran across a new release coming next week for UFO:

http://www.amazon.de/UFO-Weltraumkom...2&keywords=ufo

After performing a search, I did not find anyone discussing this.

Anyone know if the company Indigo is reputable in the BD market?

If it's a good release, it would be a nice alternative price wise to the excellent Japanese set.

[Monroville]

It looks like it could be a port of the Japanese series release:

Japanese release:




German release:

[phelings]

If it's a port of the Japanese release it will include B&W footage in The Long Sleep episode which should be tinted and it will also include a change from 4:3 to 16:9 in the Ordeal episode. I think these errors are corrected.

However , I've been in touch with Indigo who state that the Blurays are taken from fully English language masters so all the opening and closing titles aswell as episode titles and incidental credits will be in English.

They didn't confirm but as an ITC series its very likely to be Region B locked although unlike many German movie Blurays I suspect the disc menus will be in German only

[lemonski]

This was reported on the UFO Series Home page (http://www.ufoseries.com)

In Germany, Epix Media will be releasing UFO on Blu-ray disc on November 28. The discs will be region B encoded (not playable on USA Blu-ray players), and will have options for English audio, German audio, and German subtitles. The aspect ratio will be 4:3, although I understand it will still have the same one-minute lapse into 16:9 in the middle or ORDEAL that the Japanese set has. The audio tracks will both be mono (it will not include the English 5.1 track from the Japanese release). The video quality should be about the same as the Japanese set, except that the flashbacks in THE LONG SLEEP will actually be sepia-toned instead of black&white. As for special features, the first 1000 units will have a coated slipcase, a booklet and a SHADO patch. All 26 episodes will be presented on 6 Blu-ray discs.

I'd recommend jumping over to the UFO Series Home Page, there's a good review of the Japanese BD set with image quality comparisons with the earlier DVDs:
http://ufoseries.com/videos/bj/

I already have the DVD release, but I would have been all over the Japanese BD box if it wasn't for the few image quality issues - especially at the $$$ they're asking for it. Sounds like the German release is a little closer to what it should be, but I think I'll hold out for something better again.

[phelings]

Bit annoying if they've corrected the sepia tint but left the 16:9 error on there.

I have the Australian dvd set which combines all the bonus features and commentaries from the various releases aswell as adding an exclusive George Sewell one and throws in the Fanderson documentary for good measure so I suspect I'll be hanging onto the dvd set even though I've pre-ordered the Bluray

[UniSol GR77]

Hopefully from 2k/4k.

I love this series, it's marvellous.

[Indiana Jones]

Great news that it's confirmed to be HD and not upscale, hope they also put out a German release of the Thunderbirds set that Japan got which is OAR.

[greenguy]

Thanks for all the info guys!

I too would be in for a Thunderbirds set.

[phelings]

They must have some of these in the UK already .Email confirming despatch just received -expected delivery is saturday.

I really can't wait

[phelings]

Spent half hour looking through for general overview.

Discs locked to Region B.
Opening titles , onscreen episode titles and all credits all In English.
German subs all optional even on the episodes with no German audio.
Onscreen menus all German .
Episode titles are in English and German on the disc labels.
Picture quality looks superb . 1080/24p
Audio is Dolby Digital 2 channel according to the box but Audio is PCM mono on at least 6 episodes.

The 16:9 error in Ordeal is carried over from the Japanese set although its not that obtrusive , lasts for about 50 seconds and does actually look quite good in widescreen.

The Long Sleep druggie scenes are back as they should be with their mix of tints and garish colours.

No bonus features seen so far.
Several episodes have no German audio and these are prefaced by a text scroll that seems to be saying that certain episodes were not dubbed into German in 1971 (but my German is not all that good so I may be wrong).

There's also a patch ,booklet in German and slipcase included which are apparently only with the first 1000 copies.

So far so good . Looks excellent.
One possible anomaly. The teaser for Flight Path on the dvd seems to be a dusk/ night scene shot with ITC's usual ineffective day for night filtering . On the Bluray it all seems to be in broad daylight and sunshine . Now the sunshine can be seen on the dvd but that's true for many an ITC or Hammer day for night shoot but this Blu doesn't look like anything except daytime . It's no problem of course and doesn't affect the episode -just an observation I noticed on scanning through some episodes.

[Indiana Jones]

Glad to hear its actually lossless PCM mono and not just Dolby Digital like it states on the Amazon.de listing.

Any chance of some pics

[phelings]

Originally Posted by Indiana Jones

Glad to hear its actually lossless PCM mono and not just Dolby Digital like it states on the Amazon.de listing.

Any chance of some pics

Its PCM 48k on 6 episodes only - Discs 1 and 6.

The rest are Dolby Digital.

Don't know how to do pix on here but the images above are reasonably accurate although I guess someone doctored those from the dvd release as there are 6 discs all in one case - not 7 in 2.

One nice touch I forgot to mention is something I've seen on a few German releases - mainly Hammer films. The cover is double sided so you can turn it round and get rid of the rather large 12 classification - and the 12 on the slipcase is a removeable sticker.

[Indiana Jones]

Originally Posted by phelings

Its PCM 48k on 6 episodes only - Discs 1 and 6.

The rest are Dolby Digital.

Don't know how to do pix on here but the images above are reasonably accurate although I guess someone doctored those from the dvd release as there are 6 discs all in one case - not 7 in 2.

One nice touch I forgot to mention is something I've seen on a few German releases - mainly Hammer films. The cover is double sided so you can turn it round and get rid of the rather large 12 classification - and the 12 on the slipcase is a removeable sticker.

Those pics above of 2 cases and 7 discs are of the Japanese BD set.

Very disappointed to hear that only certain episodes have lossless audio, very odd as you'd think it would be all or nothing.

[phelings]

Originally Posted by Indiana Jones

Those pics above of 2 cases and 7 discs are of the Japanese BD set.

Very disappointed to hear that only certain episodes have lossless audio, very odd as you'd think it would be all or nothing.

Yes , I'm wondering why.
Initially I thought perhaps as Disc 6 included a redone The Long Sleep with the tints and colour restored that they used PCM and expected the rest to be DD as they were probably a port from the Jap set but then you have the first 4 episodes all on disc 1 also PCM and I don't think Indiego had to do anything with those.

It's a mystery.
Now Network have their new deal with ITV I think we should expect a UK set at some point . We're some way from a definitive Bluray of UFO like the Australian was the definitive dvd release.

This will be the first of at least 2 purchases of UFO on Bluray I think but it's a very good start. Just to have it all in HD is great.

[asiamiles]

Originally Posted by phelings

The 16:9 error in Ordeal is carried over from the Japanese set although its not that obtrusive , lasts for about 50 seconds and does actually look quite good in widescreen.

Would this error really have been so difficult to correct? Since the master would have been cropped for 16:9 I guess they'd have had to use an SD source, so it would have resulted in a brief drop in quality. Still, it's enough for me to avoid this release and hope for remastered UK one in the not too distant future.

[malcy30]

Mine has finally shipped from Amazon.de almost a week late. Hopefully it is still one of the first 1,000 copies limited edition.

[phelings]

Originally Posted by asiamiles

Would this error really have been so difficult to correct? Since the master would have been cropped for 16:9 I guess they'd have had to use an SD source, so it would have resulted in a brief drop in quality. Still, it's enough for me to avoid this release and hope for remastered UK one in the not too distant future.

A brief drop in quality is unacceptable . This ratio change goes by almost unnoticed and the scene actually looks quite good in widescreen.

It really is almost a non issue . It lasts 50 seconds in a relatively unimportant section of one of the mediocre episodes .
The other 25 look sublime .

I'm sure a UK one will appear at some point but to deny yourself the pleasure of seeing UFO in this great quality for the sake of one error seems be a case of biting off your nose to spite your face .

Who knows when / if a UK set will arrive ?
As far as I am aware the 4:3 masters on both of the available Bluray sets are the only ones available apart from the 16:9 versions ITV supply for tv broadcast . There is no corrected version .... yet.

[asiamiles]

Originally Posted by phelings

A brief drop in quality is unacceptable . This ratio change goes by almost unnoticed and the scene actually looks quite good in widescreen.

It really is almost a non issue . It lasts 50 seconds in a relatively unimportant section of one of the mediocre episodes .
The other 25 look sublime .

I'm sure a UK one will appear at some point but to deny yourself the pleasure of seeing UFO in this great quality for the sake of one error seems be a case of biting off your nose to spite your face .

Who knows when / if a UK set will arrive ?
As far as I am aware the 4:3 masters on both of the available Bluray sets are the only ones available apart from the 16:9 versions ITV supply for tv broadcast . There is no corrected version .... yet.

Personally I would have preferred a 50 second drop to SD rather than a 50 second change of ratio, but to each his own.

Since I have the series on both DVD and LD I feel the next purchase has to be the final and "perfect" one. Fingers crossed a UK or US set that fits this criteria will be released, but as you say, who knows when.

[phelings]

I have read elsewhere today that a corrected set of 4:3 masters is available from ITV and already supplied to downloaod companies but for some reason Indiego stayed with the ones used for the Japanese set - at least they did correct the error on The Long Sleep

[marcmartin]

Originally Posted by phelings

I have read elsewhere today that a corrected set of 4:3 masters is available from ITV and already supplied to downloaod companies but for some reason Indiego stayed with the ones used for the Japanese set - at least they did correct the error on The Long Sleep

Yes, Hulu Plus has been streaming the corrected HD version of ORDEAL for awhile now. So far that's the only place you can see it, since both of the Blu-ray releases have it wrong.