Friends: The Complete Series (1994-2004)

[Drewbee87]

Any updates on this?

[cinemaphile]

Originally Posted by Drewbee87

Any updates on this?

Sadly, no. If it's going to be out by year's end, I'd expect an announcement in the next couple weeks. Otherwise, it's looking like next year.

[Gardenofstone10]

Darn, this would make a fantastic Christmas gift to my wife. Also, would be nice getting at least 50 for our current Friends boxset

[Veronica Mars]

Originally Posted by cinemaphile

Sadly, no. If it's going to be out by year's end, I'd expect an announcement in the next couple weeks. Otherwise, it's looking like next year.

This kind of news doesn't make me sad at all. At least it's not something that suggests this could drag on and on making me wonder if it will really happen. This is a big show to be coming to blu. I'm told even the early seasons of House won't ever be released on blu. Yes, this was a bigger hit but people move on too. So, I'm just glad to be getting this next year. When people start talking about, "Well, it will come out eventually," that's the kind of thing I don't like to hear because it means, G-d knows when or if it will come out. Next year is next year. The show is on 4 times a day where I live, so selling my SD set is biting me in the butt anyway. Bring it on next year! (That said, I'd also like to get Bring it On on blu)

[Ace of Sevens]

While shows didn't air in widescreen until about 2001 for the most part, most new shows were shooting in widescreen starting about 1994 (existing shows didn't necessarily convert). Sometimes, as with Babylon 5, they aimed for widescreen version and were annoyed they had to air in fullscreen. Sometimes, as with Buffy, they aimed for the 4:3 version and were annoyed the widescreen wrecked the compositions. Friends isn't really a show with a lot of dramatic cinematography. I don't know how this will affect it.

[critterdvd]

I know I'm setting myself up here: but personally beyond the die-hards and the blu-obsessed I don't see this being a massive hit on blu-ray... the causal fans already own the DVDs and are going to be scared of the potential MSRP (Which would probably be in the $49.xx or $59.xx range). Not to mention like many have said it was a very visually simple show. Is there really that much that blu-ray can add?

[Lnds500]

Originally Posted by critterdvd

I know I'm setting myself up here: but personally beyond the die-hards and the blu-obsessed I don't see this being a massive hit on blu-ray... the causal fans already own the DVDs and are going to be scared of the potential MSRP (Which would probably be in the $49.xx or $59.xx range). Not to mention like many have said it was a very visually simple show. Is there really that much that blu-ray can add?

the show looks like crap on DVD. especially the first seasons. compared to the HD broadcasts, it looks awful. andthe DVDs are not in widescreen. so BD will add awesome quality + widescreen

[lkmg]

So is the complete collection on blu-ray for real?

[cinemaphile]

Originally Posted by lkmg

So is the complete collection on blu-ray for real?

It's for real in the works, but as for when it will actually be released, nobody knows.

[Drewbee87]

Originally Posted by cinemaphile

Sadly, no. If it's going to be out by year's end, I'd expect an announcement in the next couple weeks. Otherwise, it's looking like next year.

Aww! Thanks for the reply, guess I'll have to keep dreaming until it's actually here! lol

[Craig02]

I too am looking forward to this

Will be a nice update from my dvd version

[JamesKurtovich]

Definitely splurging on this. I want to re-experience Friends.. but in HD!

[Kenshiro 26]

They just started airing this on Nick @ Nite here in the U.S. in 16:9 HD. The eventual Blu-ray should look great.

Here's some caps I did with the DVD for comparison, definitely no lost image.

Big props to Warner Bros. and the original production team, looks as if it was filmed with widescreen in mind from the start.

Looks very good indeed.

[Walts Ghost]

The HD broadcasts are really impressive. The show looks so much better than I've ever seen it, and is miles ahead of the DVD versions. As long as the blu's look anything like this, we are definitely in for a treat and I'll be getting it day one.

[KubrickFan]

Originally Posted by Walts Ghost

The HD broadcasts are really impressive. The show looks so much better than I've ever seen it, and is miles ahead of the DVD versions. As long as the blu's look anything like this, we are definitely in for a treat and I'll be getting it day one.

Indeed. Season 1 always looked awful, even on VHS the difference between the first and later seasons was quite noticeable. I'm not quite sure if the change from 4:3 to widescreen is something I agree with, but if the producers want it that way, then I'm for it.

[Drewbee87]

I'm watching it on nick@nite HD right now! Looks fantastic, they're playing the season 4 premiere!

[Veronica Mars]

I really want to see "The One With The Routine" in HD!!!

Does Nick@nite broadcast differently than TBS, because I do feel like I see episodes with a stretched effect (or zoomed) on TBS, but I don't seem to notice that at all on Nick? But I've seen Friends a lot more on TBS, so I'm not sure.

[Drewbee87]

Originally Posted by Veronica Mars

I really want to see "The One With The Routine" in HD!!!

Does Nick@nite broadcast differently than TBS, because I do feel like I see episodes with a stretched effect (or zoomed) on TBS, but I don't seem to notice that at all on Nick? But I've seen Friends a lot more on TBS, so I'm not sure.

Nick@Nite play the remastered versions! No stretching! I've even jumped back & forth between the SD Nick@Nite & the HD Nick@Nite to make sure they didn't zoom in or crop anything out too much. And there's always a little more picture on the right & left sides of the screen that isn't in the SD version!

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Yeah, I saw some episodes on Nick at Nite last night and they did look really good overall.

Amongst them were the two episodes where they are at that Beach House with the sand all over the floor. There were a couple of scenes/shots on the 2nd of those episodes that I guess must not be able to be put in HD, and looked REALLY crappy compared to the rest of the episode.

One part was when Phoebe was talking to her sister. Both parts are played by Lisa Kudrow, of course, so whenever there was a shot where they were facing each other (or in other words, whenever you specififcally can see 2 Lisa Kudrows), the quality SUBTANTIALLY dropped. It actually looked worse to me than an upconverted DVD.

I'm guessing that the "special effect" that was done to put 2 of her in the same shot must have only been rendered in SD, so that probably accounts for the difference. Other shots during that scene, in which you would see Lisa Kudrow playing on character, and you would only see the back of the other character's head (which was just someone else standing in since you don't see the face), everything went back to nice, clear HD. It was actually kind of jarring since it kept jumping back and forth between the 2 different levels of quality. I'm assuming that this will likely be an issue for any other episodes in which she plays both parts.

Also, for some reason (even though this didn't involve any special effects shots), the scene from that episode where Monica, Joey, and Chandler are on the beach and Monica gets stung by a Jelly Fish (with pee being the solution to the pain) was really bad looking, too. Perhaps they used a different kind of camera for that scene since it was outdoors or something, and maybe it was only standard definition. I'm not sure, that's just speculation on my part. But it's not like this scene involved any kind of split screen effects like the thing with Phoebe and her sister, so it's the best reasoning that I can figure for this.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Originally Posted by Veronica Mars

I really want to see "The One With The Routine" in HD!!!

Yes! The Routine in HD will be epic!