David Attenborough: Life Story

[Dubliner1]

Just wondering if anyone has picked this up and how is a/v quality?...and is it as good a watch as Life, Planet Earth, Africa, Frozen Planet etc...worth adding to the collection..

[linkin]

Originally Posted by Dubliner1

Just wondering if anyone has picked this up and how is a/v quality?...and is it as good a watch as Life, Planet Earth, Africa, Frozen Planet etc...worth adding to the collection..

Video quality is outstanding and easily on par with frozen planet and Africa. Audio is fine too. If you like nature documentaries then this is a must.

[Dubliner1]

Originally Posted by linkin

Video quality is outstanding and easily on par with frozen planet and Africa. Audio is fine too. If you like nature documentaries then this is a must.

Thanks- added to my wishlist

[Natty]

I enjoyed it just as much as the rest very interesting.

[Dubliner1]

only 13.99 at the moment in Amz UK sale...
Why has there not been more talk/discussion on this set? I remember all the excitement surrounding previous Attenborough blurays- Life, Planet Earth, Frozen Planet etc....

[Vashetti]

Bought for £13.99

[Strop]

Originally Posted by Dubliner1

Why has there not been more talk/discussion on this set? I remember all the excitement surrounding previous Attenborough blurays- Life, Planet Earth, Frozen Planet etc....

Wondering this myself (though I'm yet to see it).

Also, why hasn't the site reviewed this yet?

[boredandlazy]

Bought it but haven't watched it yet. I'm such an Attenborough fanboy though, I only own Blu-Rays of BBC Docos he presents. :P

[Dubliner1]

Originally Posted by Strop

Wondering this myself (though I'm yet to see it).

Also, why hasn't the site reviewed this yet?

Originally Posted by boredandlazy

Bought it but haven't watched it yet. I'm such an Attenborough fanboy though, I only own Blu-Rays of BBC Docos he presents. :P

Just watched Disc 1 only and loved every minute of it. Incredible picture quality too. Highly recommended- if you liked Attenboroughs previous blus I'm sure you'll love this one too.

[The Apocalypse]

Got it a couple of weeks back. Absolutely outstanding. Sir David is going on 89 this year, and he's yet to falter. The only person to have done TV in black-and-white, colour, HD, 3D and now 4K. Absolutely worth it.

[Wickerman1972]

It's puzzling to me that something filmed in 4K would be presented in 1080i on blu ray. Did they just slap the TV encode onto disc? I sure hope they didn't master the show that way. Have been waiting for a NA release of this (And hopefully a re-encode in 1080p) but haven't heard anything yet. When I heard this had been filmed in 4K I figured BBC would push it pretty hard on blu ray but that isn't appearing to be the case.

[Buzz201]

Originally Posted by Wickerman1972

It's puzzling to me that something filmed in 4K would be presented in 1080i on blu ray. Did they just slap the TV encode onto disc? I sure hope they didn't master the show that way. Have been waiting for a NA release of this (And hopefully a re-encode in 1080p) but haven't heard anything yet. When I heard this had been filmed in 4K I figured BBC would push it pretty hard on blu ray but that isn't appearing to be the case.

If it was produced by the BBC or alterred by the BBC in any way, it's native framerate will be 25fps.

The group of people who designed the blu-ray spec forgot television exists outside of America and Japan (or that films might be shot at an unusual framerate), consequently 25fps cannot be achieved without the use of a 1080i encode (though it doesn't necessarily have to actually be interlaced)...

[Wickerman1972]

Originally Posted by Buzz201

If it was produced by the BBC or alterred by the BBC in any way, it's native framerate will be 25fps.

The group of people who designed the blu-ray spec forgot television exists outside of America and Japan (or that films might be shot at an unusual framerate), consequently 25fps cannot be achieved without the use of a 1080i encode (though it doesn't necessarily have to actually be interlaced)...

I know about NTSC and PAL and that sort of thing. The point was about the interlacing, not the framerate. Your claim that 1080i material isn't actually always interlaced is something I haven't heard before though (Although I don't know why 1080p/25 wouldn't be doable). I don't know if material on the disc is actually interlaced or not because nobody has been reviewing it. But for what it's worth the spec on the only available versions is 1080i. I'm just hoping that a progressive scan version gets out there somewhere. Usually when the Natural History Unit does something there's some noise about it but it seems like nobody cares about this particular production.

[EddieLarkin]

1080p25 is doable in a sense, it's simply a case that the disc must be flagged as 1080i50. There's a very good chance that this set is 1080p25 and consequently that it is already the "progressive scan" version you're hoping for. A true 1080p24 version could be a step down since it'd need to be slowed!

[Buzz201]

Originally Posted by Wickerman1972

I know about NTSC and PAL and that sort of thing. The point was about the interlacing, not the framerate. Your claim that 1080i material isn't actually always interlaced is something I haven't heard before though (Although I don't know why 1080p/25 wouldn't be doable). I don't know if material on the disc is actually interlaced or not because nobody has been reviewing it. But for what it's worth the spec on the only available versions is 1080i. I'm just hoping that a progressive scan version gets out there somewhere. Usually when the Natural History Unit does something there's some noise about it but it seems like nobody cares about this particular production.

Theoretically at least, if you put the same frame into a interlaced transfer twice it becomes equivalent to a progressive transfer. Since it is possible to have a 50hz interlaced transfer, it's also possible to turn it into a 25p transfer. That's normally what is done for British TV releases, but I don't know if it's been done for this release.

I've heard every modern TV can handle most common frame rates, but for whatever reason the functionality is only enabled outside the US. If true, perhaps 25p was left off the spec to stop it becoming a hassle in America...

[BlueAngel7]

This is going for £6.45 on Amazon now!

[m3racer123]

Originally Posted by BlueAngel7

This is going for £6.45 on Amazon now!

It's £5.02 at Zoom using discount code 'SIGNUP20' - temporarily sold out for the moment though.

[Wickerman1972]

Surprised by how many major Natural History Unit productions don't get reviewed here. This team puts out some of the best eye candy there is. No review for Life Story, no review for The Hunt, etc.

Edit: Lol, had totally forgotten I'd replied to this thread before. Really like the BBC NHU docs. It use to be there was lots of excitement for them when they went to blu ray. But it seems that has cooled down quite a bit lately. There does appear to be a NA release of Life Story now. Thinking about ordering it but am hesitating somewhat cuz I know it was filmed in 4k and wondering if they might release it on uhd blu ray.

Meh, guess I'll take my chances of possibly finding out later that a 4k version will be coming and without seeing a review. Ordered the NA versions of both it and The Hunt. Don't like how The Hunt lost a disc from the British version so probably compressed more but oh well. Both were going for pretty decent prices at Amazon.