Would You Buy A TV Show on Blu-ray if it wasn't HD?

[MrHT]

Yes, but they better fit it on 1 or 2 BDs only. You can fit A LOT of episodes on one BD if it's only SD.

[aggienader08]

I can't even fathom the thought of purchasing a tv show on blu-ray without some sort of high def conversion or even just a lossless audio upgrade. That'd be like buying something that's already been compressed for a DVD and slapped onto a blu-ray. Just to save storage space? Doesn't make any sense. Even The Simpsons Season 13 has been given a lossless track and better PQ for it's blu-ray counterpart, even though the show was originally aired in standard def.

This brings up an interesting question:

Does anyone like the HD upconversions of Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, and Seinfeld that air on TBS?

[MrHT]

Originally Posted by aggienader08

Does anyone like the HD upconversions of Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, and Seinfeld that air on TBS?

I watch Seinfeld in HD on TV. It looks great. I hope they release it like that on Blu-ray someday.

[Simon_LDT]

Surely the main pont is being missed here...??

Yes, they may not be shot in HD but DVD (mpeg2) is pretty poor. The huge advantage to having this stuff on BD is the fact that they can be encoded using better encoders, at higher bitrates and without the extremely poor compression and artifacts that DVD's have.

You would get a much better quality picture. Plus lossless audio too (even if only 2 channel LPCM, if the source material was low budget).

However, this would mean a small amount of work for the studios which as we all know can be too much for some of them...

[Atreyu]

If I didn't have it on standard dvd and I honestly felt it would not ever be in high definition. Also it would have to be the same price as if it were in a standard dvd box set. Hey it would save a bit 'o' room.

[bluskies]

Well, the subject header threw me for a bit. I mean, why buy a BD if it isn't in high-def?

But if it meant, would I buy a DVD if it wasn't available in high-def, sure. Lots of shows I like, I will pick up. But if it comes out in Blu, like Twilight Zone, and it has excellent reviews, I will likely upgrade.

[Daredevil666]

Don't give bad ideas to publishers. Blink, and soon every movie and TV show which doesn't exist on 1080p master tape will be issued on Blu-ray in SD, not even reencoded to AVC just using the old MPEG2 vob files.

[Arvin Clone]

I doubt that I would. Most tv seasons fit in a standard DVD case nowadays. I probably would if they was in those gigantic boxsets like Alias was when it was first released.

[nametag]

Originally Posted by Wings80

The World at War is a perfect example.

Not really, since that offers an upgrade on the DVD version and is in full 1080p HD. The original question was whether one would upgrade if the show was still in SD but used BDs higher capacity to fit more episodes onto less discs, thus making the only advantage of getting the BD essentially saving space. Almost all TV shows were shot on film (though some were then edited with SFX on video) so it'd be a case of putting something likely to have HD potential onto a BD but not making it HD.

Does anyone think this would actually happen though? Wouldn't there be a massive outcry if a BD release contained only SD footage? I guess if it was cheaper that'd sort of be ok, but if they charged more for packaging a few inches smaller than DVD and that was the only 'upgrade', I think people would think they were just... taking advantage. Only if the original is in native SD, ie shot on video (like, say, an old British TV show like Fawlty Towers) would I find it acceptable for there to be a BD release, but even then I'd find it rather pointless.

[Wings80]

I for one would rather have 1 blu-ray disc with the entire season of a show over a 3 or more dvd disc package.

Since it would not be in HD I would imagine it would not carry a true "Blu-ray" price tag?

[Spider]

I would buy to safe space and to have it in the first place

Married with Children
ALF
Fall Guy

What more is there?

Knight Rider (80s) Yes yes

The new stuff is all crap imo

[xradman]

I have and not knowingly. Apparently bunch of early Funimation animation titles on Blu-ray are nothing more than upconverted DVDs. For example, Witchblade: The Complete Series is SD on Blu-ray. This is readily apparent on any diagonal lines that appear on screen as individual macropixelated disgrace.

Only advantage they have over SD DVD counterpart is that it comes on 3 discs instead of 5. What I don't understand is why they upconverted this to 1080p rather than just store the entire series on 1 disc at 480p if there is no added image detail.

[JJE-187]

I have been hoping that Mill Creek would do something similar to this with alot of the shows they own. I would love a complete series of 21 Jump Street with Booker on like 3-4 disc for like $20. As long as they put in a little work to clean up the picture and give it better audio then it should be an upgrade over DVD

[jk1138]

No, I would not. If they were to do this and people bought it, the studios would take that to mean they can put any crap out on BD. Think about the Classic ST, it took time and money, but what incentive would there have been for them if they could just repackage the DVD version onto BDs and sell them again. So NO, no I would not EVER.

[PaulDHolloway]

One thing I mind is the fact that a blu-ray can hold alot of information but if they simply released TV Shows to fit more on disk and save shelf space, would you buy them like that or do you want the episodes in HD?

[Mandalorian]

What's the point in paying more for blu-ray if the content is in standard def? I can understand old special features being in sd, but not the film content.

[ChinaMan]

I do understand saving shelf space, but what is the point of having SD on blu-ray discs? If I wanted to save shelf space and have my TV shows presented in SD, I would just have them stored on my computer or external hd.

[SL5]

If the BR was the same price or cheaper, sure.

[The Blu Knight]

In theory SD content would require less blu-ray discs and therefore smaller cases. And I say yeah. There's plenty of stuff I never bought on DVD that would hardly benefit from BD aside from bitrate and space, but I'd rather have it on BD as long as the price is right.

[octagon]

HD on BD > SD on BD > SD on multiple DVD

I don't tend to buy SD shows but if I did I wouldn't have any objection to having them distributed on a single BD as opposed to multiple DVDs.