Line Of Duty (BBC series) - why no Blu-ray releases in UK?

[Bruce Morrison]

The first three seasons of the BBC series 'Line Of Duty' have been released on Blu-ray in Germany but only on DVD in the UK! What kind of logic is that??

Has anyone invested in the German Blu-ray releases? If so, can you comment on the technical quality and confirm that the German subtitles are optional with the English soundtrack?

[CouncilSpectre]

Ive got the German blus, but haven't watched them yet. I'll spin them later and report back

[cherbert]

Originally Posted by CouncilSpectre

Ive got the German blus, but haven't watched them yet. I'll spin them later and report back

Check to make sure the episodes are 1 hour each. I have come across a lot of imports of BBC titles that are 50 minute edited versions made to cater for adverts in foreign countries.

[Erasmus Craven]

So far, I've only seen seasons 1 and 2. Seems they have the correct running time - each episode clocks in at around 58 minutes. However, English is only available in lossy DD 2.0 despite the cover claiming DTS-HD MA 5.1, there are no supplements and no subtitles at all. These two seasons are €10.97 each on Amazon.de, also part of a 3 TV-Shows for €25 offer.

[jono3000]

I imagine it comes down to the poor sales of Blu-rays in general in the UK that means most shows only get a DVD release, whereas the Blu-ray market in Germany I believe is the biggest in Europe.

I had the same issue with CSI Cyber and imported the Blu-rays from Germany, there are often pieces of text on screen such as location names that are in German but I can live with that.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[Erasmus Craven]

Originally Posted by jono3000

I had the same issue with CSI Cyber and imported the Blu-rays from Germany, there are often pieces of text on screen such as location names that are in German but I can live with that.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Right, forgot all about that. Locations and headers like "previously on..." are localized for German audiences, so those are in German only. All in all, I wasn't impressed with these editions. Lossy audio, no subs, no supplements - I sold them on after viewing once.

[CouncilSpectre]

I don't mind the localisation of on-screen text in these - they've added episode titles, "previously on" etc, but there's nothing I can't live with. On-screen text in the form of computer screens, mobile phone screens etc, are all untouched.

Audio-wise, it's a definite disappointment that there's only a DD stereo track. Season 1 gets a DTS-HD MA German track, with seasons 2 and 3 getting both DD 5.1 and DD stereo German tracks. English audio is stereo across all three sets.