Customer Reviews

Harry Potter Years 1-5 (Widescreen Edition)

5 star:		(364)
4 star:		(81)
3 star:		(43)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(48)

 

 

I know many people want to wait for the box that will come out after the 7th movie, but as I want to watch the movies again prior to 2010, this made for an excellent hold over until then.

The box itself looks and feels like an old piece of luggage and there are lots of fun things inside. Each movie comes as a two disc set enclosed in a case resembling a text book. There are two extra "books", the interactive DVD game and an disc full of Harry Potter extras (various short documentaries for each film).

In addition to the DVDs, the box also contains trading cards and bookmarks. The cards are very cool, but the bookmarks are the highlight of the extras. They are of metal construction and are very detailed. There are bookmarks of Hedwig, Harry's Broom, a Golden Snitch, Gryffindor Shield, and Voldemort's Prophecy.

If you don't want to wait until after The Deathly Hallows or you just want a really impressive set to collect, I highly recommend you pick this up.

I just received this today, and I wanted to post the Special Features listed on the back of this set in hopes that I can help others wishing to buy this.

The special features are listed by movie, so here goes:

*Year 1: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Additional Scenes . Capturing the Stone: Casting and Bringing the Novel to Life . Around the world multilanguage Clip . Ghosts of Hogwarts . Yearbook Character Clips . Lessons in Quidditch and What it takes to hatch a Dragon Egg

*Year 2: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Additional Scenes . Conversation with Author J.K. Rowling and Screenwriter Steve Kloves . Building a Scene: Moviemaking Magic . Visit Lockhart's Classroom to view his Certificates and Required Reading . Interviews with Students, Professors and More

*Year 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkapan

Additional Scenes . Creating the Vision: Director Alfonso Cuar'on, Author J.K. Rowling and others reflect . Conjuring a Scene: The On-set Magic of Cinematic Craftspeople . Shrunken Head Interviews with Heroes, Gryffindors, Slytherins, Teachers, Dursleys and Filmmakers . Choir Practice . Care of Magical Creatures

*Year 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Additional Scenes . Conversations with the Cast . Preparing for the Yule Ball . Reflections on the Fourth Film . Harry vs the Horntail: The First Task . Meet the Champions . In Too Deep: The Second Task . The Maze: The Third Task . He Who Must Not be Named

*Year 5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
(SPECIAL FEATURES FOR OotP ARE IN HIGH DEFINITION)

Focus Points: Featurettes and Production Diaries . Additional Scenes . The Hidden Secrets of Harry Potter: Revisit the First 5 Movies for Clues . Trailing Tonks: Personal Film . Set Tour . Harry Potter: The Magic of Editing - Director David Yates and Editor Mark Day Show What a Difference a Good Edit Makes and Then Allow You to Edit a Scene

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Overall I'm very excited about this, even without any of the Special Features, you still get all five movies in Full High Definition
[1080p High Definition 16x9 2.4:1] for less than $90.

I just sat down to watch the 5th movie in this set and unfortunately what was in the package wasn't the movie, but "special features". Which means either I have to exchange the set and try my luck again (looks like this is a common problem with this set) or I just fork over more money to get just the 5th movie. Very sloppy to be selling something like this.

I received this set missing the Disc 5 movie (it came with the special features disc instead). I had it replaced only to have the same problem again. Very poorly distributed by the manufacturer. I would not recommend this set until they have figured out the problem.

I recieved everything listed EXCEPT FOR THE FIFTH MOVIE. I recieved the "special features" for the fifth film instead (which does me litte to no good) but the other 4 movies were the widescreen films as listed. I dont like that this item is hit-or-miss but I still got 4/5 movies for 30 dollars so i guess the price was right. I don't like the false advertising though...

While I'm new to HD DVD's, from the few I've seen, I'm very impressed with this set. Going from the first 2 movies seen so far, the graphics are VERY crisp and clear, so much though that sometimes you can see the difference between live actors and the CGI sets, something more blurred out from the less sharp DVD's.

The sound is great, after watching 'Phantom of the Opera' by ALW, I was a little disappointed in its sound, and was hoping that the HP set was not as bad, and I was happy to find that the sound was great!

Extras, the three plus hours of extras on the bonus DVD is nice, there's a card set that's like the cards in the 'Chocolate Frogs' which comes in the envelope invitation to Hogwarts in the first movie. A very impressive bookmarker set within with a flying broom letter opener, three bookmarker in the shape of a owl, seeker ball and the snake symbol from the second movie as well as a Gryffindor badge. All in steel and would I think cost a bit if sold separately.

It all comes in a nice box that's shaped like Harry's trunk, everything nicely packaged and sweet. As for the price, if your want all five movies you're already looking at $130+ for the HD versions, so if you can afford it, this is a cheaper way to go and one of the better Limited Edition Box Set's as I've seen, whether it's HD, regular DVD's or VHS.

I love the Harry Potter movies, so I really looked forward to getting them on Blu-ray. What I noticed immediately, was that years 1-3 really don't look particular sharp. Years 4 & 5, really do look amazing. The extras are set up a little odd, and really didn't do much for me.

I hope Harry Potter year 6 & 7 continue to look even better than their predicesors...

I love the Harry Potter series so I bought a set for me and my friend for her birthday. We were disappointed when we sat down to watch them that these are modified from the original version. You are not getting the entire movies. They are modified like they are on regular TV--just without the commercials (snippets cut out to cut down the time). They were a good deal and now I know why.

Briefly
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When I ordered the Years 1-5 Blu bundle I already had years 1-4 on DVD and year 5 on Blu. My expectations were to get significantly better picture quality and improved sound. These being at least for years 1-4 original DVD re-releases, I did not expect a lot of Blu 'special treatment'. My expectations, both the positive and the negative ones were generally met with a few disappointments on the special features treatment.

Physical delivery
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We get a small bundle. Each individual movie is delivered on one Blu disc inside a Blu slim case. There's nothing inside the case but the disc itself. The carton box lists the special features for each of the 5 movies on the back.

Video
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Movies are all presented on 1080p and a 2.4:1 aspect ratio. The picture quality is excellent even by Blu standards.

Sound
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Linear PCM 5.1 sounds amazing. It's a clear improvement over the DVD's Dolby 5.1 which is also available as the default audio option.

Special features
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This is where, surprisingly, the Blu edition offers 'less' than the DVD.

- All the DVD ROM features present on the DVD releases are missing. This is understandable and not unexpected. There are very few computers with Blu drives these days.
- All the 'interactive' features present on the DVD releases are missing. This is not understandable or expected because greater interactivity is one of Blu's selling points.
- All the other DVD features are present on the Blu releases but they are all unchanged - the same low resolution.
- No new special features were added to the Blu releases. Not even the invitation to access the movie's Web site wasn't translated into a hyperlink and there is no BD-Live.

Rating
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The bundle is definitely recommended to anyone who hasn't bought the Harry Potter movies on DVD already if one can't wait for 2 more years to get the complete 7-movie pack that MIGHT benefit from a special Blu facelift.

For someone like me, who already has the DVD copies, it was a 'maybe'. I took advantage of a deep discount opportunity at Amazon and I don't regret my purchase. I will probably try to resell my single 'Order of the Phoenix' Blu copy and the individual years 1-4 on DVD.

Overall, this bundle can't get the 5-star 'exceptional' rating but earns a solid 4 stars because, while the movies themselves are presented well, nothing special was done to add to the original DVD special features, to enhance the existing ones or to take advantage of any Blu-ray specific capabilities.

I have to agree. As owner of the first four movies, and as I sit here watching an "extended version" on Disney channel, I would love to see WB come out with a set of the "directors cuts" or "extended versions". I love the movies, but as I watch these extended versions, I can't help but think that I'm being cheated out of key scenes when I watch my theatrical versions. Please, next time you do a special edition, make it the extended/director's cut.