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It's interesting, but unfortunate, how this series has to be remastered and otherwise corrected, again and again, and still they don't quite get everything right. I am one of those who bought the Emma Peel Megaset last year in the terrible cases that scratched all of the discs, and I ultimately got the replacement case version which was much easier to deal with and in which none of the discs were loose or scratched.
Anyway, this blu-ray set's picture is quite sharp. I have been watching these via a Blu-ray player on my 55-inch high-definition TV, and comparing against the 2013 Emma Peel Megaset DVDs. And, there is simply NO comparison-- these Blu-rays are vastly superior, and I mean the difference is night and day. They are miles apart as to picture quality.
These BR discs also have English subtitles.
Now, the first problem I see, and it may be what others are calling a contrast issue, but I would just say the picture is overall a bit too saturated with white. For some of the actors, the fleshtones look a little too white, the same problem is even on backgrounds and on things like the red roses at the opening of the show-- the RED roses look a little too white, also. On the other hand, the fleshtones of a number of the guest actors look incredibly realistic and perfect, despite this, so I think it's a scene-by-scene problem, varying from episode to episode, too; but for the most part, most of the scenes are too white. On the other hand, it may merely be that the blu-ray sharpness and quality is so excellent that it is revealing the differences in each person's make-up, something that I notice on the nightly news shows that I watch currently. When one person's fleshtones look perfect on the same show as another person's fleshtones who is sitting right next to him or her, look terrible, what we are seeing is differences in the make-up that has been applied to their faces!
The other problem with these Blu-rays, unfortunately, is what many others have noticed, and that is, the voices are just a little bit too high, or a little bit too fast, in some episodes. I might not have noticed it except that I was alerted to it in the reviews of others, and certainly Steed and Mrs. Peel do not sound quite as we remember them nor quite as correct as in the Emma Peel Megaset. They're a little too high; both have deeper voices in actuality and on the DVDs. Yet, lip movement and audio are perfectly in sync on the blu-rays.
I jumped ahead to episode 5, The Bird Who Knew Too Much, because another reviewer commented how that picture was wobbling throughout, plus had "overlap," but I did NOT see either at all except for about 1 second of wobble in the opening credits to that episode. Otherwise, not at all, nor was there any wobble or overlap in episode 6, in which the other reviewer said these two issues occurred at times as well. However, episode 5 does not look as pretty as episode 1, From Venus With Love, or episode 6, The Winged Avenger, as the color is not nearly as vivid, and the picture in episode 5 is so darned white-ish. So, based on three episodes on the first disc, my review is that things re: color and contrast are sort of mixed.
However, let's clear up one other thing, and that concerns the masters used, or perhaps the cleanup process. The picture on these Blu-rays is extremely clean, in ALL scenes. I have detected no dirt at all, no artifacts at all, nothing old-looking about the film, not in one single frame. So, perhaps these were made from the so-called better British masters that were used to make the "remastered" British DVD set that others here like. However, I have not seen that British DVD set. All I know is that these blu-rays do not look old or dirty or with white specks or artifacts, in any way; every bit of every frame is incredibly clean and flawless, apart from the over-whiteness/over-contrast. The picture is always perfectly stable, too.
Again, on the most basic level, these Blu-rays are simply excellent, and far superior, when compared with last year's Emma Peel Megaset, when both are played on my high-definition TV on my Blu-ray player. The Blu-rays are much sharper and MUCH prettier overall; only the DVDs show artifacts and dirt, and thus age. However, the DVDs do have the voices at the correct speed-- unlike these Blu-rays.
The bitrate principally varies between 7.0 and 18.5 Mbps, though often is outside of this range on both ends. It is mostly between 10.0 and 14.5 Mbps. In some of the prettiest, sharpest, and most colorful scenes, the bitrate is as low as 6 or 7 Mbps, so the figure does not necessarily correlate with the picture quality you are seeing at the moment.
I went and did a comparison of episode number 2, The Fear Merchants, between the Emma Peel Megaset DVD and this blu-ray, and in this case, the blu-ray picture was not so much better than the DVD, but in fact only slightly better on my HDTV. The DVD looked quite sharp and good, other than the fact that it had a lot of artifacts and dirt, as compared with the clean and newer-looking picture of the Blu-ray. However, the Blu-ray running time was 28 seconds longer, at 51:50, vs. 51:22 for the same episode on the DVD. I wonder if this is a trend throughout the two sets! By the way, I have no idea what footage is missing from the DVD episode vs the blu-ray episode. Just FYI.
My first thought would be to give this Blu-ray set 5 stars, for how good the picture is overall, esp. vs. the DVDs, despite the high level of contrast/white in it. It is just so darned sharp and clean. The problem is, I find the voice speed-up simply unacceptable, and Steed, in particular, had such a memorable voice. In my opinion, there can be no good excuse for why this defect exists. So, I have to dock this set more than 1 star for a substantial, inexcusable defect, hence why it gets 3 stars.
The typical blue plastic case that it comes in is fine quality, no complaints there, but, as I am somewhat of a perfectionist, at least as to hearing the voices as they should sound, I would be one who would want the studio to correct the voices, and I would want a free exchange to a newer, corrected blu-ray set from this one. Fix the contrast while they're at it . . .
If you are not a perfectionist concerning the voices, I don't think the extra whiteness/contrast issue in the picture will bother you. The picture is bright, the colors are usually vivid, and it is very focused and sharp, plus clean/free of age. Some scenes will astound you in this respect.
Enjoy!
| Additional Blu-ray options | Edition | Discs | Price | New from | Used from |
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June 22, 2015 "Please retry" | — | 7 | $34.41 | — |
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Customer reviews
Top reviews from other countries
Sculptor1
Great set but no booklet included
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 8, 2018
originalisa
Superb, the digitally restored series 24 episodes, plus bonus content and brochure
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 5, 2021PJ Fagan
Properly Released for The First Time
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 26, 2017C. Crawley
The best releases of this iconic series
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 6, 2019
Phlegethon
The audio fault is still on the dvd
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 24, 2020
