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B5 Season 1 DVD Review
[url="http://www.dvdfile.com"]DVDFile.com[/url] has a [url="http://www.dvdfile.com/software/review/dvd-video_5/babylon5_s1.html"]review[/url] of the Season 1 box set.
The reviewer mentions that the visual quality is not that great, despite an animorphic transfer (I'm thinking he's probably referring to the same issues we saw with the first DVD). He mentions that the live-action scenes are quite good, yet the CGI seems low-res.
[This message has been edited by samuelk (edited 11-01-2002).]
The reviewer mentions that the visual quality is not that great, despite an animorphic transfer (I'm thinking he's probably referring to the same issues we saw with the first DVD). He mentions that the live-action scenes are quite good, yet the CGI seems low-res.
[This message has been edited by samuelk (edited 11-01-2002).]
Comments
Just wondering....
They lost all of the CGI footage?! For all seasons or just S1?.. And how the HECK did that happen?
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[url="http://www.minbari.co.uk/log12.2263/"]Never eat anything bigger than your own head.[/url]
"Nonono...Is not [i]Great[/i] Machine. Is...[i]Not[/i]-so-Great Machine. It make good snow cone though." - Zathras
It would take a HUGE amount of money and work to redo all of the CGI for the entire series. And I don't think Warner Brothers EVER considered paying for that.
So, if we had backups of all that stuff, it wouldn't take too much work to make HDTV graphics.
Damn shame about all the backups being lost. Why, oh, why couldn't they keep 'em better? Was it that hard to keep an eye on a few CDs?
[b]Well, actually, if all the models and scenes and textures were kept by Foundation and Co., from what I know of Lightwave, it wouldn't be all that hard to reload the scene files, punch in the new HD size and rerender the scene.[/b][/quote]
That's not the problem. Warner Brothers would have to PAY for the re-rendering (i.e. rendering [i]time[/i]) of all that CGI. I don't think they wanted to do that.
FYI, there's another review [url="http://www.thecinemalaser.com/dvd_review_2002/babylon-5-season-one-dvd.htm"]here[/url].
[This message has been edited by samuelk (edited 11-01-2002).]
If they cared. [img]http://216.15.145.59/mainforums/frown.gif[/img]
[b]Well, that's true. Or pehaps, if someone cared, they could start a SETI@Home style setup, where B5 fans could have high-res frames render as their screensaver. Quite a bit cheaper. [img]http://216.15.145.59/mainforums/wink.gif[/img]
If they cared. [img]http://216.15.145.59/mainforums/frown.gif[/img][/b][/quote]
That wouldn't be much cheaper at all. Developing the software to handle that kind of rendering over the internet would be quite expensive.
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[url="http://www.minbari.co.uk/log12.2263/"]Never eat anything bigger than your own head.[/url]
"Nonono...Is not [i]Great[/i] Machine. Is...[i]Not[/i]-so-Great Machine. It make good snow cone though." - Zathras
[b]The reviewer mentions that the visual quality is not that great, despite an animorphic transfer [/b][/quote]
And people thought I was nuts in saying just that thing.
[This message has been edited by samuelk (edited 11-02-2002).]
If they did have the original data with the scenes and meshes from B5 and would want to rerender all the shots the price would not be as big as you think. Yes, prices for making 3d/visuel-effects is normally very high but in this case they already paid for the effects, made them and got the original scene material. And even as far as I know plugins and scripts that was written or used for the show would also be included. The rendering time back then was rather high but now, about ten years later, the speed in which renderfarms have makes them more than capable for netrendering and the renderingtimes are much smaller. However, should it be the entire series we're talking a lot of scenes that need loading and rendering but(!) you can make a script (if it doesn't already exist) that will a renderfarm load all the scenes in a certain order and render them enqued in the renderfarm. That would mean that instead of hiring an entire team of artists or technicians for the job you could instead have a single guy maintaining and supervising the rendering should there be anything missing, or if the powergenerator fails and the rendering stops etc.. Then it would be up to the company of either buying (would most likely be cheapest) or hiring a renderfarm for the job, whatever would be cheapest. And the whole thing would more or less run automatically. The main problem as I see it would not be to rerender the shots (if they even had the backups) but if they used compositing software for combining lots of cg layers then you would have to have several artists working on resizing and adjusting every composited shot for accurate recreation. And that could get tough [img]http://216.15.145.59/mainforums/biggrin.gif[/img] I actually don't know if they did or evenso which program they used for compositing..
What I am wondering if the cgi in the DVD set looks pixelated or better yet worse than we remember it to be I can't understand why since the resolution it was rendered in surely the same as the standard NTSC format?
Either way I'm getting that box set! *drool*
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Thomas Banner
[url="http://www.3dfrontier.com/~banner/"]Diverse 3D[/url]
[url="http://www.spacecadet.dk/"]Animator - Space Cadet[/url]
As far bonus material goes, doesn't anyone think the second, new "documentary" was quite silly:
Whooosh!
- Babylon 5 is great!
Wiuh! Bang!
- We did amazing thing!
Ding! Whoosh!
- Its SO amazing!
Whoosh! Whoosh!
ps. Oh my God. White Star sure has changed a lot between season 1 and season 3!
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'The future is all around us' G'kar
'I have no surviving enemies! None what so ever!' Galen
Visit my B5 site at: [url="http://www.nialb5.com"]www.NialB5.com[/url].
[b]ps. Oh my God. White Star sure has changed a lot between season 1 and season 3![/b][/quote]
Umm, the whitestar didn't show up till season 2.
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[b][url="http://www.savefarscape.com/"]SAVE FARSCAPE![/url][/b]
"Isn't the universe an amazing place? I wouldn't live anywhere else! Love to stay! Can't, have to go! Kiss! Kiss! Love! Love! Bye! *kiss*" - G'Kar
Maybe he's mistaking the Minbari flyer for a Whitestar.
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[url="http://www.minbari.co.uk/log12.2263/"]Never eat anything bigger than your own head.[/url]
"Nonono...Is not [i]Great[/i] Machine. Is...[i]Not[/i]-so-Great Machine. It make good snow cone though." - Zathras
[b] Umm, the whitestar didn't show up till season 2.
[/b][/quote]
Actually, it didn't show up until season 3.
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We are here to place President Grenewetzki under arrest!
A hint: it is in the very beginning of one episode.
[img]http://www.btinternet.com/~aeroweb/stuff/white-star.jpg[/img]
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[b]www.aerowebspace.co.uk[/b]
--
Only the insane have strength enough to prosper,
Only those that prosper truly judge what is sane.
At my local Suncoast brick & mortar store, B5 Season One is $99.99; at Amazon.COM, it's $74.99; but at Amazon.CA, it's only about $50.00 US.
Could someone explain to me why anyone would buy from a Suncoast store? They consistently have the highest prices on all DVDs of just about anywhere I've checked...and yet they are still in business so someone must shop there...
Jonathan
[b]Use North American DVD! You can get the S1 Box set for about $61 and they are reliable (to the U.S. anyway).
Could someone explain to me why anyone would buy from a Suncoast store? They consistently have the highest prices on all DVDs of just about anywhere I've checked...and yet they are still in business so someone must shop there...
Jonathan[/b][/quote]
Awesome. I just placed the order with NorthAmerican DVD. Thanks for the info!
[b]Use North American DVD! You can get the S1 Box set for about $61 and they are reliable (to the U.S. anyway).
Could someone explain to me why anyone would buy from a Suncoast store? They consistently have the highest prices on all DVDs of just about anywhere I've checked...and yet they are still in business so someone must shop there...
Jonathan[/b][/quote]
Welcome to Firstones! The drinks are on the table and the nuts are all over the place. As to your question, people still like to buy things at stores (as opposed to online) and some people just dont comparison shop. Another factor is the random pickup (although not likely in this case). People go into a store, see something, and just buy it right away. Again, welcome! Enjoy you last moments of sanity... [img]http://216.15.145.59/mainforums/biggrin.gif[/img]
[This message has been edited by rhett (edited 11-05-2002).]
Suncoast has some good deals for new DVDs during the first week of release. Most of their new-release prices are comparable to Amazon.com. Once the DVD is no longer a new release, the price goes up.
Plus, I shop at Suncoast because I have a Replay card, and I get at least $5 in gift certificates per month.