I want a Buffy Blu-ray release

[buffyfan21]

I'm sure this has been discussed before, but does anyone know if there are plans for a Buffy blu-ray release at any time in the future? I have seen it listed on Amazon (has been there for a long time), but it says that the item is not yet available. I, like many others here, I'm sure, would be thrilled to see my favorite show of all time come to Blu-ray! Maybe we could start a petition or something. I'm sure if Fox could see that there is a market for it (i.e. fan interest) they would get on the ball (because we all know that they will stop at nothing to squeeze more money out of us poor fans. How many DVD releases have we had now?). Some say they doubt that Fox will ever put up the time and money to clean up the show for a Blu-ray release. I can see how the first two seasons would be a challenge, seeing as how they were shot on grainy 16mm film, but the subsequent seasons were all shot in 35mm. There have been many films that were cleaned up and released on Blu-ray, what would make Buffy any different? I own both Firefly and Dollhouse on Blu-ray and would love to add Buffy and Angel to my collection. What do you guys think? Willl it ever happen?

[Midnight Butterfly]

I think it is likely that Buffy will be released on Blu-ray. Although I wont expect it until the earliest late next year. That item has been on Amazon for quite a while and has started many discussions on the net, although nothing has ever been confirmed.

Buffy was one of the first old FOX shows to be brought to DVD from video when DVDs came out. FOX raked in loads of money from this and are still releasing new Buffy DVD Boxsets. They have had many different editions and collections because Buffy always had and always will have a loyal fanbase. On top of this there are new Buffy fans all the time meaning constant DVD sales.
The news of the Buffy reboot must have also grabbed alot of peoples attention and boosted boxset sales.

Seinf as all this has happened to the DVD sales and sales are still good today, I think FOX would be stupid if they didn't release Buffy on blu-ray and I wouldn't be surprised to see one released, although I wont expect it too soon.

[Marcos]

Well, there is some thread about it, but that's ok, I'll just repeat what I've learned about it. I'm crazy about those things and of course I spent some quality time researching about it and trying to figure out wether or not Buffy could come to high def.

And things are not pretty.

1) THE VIDEO PROBLEM: Buffy's season 1 to 3 (I guess) was filmed on 16mm, and then the rest was filmed on 35mm, and that's HD material, BUT it was edited (visual effects, music, sound, photography, cuts, etc) on VIDEO. Yeah, video, not film. And the best you can get out of a video is your average standard definition of the dvd. you can't make a high-def out of a video source. That's what happened with star trek, and they had to go thorugh the original film and edit it all over again. Which brings us to the second problem...

2) THE CHANGES: Once they edit it all over again, it takes the risk of losing identity. I guess it maybe wouldn't be a problem if Joss himself and his original crew made the new edit (so it come out the same only better, and not different), but that's not likely to happen, 'cause Joss doesn't have that much time to spare. Also, with Buffy in particular, it would have to be Widescreen (there is no high def in fullscreen, 'cause the whole 1080 pixel lines is for widescreen). The aspect ratio change is like getting the Mona Lisa and cutting out the borders of the canvas so it can fit better on your wall. And for that reason alone, I'm sure Joss wouldn't approve a Buffy blu-ray edition, and neither would I.

3) They had all this trouble with Trek, but Trek is a no-brainer. Buffy is not as cult as Trek (it's close), and it would cost way too much money. Imagine 144 episodes to be edited all over again.

So, if I were you, I would hold on to the dvds, 'cause Buffy on blu-ray is almost impossible to happen, and in my opinion, I guess it shouldn't happen. After all, the dvd definition is good enough and so are the current effects and edition. Maybe it would be cool to have a kick ass Mayor-snake CGI, but the widescreen change is bad enough to make me not want a blu-ray.

[Midnight Butterfly]

Oct 5, 2009 16:00:43 GMT -5 Marcos said:

Well, there is some thread about it, but that's ok, I'll just repeat what I've learned about it. I'm crazy about those things and of course I spent some quality time researching about it and trying to figure out wether or not Buffy could come to high def.

And things are not pretty.

1) THE VIDEO PROBLEM: Buffy's season 1 to 3 (I guess) was filmed on 16mm, and then the rest was filmed on 35mm, and that's HD material, BUT it was edited (visual effects, music, sound, photography, cuts, etc) on VIDEO. Yeah, video, not film. And the best you can get out of a video is your average standard definition of the dvd. you can't make a high-def out of a video source. That's what happened with star trek, and they had to go thorugh the original film and edit it all over again. Which brings us to the second problem...

2) THE CHANGES: Once they edit it all over again, it takes the risk of losing identity. I guess it maybe wouldn't be a problem if Joss himself and his original crew made the new edit (so it come out the same only better, and not different), but that's not likely to happen, 'cause Joss doesn't have that much time to spare. Also, with Buffy in particular, it would have to be Widescreen (there is no high def in fullscreen, 'cause the whole 1080 pixel lines is for widescreen). The aspect ratio change is like getting the Mona Lisa and cutting out the borders of the canvas so it can fit better on your wall. And for that reason alone, I'm sure Joss wouldn't approve a Buffy blu-ray edition, and neither would I.

3) They had all this trouble with Trek, but Trek is a no-brainer. Buffy is not as cult as Trek (it's close), and it would cost way too much money. Imagine 144 episodes to be edited all over again.

So, if I were you, I would hold on to the dvds, 'cause Buffy on blu-ray is almost impossible to happen, and in my opinion, I guess it shouldn't happen. After all, the dvd definition is good enough and so are the current effects and edition. Maybe it would be cool to have a kick ass Mayor-snake CGI, but the widescreen change is bad enough to make me not want a blu-ray.

The whole full screen to wide screen change is something that I feared also, I wouldn't want anything cut off just so it fits better.

As for the whole video to dvd not being able to be edited again for blu-ray, I think that problem has been overcome.
Many classic films have been released on blu-ray recently, this leads me to believe that this isn't as big a problem as it once was.

And as for Joss not having much time, thats why I wouldn't expect it to happen so soon.
But I fear that Joss will have plenty of free time on his hands soon at the rate Dollhouse is going. If Dollhouse fails I think Joss may be looking into something to do with the Buffyverse - which could be blu-ray. Buffy has always been Joss' fallback.

[Wyndam]

Oct 5, 2009 16:00:43 GMT -5 Marcos said:

Also, with Buffy in particular, it would have to be Widescreen (there is no high def in fullscreen, 'cause the whole 1080 pixel lines is for widescreen). The aspect ratio change is like getting the Mona Lisa and cutting out the borders of the canvas so it can fit better on your wall. And for that reason alone, I'm sure Joss wouldn't approve a Buffy blu-ray edition, and neither would I.

That's not exactly true. I can name a number of Blu-Ray's where their OAR (Original Aspect Ratio) was preserved in fullscreen. The entire point of Blu-Ray is to provide a viewing experience, exactly how the director intended. While that usually means in picture and sound quality, that also means that the OAR is preserved. Buffy was shot in fullscreen, and it would be in fullscreen on Blu-Ray. Just look at Disney's catalogue titles, the upcoming Wizard of Oz or Highlander Season 1 Blu-Ray's. They are all in fullscreen and weren't compromised because of some notion that Blu-Ray requires widescreen.

While I agree that there are definitely some issues with the film quality of bringing Buffy to Blu-Ray, the OAR would not have to be sacrificed when the show does eventually show up on the format.

[tkts]

I can't say I really care about the format all that much -- the DVD experience is just fine for me, quality-wise. I don't need to be able to count the hairs on the actors' heads.

On the other hand, if a new release came out with lots of fun new extras, I might be persuaded to pony up for that.

[Marcos]

Oct 5, 2009 23:19:29 GMT -5 Wyndam said:

Oct 5, 2009 16:00:43 GMT -5 Marcos said:

Also, with Buffy in particular, it would have to be Widescreen (there is no high def in fullscreen, 'cause the whole 1080 pixel lines is for widescreen). The aspect ratio change is like getting the Mona Lisa and cutting out the borders of the canvas so it can fit better on your wall. And for that reason alone, I'm sure Joss wouldn't approve a Buffy blu-ray edition, and neither would I.

That's not exactly true. I can name a number of Blu-Ray's where their OAR (Original Aspect Ratio) was preserved in fullscreen. The entire point of Blu-Ray is to provide a viewing experience, exactly how the director intended. While that usually means in picture and sound quality, that also means that the OAR is preserved. Buffy was shot in fullscreen, and it would be in fullscreen on Blu-Ray. Just look at Disney's catalogue titles, the upcoming Wizard of Oz or Highlander Season 1 Blu-Ray's. They are all in fullscreen and weren't compromised because of some notion that Blu-Ray requires widescreen.

While I agree that there are definitely some issues with the film quality of bringing Buffy to Blu-Ray, the OAR would not have to be sacrificed when the show does eventually show up on the format.

Really? Didn't know that!! It's actually really good to know!! Thanks Wyndam!

Well, anyway, the aspect ratio change, if necessary, wouldn't really be an issue for them, 'cause there is Buffy widescreen versions out there. The video source, the money, the time, the re-editing... That's the problem. And I'm sad about it now, because since fullscreen blu-rays exist (never watched any of them), having a Buffy Blu-Ray on it's original ratio would be amazing (IF there was some real image quality improving, which I doubt it would considering the whole video thing).

And regarding Midnight Butterfly's post, about the video source of old movies, well, I don't know for sure how it works, but as far as I know, old movies were shot on film, edited on film, and then sent to theaters on film. TV shows on early 90s were edited on video 'cause the result was good enough for TV and VHS releases (and for dvd too, even though a little grainy).