5 replies to this topic

[Gav]

As I am on a budget, I decided to get the Bond 50 box set on DVD, as it was under half the price of the Blu-ray set. I just got it in the mail today and to my dismay, I find that the movies have been crammed onto single layer discs. The bitrate is extremely low (hovering about 2/3mbps) so the quality is about half of that found on the Ultimate Edition DVDs from 2006, which was all presented on dual layer discs.

 

I think this totally unacceptable. Single layer DVDs were somewhat acceptable in the mid-90s, whereby (for example) Warner Bros. would release a movie on a single layer disc with one AC3 5.1 audio track at 384kbps, no extras and no moving menus, so the disc capacity had more room to use for the movie's encoding. But the Bond discs have English AC3 5.1, English DTS, English mono, commentaries and extra languages in AC3, plus moving menus on top of that. I can see artefacts galore when I play this back on my HDTV.

 

Have MGM done this on purpose to make the DVDs look worse in comparison to the Blu-rays or something? Is it worth contacting someone about this? The picture quality on these discs is lower than the DVDs from 8 years ago!

[Turn]

While not completely versed on dual vs. single layer and all that, I am curious as to why you would purchase a set that was, in essence, the same as you bought previously, if in fact you did purchase the previous UE set. Or perhaps you rented. 

 

I doubt their intention was to make these worse than the Blu-rays, just that Blu-ray is where the trend is going, not standard definition and that's where they are placing more of their resources. Why upgrade a format that has less demand and less potential return?

 

I suppose you could complain to whomever you purchased it from and try and get your money back and save more toward the Blu-ray set as that is truly the only way to go. The price on it has dropped significantly since it came out and that's the reason for having an HDTV is to see things you enjoy such as Bond in the best format possible.

[Gav]

I have not owned the UE versions for some time, so decided to plump for the new set. DVDs are still popular and there really is no excuse for cramming these onto single layer discs.

[jmarks4life]

I would definitely complain, and get my money back if I were you. That's pretty dumb that they would put them on single layer discs and make the picture quality worse than the previous UE discs(which were great imo). I plan on getting the blu ray version soon as I can.

[Grard Bond]

This is obvious done to push the blu ray version, an old trick to get people buying the new format.

[Gav]

If that is true, then its deplorable. I went for the BD version and am very happy