That 70s Show

[mfunk9786]

Today in random:

That 70s Show Season 1 Blu-ray review

[domino harvey]

Not that random, I'm planning on picking this up-- glad to hear Mill Creek didn't go the cheap route on a release for once. Also, I'm not sure, but isn't this the first non-current live studio audience sitcom to get a Blu-ray release?

[Titus]

I'll probably pick it up as well. I'm a pretty big fan of the first four seasons of That 70s Show (the second half of the series is brutal, unfortunately), so I'm happy to see it coming out -- and the $25 list makes for a pretty painless upgrade. I'm surprised there haven't been many complaints about it being presented in 1.78:1, though.

[domino harvey]

Judging by the caps, it looks like it was shot that way-- there's nothing but dead space on either side, and the Blu-ray.com review says all the original information from the full frame presentation is preserved

[Titus]

Judging by the caps, it looks like it was shot that way-- there's nothing but dead space on either side, and the Blu-ray.com review says all the original information from the full frame presentation is preserved

Yeah, it doesn't really bother me that much -- as you say, none of the original information is eliminated from the frame, and the photography on these shows was only functional anyway. It just seems like the sort of thing that would stir up controversy -- having the original presentation changed, presumably to appease consumers who want the image to fill their screen.

[Jeff]

It was shot in 3-perf 35mm. Native aspect ratio is around 1.85. There are some caps here using the high-def broadcast versions. They show minor cropping on top, and a little more on bottom, but substantially opening on the sides. I certainly think that the framing looks much better at 1.78.

The first couple of seasons were okay, but it's on so much, I can't imagine wanting to own it.

[domino harvey]

They left out one of the special features on the That 70s Show Blu: The World's Tiniest Subtitles

[Drucker]

I've yet to get any TV show on DVD, but certainly agree that the first few seasons of this show are good. Should've ended when Eric and Donna got back together, in my opinion.

[domino harvey]

Season Two of That 70s Show on Blu October 16

[eerik]

Mill Creek is finally releasing a complete boxset of That '70s Show in November. MSRP $149.98.

[domino harvey]

Excellent! I've been watching it on Netflix in HD for seasons past the two Mill Creek already put out on Blu and despite some problems very early on in the first season, the framings are fine / great in widescreen beyond that.

EDIT: Wait, potential red flag alert: 18 discs. First two season had four discs each. This means season 3-8 will be on one-to-two Blu-rays each? That's at least six hours of content for each disc, if not more. I guess if Criterion can do it Mill Creek can do it

[eerik]

Mill Creek is finally releasing a complete boxset of That '70s Show in November. MSRP $149.98.

Excellent! I've been watching it on Netflix in HD for seasons past the two Mill Creek already put out on Blu and despite some problems very early on in the first season, the framings are fine / great in widescreen beyond that.

EDIT: Wait, potential red flag alert: 18 discs. First two season had four discs each. This means season 3-8 will be on one-to-two Blu-rays each? That's at least six hours of content for each disc, if not more. I guess if Criterion can do it Mill Creek can do it

Boxart and specs are now up on Amazon. Confirms it indeed is a 18-disc set and also that it retains the DTS-HD Master Audio tracks. In that case, the average video bitrate should be somewhere between 15 to 20 Mbits, which is fine for a slow action sit-com, I guess.

[domino harvey]

Just got my complete series set in. Two discs per season plus two Blu-rays of bonus materials (not sure why it took two whole Blu-rays for such meager offerings, though). Great looking set, the covering slipcase is fuzzy black velvet FYI

[chatterjees]

My order was placed the very first day they dropped the price hideously, and mine is still not shipped. It says - "Delivery estimate: We need a little more time to provide you with a good estimate. We'll notify you via e-mail as soon as we have an estimated delivery date."