To what extent are the blu-ray sets worth it?

[ClockworkOcean]

I've been watching a lot of comparison videos on YouTube, and from what I can tell, the digital upscaling of the video tape footage isn't really anything to write home about. Most of the comparison shots I've seen were almost - if not entirely - indistinguishable, except for a slight reduction in compression artifacts on very close inspection. None of this is a slight on the restoration team, but it's impossible to recover detail that simply isn't there on the source material.

It seems to me that the extent to which they're worth the upgrade depends on how much of each story was shot on film, and how many of those first-generation negatives actually survived - which can be none, even for stories as late as City of Death.

I've ordered the standalone 2013 edition of Spearhead, where for obvious reasons the difference is incredibly dramatic, but I'm still sceptical as to whether it would be worth replacing all of my other DVDs with The Collection sets.

Is there anything I'm missing? Any other factors I ought to take into consideration?

[iank]

The PQ is a significant improvement, though this will obviously have more of an impact depending on the size of your TV. The larger the TV, the poorer the DVDs look and the better the Blu rays look. I have a 40 inch TV and to be honest it does sometimes vary. Castrovalva, for example, looks stunning esp the location shooting and even Vervoids with all studio is significantly better. On Season 2 the improvement is also very noticeable. At other times there seems little noticeable difference (Colony in Space still looks like shit, for instance). I doubt you could really make an honest comparison on a YouTube video, to be honest. 
Then there are the extras which are significant and depends on your interest in them. I rarely watch them tbh aside from the Vervoids Special Edition (which is great, so much better without the interminable trial scenes) and sometimes the new fx - Terror of the Autons is actually genuinely improved for me by the new fx, not just by the new doll and Nestene but by the "smoothing out" of the CSO, which I always found incredibly garish and jarring and used to take me out of the story. The season 17 set also has Shada in every form (bar the McGann version) including a new episodic version of the 2017 part-animation (with some enhanced animation).
It's really up to you in the end, but I find them worth it just to get the classic series in the best possible quality and for the occasional extra like the above.

[iank]

Forgot to mention there's also other archive stuff such as The Tom Baker Years VHS on one of them, the broadcast omnibus versions of stuff like Genesis and a few others, and the VHS Special Edition of Fenric (which was not on the DVD, and I far prefer to the DVD SE).

[Deleted]

Damn you're kinda selling me haha, though I really don't have the money or the complacency in my life to get them yet. Maybe for a more stable time

[iank]

I'm just trying to justify my own expenditure.

[Deleted]

I don't even have a television or a computer that can play DVDs. Shows you how bad my spending habits are.

[Deleted]

Dec 15, 2023 7:07:36 GMT ClockworkOcean said:

I've been watching a lot of comparison videos on YouTube, and from what I can tell, the digital upscaling of the video tape footage isn't really anything to write home about. Most of the comparison shots I've seen were almost - if not entirely - indistinguishable, except for a slight reduction in compression artifacts on very close inspection. None of this is a slight on the restoration team, but it's impossible to recover detail that simply isn't there on the source material.

It seems to me that the extent to which they're worth the upgrade depends on how much of each story was shot on film, and how many of those first-generation negatives actually survived - which can be none, even for stories as late as City of Death.

I've ordered the standalone 2013 edition of Spearhead, where for obvious reasons the difference is incredibly dramatic, but I'm still sceptical as to whether it would be worth replacing all of my other DVDs with The Collection sets.

Is there anything I'm missing? Any other factors I ought to take into consideration?

I usually just buy the seasons I love. Even then I'm doing it more to preserve the stories for myself for the future if my DVDs ever stop working which probably won't happen for another fifty years since they're well looked after, but I still get OCD about it.  Spearhead is definitely the best Blu ray release (it looks like a low budget late 60s movie) while the Timelord Victorious set is probably the best to pick up if you are just a casual collector and want to  own a selection of great classic stories on the format such as Genesis, Deadly Assassin and The Curse of Fenric. 

I personally can't justify spending £55 on a Blu ray set at the moment. The standard edition ones that are £30-35 are much better priced, but even then I rarely if ever watch the special features barring some alternate cuts of certain stories.   I have 14, 17, 22, 24, 26 and when I finally pick up 25 I will probably stop collecting them altogether. I was very close to buying Season 12 last year when it was on sale, but I wasn't as big a Hinchcliffe fan back then as I am now. I do own Genesis on another set though so I'm unsure if I should even bother now. 

[Deleted]

[Deleted]

I'm not sure I can bring myself to watch that. Still, Season 15 is a great choice! There wasn't that much of the Williams era on Blu ray before this.

[Deleted]

£55 again. I love Doctor Who, but I can't see any reason to spend that much on a set.

[zarius]

Jan 11, 2024 15:07:37 GMT @kengrubshaw said:

I'm not sure I can bring myself to watch that. Still, Season 15 is a great choice! There wasn't that much of the Williams era on Blu ray before this.

Other than detailing the features, the mini-drama doesn't cover any of season 15 at all, instead it's entirely devoted to Nu Who, explains how Leela ended up surviving the time war and is now travelling with a youthful Fourth Doctor. Oh, and the Daleks are in it even though they didn't appear in this season

I was thinking surely they could have brought back Sontarans to take advantage of the capital attack somehow? Even use Chibnall era Sontar designs too.

[Deleted]

Yeah, I like that idea. At least it ties in with the actual season. It irritates me because if this was a NuWho blu ray release they probably wouldn't inject any classic stuff into it. It only seems to happen the other way round.

[iank]

Pass on watching the trailer. They just cannot keep the modern shite away from a show that has f*ck all to do with it, can they?

But glad we FINALLY get an announcement, and a good season too.

[rushy]

Meh. I guess Fang Rock is good, and Sun Makers is hilarious. I pass on every other story.

Invisible Enemy is dull, Fendahl makes it up as it goes along (very New Who-y in that regard), Underworld is a CSO nightmare and Invasion of Time's good ideas are wasted on a lacklustre budget. Should've saved the story for another time.

Leela staying on Gallifrey to marry some guard is THE textbook example of bad companion departures.

The show was very clearly running on fumes by now and begging for something new, which it fortunately got with season 16, a far superior season.

[Deleted]

Seasons 15-20 are the pits for me, so I'll be staying well away.