TV Shows on DVD - Picture Quality?

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Benjamin Edge, Oct 20, 2018.

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  1. Benjamin Edge

    Benjamin Edge Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Milwaukie, OR, US
    I've read all about how the picture quality of certain TV shows released on DVD decreases when you try to fit more episodes onto a single disc. Thus, I ask: what would the recommended number of episodes be per one DVD, and which type of DVD (DVD-5, DVD-9, etc.) to use for them?

    For example, the commercial DVD releases of The Brady Bunch have 5-7 episodes per disc. Season 1, with 25 episodes, has the first seven episodes on the first disc, and the rest with six episodes per disc. With an average length of 25 minutes per episode, that is about 175 minutes total time (or 2 hours and 55 minutes) per DVD.

    Warner Archive's release of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon, The Super Globetrotters (1979), has the first nine episodes on the first disc. At about 22 minutes per episode, this averages out to 198 minutes (3 hours and 18 minutes) total time.

    Moving on to the bigger shows (1 hour): for example, Star Trek (the pre-2006 masters) and Mission: Impossible, usually have four episodes of that length per disc (50 minutes on average per episode = 200 minutes, or 3 hours and 20 minutes, total time on average per DVD). Some discs have five episodes of this length, totaling 250 minutes, or 4 hours and 10 minutes, which is not always possible without compression.

    ~Ben
     
  2. The Hud

    The Hud Breath of the Kingdom, Tears of the Wild

    You also have to consider the sound format used, and special features, if included.
     
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  3. genesim

    genesim Forum Resident

    Location:
    St. Louis
    It is such a loaded question.

    For instance film scanned at high res is not enought to be totally and perfectly justified on bluray much less DVD.

    A video taped source can and does look better the more space allowed. While there are some that think I am crazy...for anything over 15 minutes at broadcast level, I think DVD isn't enough.

    If we are talking something filmed, I say it starts looking like garbage at over say 3 episodes. Video taped maybe 5....maybe.

    Wonder Woman looks fantastic with 3 episodes on a side. It would look better on bluray. A 4K scan of the 35 mm source on 4K bluray....that would be sweet, but it ain't never going to happen.

    Compression proves all and if you do a screen grab and compare the results are hard to deny. More episodes on a disc the worse it gets.
     
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  4. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love

    Location:
    Norway
    I don´t know the answer to OP´s question, but I think the worst example I have seen of TV shows on DVD has to be "MAD ABOUT YOU". I love the show - intelligent and witty - but the technical quality is horrendous. I can´t remember how many episodes were included on each disc, but I tend to think the number is close to ten.
     
  5. BradOlson

    BradOlson Country/Christian Music Maven

    Sometimes, one company has better quality of the same show than another (especially if a show has been circulated by public domain companies). The older 3 disc Mill Creek DVD issue of Victory At Sea's prints are perfectly clear while the official History Channel/NBC release has been reported by many people on this forum, on Amazon, etc. as inferior in picture and sound than the older Mill Creek issue. The in print Mill Creek DVD issue compresses the shows on to 2 discs. Sometimes a Mill Creek licensed issue can be superior to the same licensed show on DVDs issued by the companies that own the rights to the series.
     
    Last edited: Oct 21, 2018
  6. Jim Pattison

    Jim Pattison Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kitchener ON
    I always assumed that the capacity of a DVD-9 was about four hours with reasonable video quality. Any more than that, and the picture quality starts to suffer. That translates to four episodes of a one hour drama, or eight episodes of a half-hour sitcom.
     
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  7. will_b_free

    will_b_free Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boulder, CO
    Day Break, the thrilling groundhog-day-like cop series from 2006 with Taye Diggs and Breaking Bad’s Jonathan Banks et al, is another that existed as a 4 dvd edition but then was squashed to only 2 DVDs by Mill Creek in order to be sold at a budget price. 13 hour-long (well, 40min) episodes across 2 discs, and every ep has a commentary track too. Great show but the video quality on the 2 disc edition is atrocious. I think they tried to save some space by deleting the 5.1 audio in favor of basic stereo. I’m glad they kept the commentary tracks but there’s a reason why Mill Creek titles are sold at Bed Bath and Beyond.

    The show has never been on BluRay, and never even on iTunes - but thankfully about a year ago a 1080p high-def version of the series leaked.
     
  8. Benjamin Edge

    Benjamin Edge Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Milwaukie, OR, US
    Yes, that is the way I've seen it.

    ~Ben
     
  9. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    I think the maximum data rate they can get on a traditional DVD is about 8Mb/s, and I think that limits them to about 2 hours of content per disc. Disney generally has insisted on this for their animated films (and there's a similar very low compression for Blu-ray and 4K).

    If they're looking at a 10-disc boxed set vs. a 12- or 14-disc boxed set, and they can cram the living **** out of the compression in order to get two more shows on each disc at the expense of picture quality, they can save a buck or two per package. I don't like it, but I understand why they do it, particularly for budget releases.

    It's all about de money.
     
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  10. snowman872

    snowman872 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wilcox, AZ
    Also, many sitcoms on TV are filmed on brightly lit sets and have little or no action. The scenes are static for the most part and revolve around conversations. These makes it easier to get higher compression rates but maintain reasonable viewing quality. 5-7 episodes per double layer disc would be fine and still have room for extras.
     
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  11. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    I don't think this has been true for the last 25 years. Starting around Seinfeld, scenes got very short and they started to use a ton of different sets and locations. I can think of a few sitcoms I worked on that had tons of movement, especially horizontally when the characters would run around the set. Will & Grace was definitely a challenge, and I probably worked on over 150 episodes of that one. The sheer number of cuts is a challenge for compression, even sophisticated multi-pass MPEG compression.
     
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  12. BradOlson

    BradOlson Country/Christian Music Maven

    If you are interested in the 3 disc Mill Creek Victory At Sea, let me know by PM or go to a secondhand store and see if you come across it. There are secondhand stores that still have the original 3 disc release.
     
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