US Blu-ray release of the complete series, March 22nd, 2022

[eagle]

Thanks for posting that. When it came out, I bought the "Bond 50" set on Blu-Ray (so glad I didn't go with DVDs for that). While I have the entire Magnum series on DVD, I might just have to get this new set.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

Thanks for posting that. When it came out, I bought the "Bond 50" set on Blu-Ray (so glad I didn't go with DVDs for that). While I have the entire Magnum series on DVD, I might just have to get this new set.

Ha, that's funny because I actually prefer my Bond Ultimate Edition DVDs (from 2006) over the Bond 50 Blu-Ray. I feel like the colors are deeper and richer on the DVDs. I also hate the sound on the Blu-Ray. I constantly have to raise and lower the volume (raise for dialogue scenes and lower for the action scenes). Don't have that problem with the DVDs.

[Old Düsseldorf]

Noticed there are some user reviews on Amazon now, as well as a couple YouTube reviews. Seems like folks are happy with the video quality but the main gripe is the Pilot ep may not be the original broadcast version, not sure what would have been edited out though.

[Coligion]

Noticed there are some user reviews on Amazon now, as well as a couple YouTube reviews. Seems like folks are happy with the video quality but the main gripe is the Pilot ep may not be the original broadcast version, not sure what would have been edited out though.

I also saw that Amazon review from the user stating the pilot episode is missing more scenes compared to the DVD. Hoping more people might chime in about it. Additionally, why does the pilot episode continue to be named incorrectly on every release : "Please Don't Eat the Snow in Hawaii" instead of simply "Don't Eat the Snow in Hawaii."

I read the U.K. release from Fabulous Films is supposed to contain broadcast versions of all two-hour episodes, minus the two that originally aired as two-parters, I would assume: "Echoes of the Mind" and "All for One". I don't have a way to validate this, though. Anyway, I am curious to know what Mill Creek has done to these.

[ChrisPappas]

That was me that posted the Amazon review about the missing eight minutes in the pilot in the US release. The UK release is okay for the pilot, I don't have the French release to check.

Upon further inspection of the US set, all the episodes that aired in two hour timeslots (a total of six) are split into two parts and missing seven or eight minutes each on the US release. The UK release is good for all but the last two hour episode, but has the edited syndicated version of S8E12.

The quality of the UK release is far better than the US because grain removal was not employed for the UK set. The grain removal on the US set is so heavy that finer details are lost. The higher compression on the US set didn't help it either. Here is a example from S1E02. Check the loss of detail in the girl's hair.

[JungleBird]

That was me that posted the Amazon review about the missing eight minutes in the pilot in the US release. The UK release is okay for the pilot, I don't have the French release to check.

Upon further inspection of the US set, all the episodes that aired in two hour timeslots (a total of six) are split into two parts and missing seven or eight minutes each on the US release. The UK release is good for all but the last two hour episode, but has the edited syndicated version of S8E12.

The quality of the UK release is far better than the US because grain removal was not employed for the UK set. The grain removal on the US set is so heavy that finer details are lost. The higher compression on the US set didn't help it either. Here is a example from S1E02. Check the loss of detail in the girl's hair.

Thank you for posting and Welcome to Magnum-Mania!
That's a great comparison.
From this screenshot, it sure looks like the colours are much better in the US release. The compression/denoise problem is unfortunate of course.
What I'm most interested in is whether the episodes/seasons that look much less sharp and clear (more like 720p or DVD) on the UK set are any better now on the US release. Could you tell us anything more about this? (I described the issue in more detail on page 2)

That would be great!

[ChrisPappas]

I'd be happy to do some comparisons and post them here. Do you have a particular episode that you think is especially poor?

Do you, or anyone, know if the broadcast version of the last episode was released on DVD or Blu-ray in any regions? If not, is there a off air copy available digitally or even a VHS copy?

[Old Düsseldorf]

That was me that posted the Amazon review about the missing eight minutes in the pilot in the US release. The UK release is okay for the pilot, I don't have the French release to check.

Upon further inspection of the US set, all the episodes that aired in two hour timeslots (a total of six) are split into two parts and missing seven or eight minutes each on the US release. The UK release is good for all but the last two hour episode, but has the edited syndicated version of S8E12.

The quality of the UK release is far better than the US because grain removal was not employed for the UK set. The grain removal on the US set is so heavy that finer details are lost. The higher compression on the US set didn't help it either. Here is a example from S1E02. Check the loss of detail in the girl's hair.

Wow, that is a big difference. Is that representative of the whole series or only certain episodes?

I found a youtube review of another bluray set from France, which is apparently the same video quality as the UK release but apparently has better audio quality. Also the French version is region free.

Another consideration are the extras, this US version apparently has new interviews not included in the other releases. Not sure if the episode commentaries are included in all the versions.

This all makes for a tough choice!

[JungleBird]

I'd be happy to do some comparisons and post them here. Do you have a particular episode that you think is especially poor?

Do you, or anyone, know if the broadcast version of the last episode was released on DVD or Blu-ray in any regions? If not, is there a off air copy available digitally or even a VHS copy?

Great!
So, it often changes from one episode to the next, one looks great the next looks much less sharp, as if they only had lower-quality transfers to work with for these episodes.
It can maybe be best described as the whole episode looking like the preview that plays before the intro. Meaning more soft, less detail, not really 1080p-sharp.
It's especially noticeable when you compare S1E8 ("The Ugliest Dog In Hawaii"-overall great, clear, sharp 1080p quality) with pretty much any episode from S8, say "Resolutions" (looks almost like video transfer to me- clearly not real 1080p) for example.
My hope is they used better source material/transfers from Universal for the US BR now. I guess it's not very likely but it sure would be a great improvement...

As for the last episode in full length, I wasn't really aware yet that the usual 2-part version had missing scenes, good to know! I'll check whether it's in 2 parts or one on the german DVD set I have.

[ChrisPappas]

It's the whole series. Here are a couple of shots from the last episode. Because the base framing is the same, it's clear that the US and UK sets are sourced from the same scans of the source material. The US set crops in a bit on the left and the right of the frame to make the ratio 1.33:1 while the UK set is wider at 1.36.

The first episode in the UK (two hour) vs US (two part) sets are sourced from different material as expected, the framing is different (and also cropped to 1.33 on the US set. I haven't checked, but I expect that the same is true for the other episodes that are in two hour vs two part versions.

[JungleBird]

So, concerning "Resolutions": I just checked it on my german DVD set and here it is in one part but the box lists it as "Resolutions, Part 1+2" so I guess it's just the syndicated version put together? Do you know how long the original broadcast version should be?
On the DVD it has 1:32:39 length. But keep in mind that it's probably sped up from 24fps to 25fps because of the old PAL format that was still an issue for DVDs in europe so the length will differ slightly from the US version.

[ChrisPappas]

Interesting.... It should be about 93 minutes by my calcs for a two hour show from 1987-88.

Does the German DVD version have have a set of end credits and opening credits in the middle? Does it have the montage of scenes from other episodes as the end credits(http://magnum-mania.com/Video/End_Credits_Montage.html)? In addition to German, does it have an English audio track?

[JungleBird]

I just calculated it; the 92:39 minutes translate to 96:36 minutes original ntsc length.

Comparing between the UK BR (2 parts) and my german DVD (one part, "1+2"), I think they at least changed some scenes. For example, on the DVD the scene where Magnum asks Higgins if he's actually Robin ( : "Traditions.", : "Traditions..?!") comes right before the scene with Magnum sitting in the ferrari and the text "Part 2" showing on screen. On the UK-BR (2 parts), this scene comes AFTER the Magnum-sitting-in-ferrari scene, in Part 2.

[ChrisPappas]

Or, the German is the original and the syndicated re-ordered some scenes....

[JungleBird]

Or, the German is the original and the syndicated re-ordered some scenes....

Yeah, I guess that's pretty likely.

Also:
No, no opening/end credits in the middle.
Yes, end credits montage with Universal-TV-switch-off included.
English audio track is included too of course, english subtitles as well.