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Upconverting Babylon 5 DVD's to 1080i/1080p?

C

Cassius101

New member
Does anyone here have any Babylon 5 DVD? I was watching the show but they were from torrent, the video quality was average at best. Does anyone know if you can upconvert the B5 DVD'S, anyone tried it on a DVD player or their PS3? Im probably going to stop watching it until I buy the DVDs. Im on episode 7 of Season 3.
 
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Cassius101 said:
Does anyone here have any Babylon 5 DVD? I was watching the show but they were from torrent, the video quality was average at best. Does anyone know if you can upconvert the B5 DVD'S, anyone tried it on a DVD player or their PS3? Im probably going to stop watching it until I buy the DVDs. Im on episode 7 of Season 3.
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You might be better off asking here:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/

Joe DeMartino probably knows, if he still participates there. I'll be running into the same issue. I have an upconverting DVD player and am about to buy a 720p or 1080p HDTV (32" - which is the biggest that'll fit.). I'm very much a newbie at this HDTV stuff. See, my 1985 27" Fisher 4:3 CRT type TV died a few days ago. I was wondering if a new Blu-Ray player would make a better showing of my B5 DVDs.
 
I don't know the specific technical details, but I use a PS3 with an HDMI cable and B5 looks fine and sharp on my 50" HDTV (though there are some film flaws, dust etc.)
 
I'm currently on a rewatch of the DVDs on a PS3 / fullHD system. The show was originally shot on film rather than videotape, so most shots convert nicely and are lovely and sharp. However, any FX intense scenes are much more blurry. It's particularly noticeable in scenes that were shot against a green screen, when previously sharp faces suddenly turn blurry, because the CGI was made for standard TV. However, if they ever decide to upgrade the CGI, the show could be a hit again in blu-ray thanks to the quality of the writing and the lack of decent SF currently on TV.
 
maneth said:
However, if they ever decide to upgrade the CGI, the show could be a hit again in blu-ray thanks to the quality of the writing and the lack of decent SF currently on TV.
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Warner Brothers .....spend....money, ........ on B5? You've GOT to be kidding. They'd NEVER do the right thing, i.e. do it right, ....half-assed and for maximum profits, maybe, but NOT right.

See, they'd have to spend BIG BUCKS to remake 100% of the CGI and composite CGI scenes, WITH proper supervision to make sure we don't have any backwards flying Minbari fighters, etc., hoping that no more of the film got eaten by rats in the last 14+ years, and THEN they'd have to PROMOTE the new Blu-Ray sets, HEAVILY. Can any of you see THAT happening?
 
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I could only see WB doing that, if I was unconscious...

The best upconverting DVD player is an OPPO Blu-ray player, that costs $499. It's excellent, has upconversion chip the equal of that put in $2000 upscalers. Said to make DVDs look almost as good as Blu-ray. You can read about them on the AVS forum. A friend of mine bought one on my recommendation, and he is very happy. I don't know if he has watched any of his B5 DVDs on it yet.
 
Jade Jaguar said:
I could only see WB doing that, if I was unconscious...

The best upconverting DVD player is an OPPO Blu-ray player, that costs $499. It's excellent, has upconversion chip the equal of that put in $2000 upscalers. Said to make DVDs look almost as good as Blu-ray. You can read about them on the AVS forum. A friend of mine bought one on my recommendation, and he is very happy. I don't know if he has watched any of his B5 DVDs on it yet.
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I'll have to check on that player. Thanks.

Is this the one?
http://www.oppodigital.com/blu-ray-bdp-103/
 
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Well, I wasn't aware that they were replacing the 93 with the 103, but they are always upgrading their equipment. The price did not go up. They have fantastic service, too. If you have a commercially manufactured disc that won't play, or has issues, you can talk to, or email their service department. They will buy the same disc, play it, and see if there is a firmware problem with their players. If there is, they will update the firmware! You won't find OPPOs discounted anywhere. But, if you order from Amazon, you can get free shipping. I'm hoping to buy myself one for Christmas... :)
 
Jade Jaguar said:
Well, I wasn't aware that they were replacing the 93 with the 103, but they are always upgrading their equipment. The price did not go up. They have fantastic service, too. If you have a commercially manufactured disc that won't play, or has issues, you can talk to, or email their service department. They will buy the same disc, play it, and see if there is a firmware problem with their players. If there is, they will update the firmware!
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But that doesn't help YOU; it just helps future buyers.


Jade Jaguar said:
You won't find OPPOs discounted anywhere. But, if you order from Amazon, you can get free shipping. I'm hoping to buy myself one for Christmas... :)
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I tried Best Buy, but it appears they don't stock it.
 
No, they release their firmware updates to everyone. And, they don't sell them through big box stores. In think it's just them, and Amazon. On line, you can download firmware to make them region free, too.
 
Jade Jaguar said:
No, they release their firmware updates to everyone. And, they don't sell them through big box stores. In think it's just them, and Amazon. On line, you can download firmware to make them region free, too.
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How do you get the firmware updates into the player? Guessing: Download them to your PC, copy them onto a USB flash drive and then plug it into the player's USB input which the player then knows how to use?
 
I don't know if it was firmware that I was updating, but the last (and so far only) time I updated my bluray player, the update was burned onto a disc.
 
just bought myself a 46" lcd and was watching z'ha'dum the other day. upscaling B5 to 1080i ain't brilliant. (using PS3 or Blu-ray player) sure it's watchable, but seriously showing it's age now.

for updates my blu-ray player connects to the internet via a wireless dongle.
 
vorlonlovechild said:
just bought myself a 46" lcd and was watching z'ha'dum the other day. upscaling B5 to 1080i ain't brilliant. (using PS3 or Blu-ray player) sure it's watchable, but seriously showing it's age now.

for updates my blu-ray player connects to the internet via a wireless dongle.
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Yea I purchased season 3 not long ago and it looks horrible on PS3 upscaling. Maybe it would look better on a upscaling blu-ray player like this one but I doubt it. Im happy it was on sale for 10$ because it was probably a waste of money anyway, at least it wasn't much money.

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2380273&Sku=T24-3301%20CA
 
Im downloading the Babylon 5 seasons on Torrent and Im going to compare them with my season 3 DVD quality upscaled. If any of you are interested in doing this then here are some links.

http://kat.ph/babylon-5-season-3-t5586273.html

http://bitsnoop.com/babylon-5-season-01-dual-audio-720p-q34700347.html

This one is supposedly 720p and I saw details on the files, each one is a 642mb MKV file. I could only find season 1 and 2 available for it though, to bad there are not other seasons in this format. The download times are fast, Im downloading both now and they will both be finished in less then a day. 2 hours left on the first one and 13 hours on the second, I started downloading them about 15 minutes ago.
 
I'm not thrilled with how my Babylon 5 DVDs look on my 32" LCD played through an upscaling DVD player and an HDMI cable. Other DVDs look absolutely fantastic (e.g. Person of Interest Season 1, CSI Season 12, Top Gear Seasons 10 thru 18, Abbott & Costello movies from the 1940s!!!!! e.g. Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein, Hold That Ghost, etc.), but the shimmering CGI on my Babylon 5 DVDs is almost too distracting to watch. I wish Warners would get some balls and common sense and do right by Babylon 5, for once.


I was watching "Hold That Ghost" yesterday (06/07/2013), and the quality was amazing. I only noticed one small scratch on "Hold That Ghost." The sharpness and detail were incredibly good. I guess this it what happens when film is stored correctly and a company actually cares about the finished product. The Abbott and Costello movies are even on DVD-18s, two movies per side, 8 movies per 2 DVD set!!! If only Warner Brothers cared as much about Babylon 5.
 
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