• AnyStream is having some DRM issues currently, Netflix is not available in HD for the time being.
    Situations like this will always happen with AnyStream: streaming providers are continuously improving their countermeasures while we try to catch up, it's an ongoing cat-and-mouse game. Please be patient and don't flood our support or forum with requests, we are working on it 24/7 to get it resolved. Thank you.

"Babylon 5: The Complete Series" on Blu-ray.

Lowpro

Lowpro

Well-Known Member
Thread Starter
Joined
Oct 15, 2012
Messages
414
Likes
425
"Babylon 5: The Complete Series" was released on Blu-ray earlier this month. The release didn't include season specific cover art, so I created some. I also created some cover art for "Babylon 5: The Movie Collection", "Crusade: The Complete Series", "The Legend of the Rangers" and "Babylon 5: The Lost Tales". Thought I'd share the end result with everyone. Enjoy checking it all out. ;)


(Click on preview image above to view full size image.)


(Click on preview image above to view full size image.)


(Click on preview image above to view full size image.)


(Click on preview image above to view full size image.)


(Click on preview image above to view full size image.)


(Click on preview image above to view full size image.)


(Click on preview image above to view full size image.)


(Click on preview image above to view full size image.)


(Click on preview image above to view full size image.)


(Click on preview image above to view full size image.)


(Click on preview image above to view full size image.)


(Click on preview image above to view full size image.)


(Click on preview image above to view full size image.)


(Click on preview image above to view full size image.)


(Click on preview image above to view full size image.)


(Click on preview image above to view full size image.)


(Click on preview image above to view full size image.)


(Click on preview image above to view full size image.)

The above images have 11mm spines. For larger spine sizes (12.5mm, 14mm, 15mm, 22mm, 25mm) see my Blu-ray.com forum post, here. Included in that post are different options for the back portion below the credit block and spines as well. (y)
 
Last edited:
From what more than a few of the reviews on Amazon about the BD release:

1. 4:3 aspect ratio as originally seen on TV, not 16:9 as on the DVDs.

2. None of the 4 Made-For-TV movies released during B5's original run are part of the set. The pilot, "The Gathering" is in the set. It kinda had to be. So forget Crusade or Legend of The Rangers or Lost Tales.

3. NO extra features. No cast commentary, no behind the scenes clips, etc.

4. Audio out of sync on all the discs.

5. Playback issues on some discs.

6. Mislabeled discs and episodes out of order.

7. The case is WB cheapo. One big box to hold all the discs.

8. The "remastering" is a step down in video quality compared to the DVDs.

I was thrilled when the BD set was made available for pre-sale, but knowing the crap that WB has done in the past I hesitated. So now that the release has happened many of the Amazon reviews are rather scathing about the apparent mess WB made of this set.

Seeing the price continue to drop from when I added it to my TV series Amazon list, and now even shortly after release makes me reluctant to buy this BD edition. I will continue to enjoy the DVD release that despite its flaws looks to outperform this BD release.
 
@James, yeah, I saw that review comment about the audio out of sync, there are several comments about the audio I saw in a quick read of the reviews -- not just one, and my brain just went *BLOOIE!*

The real show stopper for me is the 4:3 aspect ratio.
 
Babylon 5 is one of those shows that was shot on crap material. I bought the remastered digital release a few years back. It was one of the worst attempts at hd I have seen. The picture looked bad at 720, 1080, even at 480p the picture still looked like crap. I have said it before, if an old TV show was shot at 4:3, transfer it at 4:3. Even though the dvd picture quality looks very average, it stayed in its lane with the 4:3 format, which gives a better picture quality on my TV's than the upscaled widescreen remastered crap I paid for.
 
George++ said:
The real show stopper for me is the 4:3 aspect ratio.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure which is the "right" or "best" aspect ratio. The show aired in 4:3 on TV and the special effects were all created in 4:3. It was a long, long time ago I watched Babylon 5 on DVD, but I remember, that the special effect shots (and there were plenty) looked awful.
Maybe 4:3 isn't so bad.
 
James said:
:oops:
Click to expand...

I got the UK release when it came out, I've not noticed any out-of-sync issues... but then again, I'm running PowerDVD off AnyDVD off encrypted ISO... maybe AnyDVD "fixes it" :ROFLMAO: and filmed material is better than what HBOmax had when they had it on, SFX is... aged and patently upscaled, but that makes it more nostalgic, like playing old pixelated games 🤷‍♂️
 
0x0x0x0x0 said:
I got the UK release when it came out, I've not noticed any out-of-sync issues... but then again, I'm running PowerDVD off AnyDVD off encrypted ISO... maybe AnyDVD "fixes it" :ROFLMAO: and filmed material is better than what HBOmax had when they had it on, SFX is... aged and patently upscaled, but that makes it more nostalgic, like playing old pixelated games 🤷‍♂️
Click to expand...
I haven't noticed any out-of-sync issues either and agree, I much prefer this to the HBOmax presentation.
 
0x0x0x0x0 said:
filmed material is better than what HBOmax had when they had it on
Click to expand...
AFAIK both Blu-ray and HBOmax are made from the same remastered source. Blu-ray would benefit only from higher bitrate, and I doubt I would see much difference. :unsure:
I may be wrong, of course...
 
the amount of noise on the filmed material, additional bw helps... a lot! ;)
 
The SFX don't concern me in the slightest. I just use this little thing called "imagination". 😉
 
My DVD set looks and sounds just fine, and in widescreen to boot. I think I'll stick with what I've got. I watched part of one episide when it came out on Amazon and it was horrible. It was so blurry it was unwatchable.
 
slovell said:
My DVD set looks and sounds just fine, and in widescreen to boot. I think I'll stick with what I've got. I watched part of one episide when it came out on Amazon and it was horrible. It was so blurry it was unwatchable.
Click to expand...

The live action is in widescreen. All the computer effects are in full screen as presented on broadcast TV. For the DVD release, they stretched them to appear widescreen and they look ghastly.
 
DrXenos said:
The live action is in widescreen. All the computer effects are in full screen as presented on broadcast TV. For the DVD release, they stretched them to appear widescreen and they look ghastly.
Click to expand...
The Roku channel has that series. It is 1920x1080 with AAC LC SBR audio. It does not look too bad either.
 

Attachments

  • vlcsnap-2024-01-03-23h41m43s190.png
    vlcsnap-2024-01-03-23h41m43s190.png
    1.3 MB · Views: 18
  • vlcsnap-2024-01-03-23h42m11s304.png
    vlcsnap-2024-01-03-23h42m11s304.png
    1.1 MB · Views: 18
  • vlcsnap-2024-01-03-23h44m33s755.png
    vlcsnap-2024-01-03-23h44m33s755.png
    1.1 MB · Views: 18
  • vlcsnap-2024-01-03-23h45m45s791.png
    vlcsnap-2024-01-03-23h45m45s791.png
    1.4 MB · Views: 17
  • vlcsnap-2024-01-03-23h46m31s702.png
    vlcsnap-2024-01-03-23h46m31s702.png
    1.1 MB · Views: 16
  • vlcsnap-2024-01-03-23h48m32s286.png
    vlcsnap-2024-01-03-23h48m32s286.png
    1.2 MB · Views: 15
  • Babylon 5.jpg
    Babylon 5.jpg
    150 KB · Views: 16
  • Babylon 5 1.jpg
    Babylon 5 1.jpg
    129.3 KB · Views: 17
Wheatley said:
The Roku channel has that series. It is 1920x1080 with AAC LC SBR audio. It does not look too bad either.
Click to expand...

I'm referring to the DVDs. I have no info on any streaming versions. Also, those images aren't widescreen. They are 4:3 padded on the left and right with black bars.
 
Last edited:
I got mine from some streaming provider (Maybe AP?) with AnyStream in 1080p at 3 to 5 GB per episode.
After heavy de-noising, cropping and resizing those look decent IMO at 960x720 ranging from 500 to 800MB per episode
 
cartman0208 said:
I got mine from some streaming provider (Maybe AP?) with AnyStream in 1080p at 3 to 5 GB per episode.
After heavy de-noising, cropping and resizing those look decent IMO at 960x720 ranging from 500 to 800MB per episode
Click to expand...

Which is still 4:3 like the blu-rays. I think it's the best we're going to get. I've fine with it. At least the graphics aren't stretched.
 
I created some dedicated cover art for the "The Gathering" disc. It's intended to have a retro look as it mirrors aspects of a couple VHS releases. Eye candy provided in the first post of the thread. 😉
 
George++ said:
The "remastering" is a step down in video quality compared to the DVDs.
Click to expand...
It's not great since they used an old print instead of rescanning the negatives, but the live action looks noticeably better now. Conversely, the upscaled CGI looks worse in motion because of newly-introduced stutter.
Lowpro said:
The SFX don't concern me in the slightest. I just use this little thing called "imagination".
Click to expand...
Why not just read the scripts, then?
Watcher0363 said:
Babylon 5 is one of those shows that was shot on crap material. I bought the remastered digital release a few years back. It was one of the worst attempts at hd I have seen. The picture looked bad at 720, 1080, even at 480p the picture still looked like crap. I have said it before, if an old TV show was shot at 4:3, transfer it at 4:3. Even though the dvd picture quality looks very average, it stayed in its lane with the 4:3 format, which gives a better picture quality on my TV's than the upscaled widescreen remastered crap I paid for.
Click to expand...
It was shot on 35mm film, which is equivalent to somewhere from 4K to 6K digital resolution. Unfortunately, the negatives weren't rescanned and an old print was used.

The DVDs are 16:9 while the remastered streams and Blu-rays are 4:3. You have it backwards. There is no remastered 16:9 release, unfortunately, so if you watched in widescreen, it wasn't remastered.

Also, Babylon 5 was one of the first shows to be shot with 16:9 widescreen protection, meaning it was intended to eventually be released in widescreen.
James said:
I'm not sure which is the "right" or "best" aspect ratio. The show aired in 4:3 on TV and the special effects were all created in 4:3. It was a long, long time ago I watched Babylon 5 on DVD, but I remember, that the special effect shots (and there were plenty) looked awful.
Maybe 4:3 isn't so bad.
Click to expand...
It was shot with widescreen in mind and is more immersive that way, but the remaster has much better (although still not great) live action video quality. A true remaster would've meant rescanning the negatives in 1080p or 4K instead of using an old print and creating modern CGI for a pristine widescreen presentation, but of course Warner Bros. has no interest in doing any such thing. In lieu of a true remaster, a really dedicated fan could upscale the DVDs and use AutoOverlay to align the widescreen information with the remastered Blu-rays.
 
Sodium Hypobromite said:
Why not just read the scripts, then?
Click to expand...
Because there's far more to a given episode than SFX. The SFX do a suitable job of conveying what was intended. I don't care if a better job could have been done with the SFX for this release. I can enjoy the release for what it is. The $18 a season I paid didn't exactly break the bank. If a better release is made available one day I'll purchase it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top