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    TNG Blu-ray "sampler" officially announced + cover art

    http://tvshowsondvd.com/news/Star-Tr...xt-Level/15997

    Star Trek: The Next Generation - Go to 'The Next Level': First Blu-ray Release Date and Cost is Announced
    Single-disc release is the tip of the iceberg as ST:TNG goes high-def!

    Posted by David Lambert

    We've posted about this in the past, and now StarTrek.com says it's official: they say that "The Next Generation Blu-rays Launch in 2012"! Here is the important info posted there, including confirmation of the 4-episode sampler ("Encounter at Farpoint, Parts 1 and 2" in the original feature-length version, plus "Sins of the Father" and "The Inner Light") on Blu-ray. It's titled Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Next Level, and it ships on January 31, 2012 for $21.99 SRP. Here's a quote from StarTrek.com:


    You've heard the rumors, and now StarTrek.com can officially confirm it: Star Trek: The Next Generation will be released in high-definition Blu-ray, starting in January with a sampler of several popular episodes, followed by a season-one set to be released later on in 2012, and subsequent seasons beaming down after that. Each of the 178 episodes spanning The Next Generation's seven seasons will be transferred to true high-definition 1080p for release in the Blu-ray format and, eventually, for runs on television and digital platforms in the U.S. and across the world. Star Trek: The Next Generation will, as fans know, be celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2012.

    "Fans have been clamoring for a high-definition release of Star Trek: The Next Generation," Ken Ross, Executive Vice President and General Manager of CBS Entertainment, said in a statement. "Transferring the series to high-definition presented difficult technical challenges, but our team has come up with a process to create true 1080p HD masters with true HD visual effects. We can't wait to show fans how pristine the series looks and sounds with our upcoming Blu-ray releases."

    CBS is, in fact, returning to the original film negatives, a mother lode of material encompassing 25,000-plus reels of footage, and editing the episodes together precisely as they were when they originally aired between 1987 and 1994. Visual effects will not be upconverted from videotape, but instead will be recompositioned. The freshly cut film will ultimately be transferred to high definition with 7.1 DTS Master Audio. And all of the work is being done in conjunction with respected, longtime Star Trek figures Denise and Michael Okuda, who are on board as consultants.

    As for that sampler, it will be called Star Trek: The Next Generation -- The Next Level. CBS Home Entertainment has set a January 31, 2012, release date for the single disc, which will include the feature-length version of the series pilot, "Encounter at Farpoint," as well the fan-favorite episodes "Sins of the Father" and "The Inner Light," the former from season three and the latter from season five. The Next Level will sell for the suggested retail price of $21.99.


    [Cover art]
    "A society grows great when old men plant trees, the shade of which they know they will never sit in. Good people do things for other people. That's it, the end." -- Penelope Wilton in Ricky Gervais's After Life

    #2
    Can't say I'm a fan of the box art. The combadge icon the Enterprise within it I definitely like, but my biggest issue is the green planet/moon and the lens flare effect at the top.

    Is $22 a good price? From an exchange rate point of view it's £14 which is an incredible price, potentially worth importing if it's not region coded.

    sigpic

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      #3
      It seems like a fairly reasonable testing-the-waters price to me. I mean you figure Stargate charged $20-30 for an SGA BD sampler, and $15-20 (on release) for the re-release of just the pilot episode.
      "A society grows great when old men plant trees, the shade of which they know they will never sit in. Good people do things for other people. That's it, the end." -- Penelope Wilton in Ricky Gervais's After Life

      Comment


        #4
        Oohh... I think it's beautiful! Not a huge fan of the green but it's one for a collection. I don't have a Blu-Ray player... can I just take the box and give someone else the discs?

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          #5
          Originally posted by CMWriter View Post
          Oohh... I think it's beautiful! Not a huge fan of the green but it's one for a collection. I don't have a Blu-Ray player... can I just take the box and give someone else the discs?
          You can give me the disc, assuming it's Region B compatible.

          sigpic

          Comment


            #6
            In one of the stranger technical glitches I've heard of so far....the 13-second hitch:


            Star Trek: The Next Generation - 'The Next Level' Blu-ray Disc Release Will Have a 13-Second Hitch, the Studio Says

            At the end of September, CBS DVD and Paramount Home Entertainment officially announced their January 31st release of Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Next Level on high-def Blu-ray Disc. This single-disc, 182-minute release includes three classic episodes: the double-length pilot "Encounter at Farpoint", the Klingon-centric episode "Sins of the Father", and the epic Picard-oriented story "The Inner Light". The announcement for this title explained how much work the studio has been putting into making it a true high-def experience:
            CBS is...returning to the original film negatives, a mother lode of material encompassing 25,000-plus reels of footage, and editing the episodes together precisely as they were when they originally aired between 1987 and 1994. Visual effects will not be upconverted from videotape, but instead will be recompositioned. The freshly cut film will ultimately be transferred to high definition with 7.1 DTS Master Audio.
            That's great, but now it appears that a VERY minor hitch has come up with one of these three installments. In a document sent to retailers today, CBS/Paramount included the following notice about 13 seconds (i.e., a VERY short amount of time!) from one of these episodes:
            "Sins of the Father" - 13 seconds of the original film elements for this episode have not been located and thus have been upconverted from Standard Definition videotape.
            That's all the information included, and on the face of it you might be a tad alarmed. But as a super-intense fan of this show myself, you know what? Speaking for myself, it's all right. This is actually pretty minor, if you ask my opinion. I'm not going to get upset over 13 seconds, y'know? If you want to get upset over that, well, that's your prerogative of course, and I understand. I suppose I'm more concerned, however, over whether this issue may possibly crop up again with other episodes as the rest of the seven seasons gets upgraded to high-def. Will that happen? Only time will tell, of course. Stay tuned, and if we learn of anything further about this, then we'll certainly let you know! In the meantime, kudos to CBS/Paramount for owning up to this, and letting it be known in advance. It's certainly not going to affect MY plans to purchase these!





            All c/o TVShowsOnDVD!
            "A society grows great when old men plant trees, the shade of which they know they will never sit in. Good people do things for other people. That's it, the end." -- Penelope Wilton in Ricky Gervais's After Life

            Comment


              #7
              If they redo the visual effects like they did for the original series, I won't bother. I love the dated look of TNG's 80's/90's TV era. I guess I better buy up Seasons 4-7 before Blu-ray shows up.

              Comment


                #8
                They said recompositioned, not redone.

                Besides that, both the original versions and the George Lucas'd versions of TOS are on its Blu-ray sets.
                "A society grows great when old men plant trees, the shade of which they know they will never sit in. Good people do things for other people. That's it, the end." -- Penelope Wilton in Ricky Gervais's After Life

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by DigiFluid View Post
                  They said recompositioned, not redone.

                  Besides that, both the original versions and the George Lucas'd versions of TOS are on its Blu-ray sets.
                  What do they mean by recompositioned rather than redone?

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Well the TNG VFX were produced in ways that really aren't done anymore either on TV or in the movies.

                    What they would do (and you can see this in a lot of bonus materials) is they would have their studio models of ships and whatnot built, have a camera on a track, and do a series of identical camera motions while lighting the model in different ways. These were all recorded on celluloid film, which operates at a much higher video resolution than even current accepted HD standards. And what they'd do is they would take these multiple film recordings of the studio model and composite them together to see the final product of the ship in space--what we see in the episodes--and then commit it to video tape along with the rest of the episode. As we know, video tape simply is not capable of the HD resolutions which are now standard (and most certainly wasn't with video tape technology available in the 80s and 90s).

                    What they've told us to date regarding the upgrade of TNG to high-def is that they have all (or almost all) of the original film on celluloid from when the show was being produced, which is how they're able to go back and put out a much higher-resolution final product than was ever possible on VHS or DVD.

                    Regarding the VFX shots, it appears to be the exact same story, applied to space shots. They have the original film of the multiple lighting passes, so they can use that to recomposite a higher-resolution effects shot than they created in the 80s and 90s.

                    Note that at no point have they ever talked about replacing the show's VFX with new CGI shots.
                    "A society grows great when old men plant trees, the shade of which they know they will never sit in. Good people do things for other people. That's it, the end." -- Penelope Wilton in Ricky Gervais's After Life

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                      #11
                      "Applied to space shots;" what about though many of the other visual effects that, to me, seem to bear evidence of being done on video. For example, when somebody fires a hand phaser, transporter effects, or when Q does his finger snapping flash thing?

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                        #12
                        Agreed. I'm very curious about what they're going to do for things like that.
                        "A society grows great when old men plant trees, the shade of which they know they will never sit in. Good people do things for other people. That's it, the end." -- Penelope Wilton in Ricky Gervais's After Life

                        Comment


                          #13
                          New trailer that's basically expanding on the first one. More new footage of the restored stuff starts at 1:17. Even Youtube's "720p" looks pretty impressive compared to the DVDs.
                          "A society grows great when old men plant trees, the shade of which they know they will never sit in. Good people do things for other people. That's it, the end." -- Penelope Wilton in Ricky Gervais's After Life

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Quality is impressive, not just special effects (such as the EAF alien, added lightning to SotF), but the live action stuff as the quality of Inner Light is amazing.

                            sigpic

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                              #15
                              I never realized how detailed those jellyfish things were. I also understand a little more about the reasoning for the episodes they picked. Just from watching the trailer, I'm guessing that it's still going to be in a standard 4X3 aspect ratio which I guess is okay. The Quonos matte painting looks spectacular in HD, I'm guessing that they're not going to replace those with CGI either. Still, I have some questions.

                              Encounter at Farpoint was a VERY FX heavy episode. What are they going to do about things like Q's net, the transporter, or someone firing a phaser which, to me at least, appeared to be video effects? Also, when this project progresses to all of TNG what are they going to do about some of the CGI that was used in the later seasons (e.g. Galaxy's Child)? Anyway, I'm still looking forward to this.

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