TV Series Collectors

[Arkay]

Hi People,

I'd be very interested in hearing from Sci Fi TV series collectors as I'm interested in getting into this heavily. I have been buying what DVD's are available in Australia but sadly we seem to get things later than the rest of the world.

I'd be interested to hear what the quality of releases is like, what TV series are available and a rating of enjoyment factor. We don't get anywhere near the amount of Sci Fi on TV here as others do so I'd be interested to know what series are worth owning that have never been broadcast here. Andromeda is a good example, never been on commercial TV here as far as I know.

Please add to the thread or private message me if you like.

If your in Aus and you collect TV Series then please also let me know!

Thanks everyone!!

Cheers,
Arkay.

[Arkay]

Hmmm. Apparently no one collects TV series... Not what you'd expect really...

-Arkay.

[Acaila]

I have Buffy Season 1 & 2 and the quality is quite good. They have DD 2.0 audio which is very nice in my opinion. Yes they do have a bit of noise, but it's not that bad and not more than you would expect.

I'm usually not much of a fan of buying TV series, mostly because I've already seen all episodes of the series I'm interested in, and buying many DVD's to complete a series is quite expensive (and VHS is passé :)).

[theReal]

Hmmm. Apparently no one collects TV series...

You said SciFi series and Australians - that kind of narrows it down.
I'm collecting Simpsons, Futurama and Daria - but only the series I capture from TV myself. A friend of mine buys a lot of DVDs and so I have access to the Simpsons E01 and Futurama E01 DVD set, too. I wouldn't spend so much money on ~12-13 Episodes that I've seen more than twice already...

[Arkay]

Originally posted by theReal
You said SciFi series and Australians - that kind of narrows it down.

Hehe.. Fair point :)

Still, be interested to hear from anyone interested :)

I too don't think paying a fortune for TV series is so smart, but then, I bought all the SG-1 disks and have really enjoyed watching them again.

Of course, with divx/xvid the opportunities are sooo much better :)

Cheers,
Arkay.

[TheUnforgiven]

i have friends up to season 8 in divx/mp3

[Didée]

Arkay,

are you aware of Babylon 5 ?

For now, it was on air *only*. Started in 1993, if I remember right - and now, in November 2002, they're going to release season 1 on DVD :rolleyes:

Anyway, this is definetly the best Science Fiction series I ever saw. Period.

(The best I ever have read was "Perry Rhodan", as OT remark)

[FranchiseJuan]

I am also a collector of Sifi. My favorite two series are Dark Angel, and Witchblade. Witchblade is definately (IMO) the best Sifi series since Hilander the series. The relase groups have not too bad quality rips of the shows but most of the time I try to find someone who has the DVDs and try to rip them myself. I currently do Angel and Buffy rips. and will eventually get the lot.

I am in Melbourne, so if you want to contact me... feel free.

[Neo Neko]

Originally posted by TheUnforgiven
i have friends up to season 8 in divx/mp3

Friends? Sci-Fi? Somehow the equation does not balance.

As for Australia and Sic-fi. It is the damndedst thing. Many of the best Sci-fi series to air on TV in recent history were produced in Australia. And most Australians never see them!!! My favorite one of late has been Farscape. Recently they picked up Raelee Hill as one of the cast. I hear she is a fairly well known actress down under. She had no idea what farscape was when she auditioned. And she did not get the part she auditioned for. Instead she had a part written for her. :) Lots of cute aussy gals on the show. Virginia Hey(Anyone remember "Mad Max"?), Claudia Black(Best known in australia for the TV show "Water Rats".), Gigi Edgley(Best known in australia for the TV show "Water Rats". As well as her famous father.), and now Raelee Hill. All australian all cute. :D It seems as if everyone in space these days speaks with an australian accent. Anthony Simcoe is aussie as well. It appears as if Ben Browder is the lone yank. :)

[Arkay]

Babylon 5 is without doubt the best Sci-fi I've ever seen. The plot was awesome and the show had guts. I still to this day can't figure out how they tied the plot lines in so tightly when some plot episodes were years apart.

The DVD's haven't been released here yet and may not be any time soon as the cable networks own the rights. They won't allow a DVD release until they've finished airing them.

They are available in the States though, I'm seriously thinking of buying them.. If anyone has the DVD's then I'd be very interested to hear from you!!!

And yes, those Aussie actresses are pretty damn good, if only I knew where they lived ;)

I'm hoping to build up a fairly decent collection of sci-fi. Commercial TV is just crap these days, maybe one or two shows worth watching a week.. I want TV on demand (much like everyones mp3 on demand collections these days).

Now that the studios have caught on and are releasing anything they can find in the archives there'll be plenty for us to do in our little encoding hobbies.. With the added benefit of entertainment on the side ;)

If anyone has or can get V the miniseries (and final battle) I'd love to see them again too. I'd even watch the series again if I could get it.

Happy collecting!!!

Cheers,
Arkay.

[diji1]

Space. Another aussie-filmed series wasreally good. No human-lookin aliens, ripping plots. I've never seen it on DVD tho, only the tv.

[TheUnforgiven]

@neo neko
i was sleepy when i wrote this ;)

[dragongodz]

well V miniseries and final battle have been released now on dvd here in Aus so Arkay all you have to do is a bit of looking. my local video ezy has it for sale (no rental sadly).
i liked the first 2 seasons of babylon 5 but it failed to hold me after that.
Farscape has been killed by sci-fi channel in case anyone didnt know. they have said they wont be making a 5th season and the second half of season 4 will air (in the U.S.) in january. which means god know when we will actually get it here.
how about some classic sci-fi ? shows like tommorow people (i have them all on tape, 3rd generation so pretty bad quality) or the survivors or sky etc ? or am i showing my age too much ? :)

[Arkay]

Ahh. Tomorrow people. I'd forgotten all about that show... Used to love it!!! and yes, I'm an old bugger too ;)

I'll keep an eye out for V on DVD. Haven't seen it anywhere yet. Although I guess I could mail order it. I'll go check if any of the online shops have it in yet.

Edit: I'd love some good quality copies of Blakes 7 too. Very hard to come by, even most of the VHS in the video shops is unwatchable these days....

-Arkay.

[buba king]

Farscape is cool! AMC has released 350mb pr ep versions of S1-3 (dvdrip) and 700mb version of s3. the 350mb versions are great.. 700mb pr ep for a 45min show is overkill IMO.

AMC has also released up to s6 of Stargate SG-1. (350mb pr. ep DVDrip)

Last but not least Enterprise s1-(2) DVDrips from FOV (XviD 350mb pr ep DVDRip? (or digital capture) Great Quality.)

All great shows.. i'm still looking for Babylon 5 though.

[Arkay]

Originally posted by buba king
700mb for a 45min show is overkill IMO.

Depends entirely what you're after. The TV-ripped SG-1 episodes at 350MB are crap. I've encoded all my SG-1 at 700 MB per episode with AC3 audio. Some of them max out and come in under 700MB, others use the lot. My purpose is to keep DVD quality where possible. Smoothing and compressing the hell out of a clip just so you can share it on Kazaa isn't my idea of collecting. Ok if you just wanna watch an episode you haven't seen before and then delete it. But no good to keep. Each to their own though.

Cheers,
Arkay.

[buba king]

Well compressing a 45min clip down to 350mb is not "Smoothing and compressing the hell out of" it :p

But if someone ripped the dvd's to SVCD i would rater have them.


But if you are aming for DVD Like quality, do whatever you want. :)


And for the record.. I do NOT use kaaza. :devil: Arr!

[dr.pauli]

Hehe, you fellas don't know old. Anybody he remember Captain Video? 1950-1955, Dumont Network (LONG since defunct), hence my nick....

I've got like 4 episodes of that show on VHS, which I will encode to VCD/SVCD someday, when there's time. Talk about crappy quality, the VHS copies originated from Kinescope!

If anybody has any clout, there are supposedly like 12 more episodes, probably still on film, gathering dust on the shelves at the UCLA Film Archives (I believe). The originals were all "recycled" for the silver content back in the late 50's or thereabouts. The FIRST TV sci-fi series of note, a real classic, pretty much lost forever. BTW - The prop budget was on the order of $15 a week, now THAT'S "High Tech"!

:D

[Snakeisthestuff]

Yeah i think Babylon 5 is one of the Best Sci-fi series, but Space 2063 above and beyond is also one of my favorite sci-fi series - watched them on vox and then later the repeat on Pro Sieben!

And in germany the first season of Babylon 5 is available and i own it since last friday :) new 16:9 masterd picture and DD 5.1 sound and this all for only 30 euro is nearly the same in Dollar!!! GREAT!!!
ok some times there are some small picture unscharps and the 5.1 channels are not really often used, in the most cases you here the sound only from the front speakers.... but its BABYLON 5 and for everyone who has seen the series from beginning to the end is this a must have!!!! i can only recommend this DVD-Set for every Babylon 5 fan. so here i bougt it: http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00006JMPD/qid=1037124039/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_11_1/028-8577411-3352569
german and english 5.1 sound and french mono sound; german,english,french,netherlands,swedish,arabic and turkish subs. I CANT WAIT FOR THE SECOND SEASON :D

[Slogra]

Originally posted by buba king
Well compressing a 45min clip down to 350mb is not "Smoothing and compressing the hell out of" it :p

But if someone ripped the dvd's to SVCD i would rater have them.


But if you are aming for DVD Like quality, do whatever you want. :)


And for the record.. I do NOT use kaaza. :devil: Arr!

40 mins interlaced Svcds look very good indeed. I tried it with an x-files episode and it looks almost as good as the original DVD version.

[Arkay]

Sorry, wasn't infering that you do bad quality rips to put up on Kazaa :) Just that anything I've ever downloaded from Kazaa is a bad quality rip in a 350MB size.

Just out of interest I went down to the local video store near work today and low and behold they have both V miniseries on DVD.. I bought Starwars Ep II and got one of them on free hire :)

The also have the first 11 discs of Andromeda...and Seasons 1,2 and 3 of STTNG... Ahhh.. Gotta love the video store!!

Cheers,
Arkay.

[Arkay]

Originally posted by Snakeisthestuff


And in germany the first season of Babylon 5 is available and i own it since last friday :) new 16:9 masterd picture and DD 5.1 sound and this all for only 30 euro is nearly the same in Dollar!!! GREAT!!!


Correct me if I'm wrong but you got the whole Season 1 for 30 Euro? That sounds aweful cheap.. It's only $54 Australian. At that price I'll buy them... Considering Season 1 of STTNG is $188 here $54 for B5 is awesome!!!

-Arkay.

[markrb]

I love and collect Sci-Fi. I buy all I can.

Right now I own:
STNG- All 7 seasons on laserdisc
Star Trek- Enterprise all so far on VCD's
Star Trek- Deep Space 9 All of season one and part of season 2 when they stopped making laserdiscs.
B5 - All of seasons 1 and 5, parts of seasons 2 and 4 and none of season 3. They were releasing at both ends then stopped making laserdiscs.
Buffy - Seasons 1 and 2 DVD all the rest on VCD. Season 3 is being released in Jan. 2003 on DVD.
Angel - Most of seasons 1 and 2 on VCD still collecting.
Space 1999 sets 1,2,3 and 4 on DVD. Stopped because of lack of interest on my part.
Firefly - Every current Ep on VCD.
Planet of the Apes TV series on DVD

Mini-series
V and V Final Battle on Laserdisc.
Martian Chronicles on Laserdisc
The Stand on Laserdisc
IT on Laserdisc

I will be skipping B5 season 1 on DVD since I already own all the eps on laserdisc, but since I am missing part of seasons 2, 3 and 4 I will be buying them no doubt. It was the most true to human form Sci-FI series ever. Not every human can live in a perfect Star Trek world without greed or all the other human faults.

I really like Firefly now. I think it's truly pushing the envelope. No aliens, no laser guns and NO SOUND IN SPACE (are these the first guys to actually get that fact?). I don't think it will last though. Sadly really good TV rarely does or is given a chance to find an audience.

Babylon 5 is without doubt the best Sci-fi I've ever seen. The plot was awesome and the show had guts. I still to this day can't figure out how they tied the plot lines in so tightly when some plot episodes were years apart.

All the shows were outlined and most completely scripted before 1 was ever shot. It was always a 5 season plan and it was not cancled the show merely ran it's course.

Mark

[Arkay]

Originally posted by markrb
I love and collect Sci-Fi. I buy all I can.

All the shows were outlined and most completely scripted before 1 was ever shot. It was always a 5 season plan and it was not cancled the show merely ran it's course.

Mark

Hey, great collection :) No need to watch TV with all that at hand, which is why I'm collecting.

No wonder B5 turned out so good, I'm amazed that any studio had the guts to go 5 seasons in without shooting a single scene. It payed off though. I remember the tingles down my spine when something happened in season 3 to answer something from season 1 that had me feeling like "I had a hole in my mind" for years :)

Brilliant.

Funny, the more I talk about this the longer the list of series grows.

I'm collecting, in no order:

Babylon 5
StarTrek (all of it).
Andromeda
Blakes 7
Dr Who.
Buffy (Not really sci fi but definately fi)
Battlestar Galactica.
V
Stargate SG-1
Farscape

and adding to the list as I go. Would love Alien Nation, Tomorrow People and I'm always interested to look at series I've not heard of as well based on the recommendations of people like yourself who obviously have similar tastes :)

Thanks for the post!!

-Arkay

[Snakeisthestuff]

orginally posted by Arkay
Correct me if I'm wrong but you got the whole Season 1 for 30 Euro? That sounds aweful cheap.. It's only $54 Australian.

No your not wrong i was surprised too. cause i checked amazon.com there its been sold for $74.99 so iam confused why the same package is sold by amazon.de for 29 euro its the half price for the same product even with 5.1 DD english sound!!! :confused: knows someone why?.

[Arkay]

Originally posted by Snakeisthestuff
No your not wrong i was surprised too. cause i checked amazon.com there its been sold for $74.99 so iam confused why the same package is sold by amazon.de for 29 euro its the half price for the same product even with 5.1 DD english sound!!! :confused: knows someone why?.

And the quality is normal? You sure they're not pirate copies. Seems to good to be true... I wonder if they'll deliver to Aus?

Have you read your private messages?

-Arkay.

[Snakeisthestuff]

-to your private message: yeah i would if i could, but i have only 56 kbit modem call by call connection, need for 3 mb upload 30 min :(

quality looks good one ep ~1,8GB (VOBS)without sound, and i really dont think that Amazon sells pirate copies, and they doesnt look like pirate copies too.

[Arkay]

Originally posted by Snakeisthestuff
-to your private message: yeah i would if i could, but i have only 56 kbit modem call by call connection, need for 3 mb upload 30 min :(


Hehe. We ordered them today. Will take 1 month for delivery, apparently a guy is swimming over with them strapped to his back ;)

Now... Where's series 2? :)

Oh.. I just thought of another 2 series I have to have.
Red Dwarf and Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy... The later of which is already out and I think they're slowly releasing Red Dwarf... The list grows!

Cheers,
Arkay

[VS]

how are policies in this forum about trading requests for TV captures on series that 1st are or will be already available on DVD 2nd are not available on DVD?
VS

[Arkay]

Originally posted by VS
how are policies in this forum about trading requests for TV captures on series that 1st are or will be already available on DVD 2nd are not available on DVD?
VS

Well, I don't see any trading requests in this thread and I certainly would imagine that the forum organisers wouldn't like to see any either. The use of this board as far as I can tell is to discuss the technologies and the terminologies of video techniques and to practice the hobby. What you do with your conversions is up to you, blatantly asking for traders on an open public forum would not be a good idea IMHO.

Cheers,
Arkay.