TV Series Collectors quality, buying, interested, available, anywhere

andy

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.

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

-Arkay.

I have Buffy Season 1 amp; 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 ).

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...

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.

i have friends up to season 8 in divx/mp3

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

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

(The best I ever have read was quoterry Rhodanquot;, as OT remark)

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.

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 quot;Mad Maxquot;?), Claudia Black(Best known in australia for the TV show quot;Water Ratsquot;.), Gigi Edgley(Best known in australia for the TV show quot;Water Ratsquot;. As well as her famous father.), and now Raelee Hill. All australian all cute.  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.

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.

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

@neo neko
i was sleepy when i wrote this

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 ?  

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.

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.

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.

Well compressing a 45min clip down to 350mb is not  quot;Smoothing and compressing the hell out ofquot; it  

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.  Arr!

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 quot;recycledquot; 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 quot;High Techquot;!   
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: exec/obidos/ASI...577411-3352569
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

Originally posted by buba king
Well compressing a 45min clip down to 350mb is not  quot;Smoothing and compressing the hell out ofquot; it  

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.  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.