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Showing posts from May, 2020

AI on Classic Doctor Who. Why it's bad.

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   I can’t believe I am writing a post like this, but I really fear for the future of The Collection.     The restoration work carried out on Classic Doctor Who had always been to such a high standard. When the show started coming out on Blu-ray in 2018 I was incredibly impressed how the picture looked. Free from DVD compression, allowing the master tapes of episodes shot on 2” or 1”inch video tape to shine through. There was picture noise, a bit of blurriness at times, but that was ok. No-one complained because we all knew how the episodes were made back in the 20 th Century. You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. So I have to question why BBC Studios decided to risk all of that by starting to use AI to upscale the footage? In principle it may sound good, maybe even beneficial to the episodes, but the problem is AI is just what an algorithm thinks an image should look like, leaving in its wake a huge number artefacts that change how an episode looks. P...
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Stock and Season 14

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Before I start, I want to say this post is not a dig or criticism aimed at BBC Studios or everyone who works on the Blu-Ray range.   The Blu-Ray range is fabulous and in my mind is the best Doctor Who product range of all time.   The love and care that goes into these releases is unparalleled.   No other TV series or franchise gets given this much love with its physical media releases. Season 14 has become the first set to sell out in the UK before the release date.   In some ways this is fantastic news.   It shows how successful the range is and perhaps will give the BBC confidence in them going on recording new material for future sets.   However, this has left some people (including some of those who pre-ordered with reputable retailers months ago) unable to get hold of a set because retailers were unable to fulfil the demand. Of course, there is a global pandemic at the moment.   As a result, businesses are often running with fewer ...
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Fantom on Power

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If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend Toby Hadoke's interview with The Power of the Daleks Producer - Charles Norton regarding the Special Edition as part of Fantom Events' Time Space Visualiser. Charles clarifies upon all the mysteries surrounding this release.  If you have a question, it's probably answered here.  
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The Ice Warriors on Blu-Ray?

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 UPDATE - It appears Best Buy listed the DVD release as a Blu-Ray releases by mistake in 2013. Blu-Ray.com just picked it up and listed it as a Blu-Ray. Stand down. We’ve had some very unexpected Doctor Who physical releases over the years. Who could have predicted Dark Water in 3D, The Faceless Ones animated or even Scream of the Shalka. But perhaps we could have a new winner… Listed on Blu-Ray.com is Doctor Who – The Ice Warriors with a cut and paste from description from the DVD release.   Even stranger is the fact it is listed as a Region A (Region 1) release.   Not even The Power of the Daleks has been released on Blu-Ray in North America. Both Episodes 2 & 3 are missing from the story but was animated in 2013 for the DVD. Is this listing just a mistake?   Is it coming out in the UK also? And most puzzling of all, what is the purpose of this release? The animation company that animated the two missing episodes, Qurios Entertainment, h...
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