Battlestar Galactica - Season One [HD DVD] Reviews

• Fraking amazing

  
  By A2QNS95WGN35G9 on 2007-12-11
  First off, the show is 5 stars or more. Best show currently on cable TV as far as I can tell. But this hd-dvd leaves PLENTY TO BE DESIRED.
  
  First, they reused the same menus as were used in Heroes season 1 on HD-DVD, this is fine with me, as that menu scheme is very nice. The interactive parts of this hd-dvd release (the U control stuff) is great, but I'll never view the show this way but once, if that.
  
  I own the original dvd of this (season 1 and the miniseries stand alone dvd), I was highly looking forward to watching this on HD-DVD. But I was sadly disappointed!
  
  The video quality on the mini series is horrible, looks like 480p! Watching the miniseries on dvd upconverted generally looks better, save a few scenes. Also the audio gets out of sync quite a few times during the show.
  
  The TV shows look substantially better than the mini-series, with many scenes looking very good, but not as noticeable of an upgrade as say, heroes or smalleville, which I also own, and are also on HD-DVD. Those releases are/were fantastic, with pristine transfers. This looks like it was rushed. And pity that, I would be fine with spending 40 dollars, 50 max for this, but 100? or even amazon's low price makes me feel like I'm apart of some cylon conspiracy.
  
  If the video not being up to standards is not enough, the case arrived crushed due to be shipped in an envelope (first time this has ever happened to me from amazon) and the discs were scratched (seems this is the default, not the exception from others reviews).
  
  With that said, I whole heartedly recommend this series to any and everyone, it is amazing. The best thing about the HD-DVD is the phenomenal sound, this was a huge upgrade, I cant really applaud any other parts of this release.
  
  
  
  In closing, this show is fantastic, the video quality leaves much to be desired, they should re-master the mini-series, as this looks very bad here. The HD-DVD is still better than the DVD, but not by much.
  
  I hope universal will release season 2, 3, and Razor on HD-DVD soon. However, I will not be pre-ordering those until after I read more reviews. The dvd's I have look fantastic as is (upconverted) so if the picture quality is no real improvement, I have no real need to spend double the money.
  
  I must note, I am not against spending 70 dollars for a TV show (I do have both sopranos seasons in HD, and they cost far more) on an High Def format, but I am against getting sub-par transfers, Heroes, and Smallville both on HD-DVD blows this out of the water in terms of picture quality, and packaging. This show deserves better, we deserver better.
  
  So say we all!
  
  
  PS, if you are having problems getting the discs in or out of the case, twist the disc's and they come right off or on, pulling will likely pull the glue off of the packaging.
  
  

• Battlestar Freak! It is not just a sci-fi show!

  
  By A1PQLR0EN31PE8 on 2007-09-11
  When this show first appeared, I had my doubts. Being a fan of the 70's Battlestar I was surprise that Starbuck was going to be a woman, as well as Boomer. At the time, the only cast decision I agreed on was Commander Adama. After seeing the very first episode of the mini-series, I was instantly hook. I have faithfully watched every show, I bought the Standard DVD series, I Tivo'd the show, I downloaded the show through iTunes on my iPod so I can share with others and now we get to have it on HD DVD? What a bonus! This show looks so gorgeous on a HD capable plasma television. When Universal HD started broadcasting the show in HD, it was just S-T-U-N-N-I-N-G! Now that they are releasing the first season, I am looking forward to all the extras that may pop up, watching the space battles, everything.
  This has been one of the most compelling shows on Television and it is a downright CRIME that it wasn't nominated on the Emmys, which don't take the Sci-Fi network seriously. The acting is top notch, the storyline is riveting and I am extremely glad that they went a total different direction than the fun cheesy show of the 70s. I like how the characters are conflicting, that the Cylons are not just mindless. That there are just too many standout performance and shows to point them all out.
  The Best bet (by the way) is to watch from start to finish. There is several story lines that arch over the entire season and from seasons to seasons. They are not stand alone episodes, they all inter-twine with each other and its very important in character development and motivation. It is not just a sci-fi show!
  
  

• And the winner is.. HD-DVD

  
  By A1KD8NJPZ01R37 on 2007-09-20
  That's it for me. Battlestar is coming to HD-DVD so there's no question of BlueRay vs. HD anymore.
  
  TREAT YOURSELF TO SOME GREAT STORYTELLING WITH THE BEST SHOW EVERRR!!!!
  
  

• Fracking best show!

  
  By A4FN15Q9B3G7F on 2007-08-31
  This is an amazing show and I'm so glad that we can now experience the full picture and sound of 'Battlestar Galactica' via the HD-DVD format. The set will also includes some exclusive extras that are only available on HD-DVD plus all of the original extras from the previous DVD release. From what I've heard, BSG (plus Heroes) won't be released on Blu-ray disc because they are owned by Universal and they have a contract with HD-DVD.
  
  I started watching the show via DVD and just got hooked straight away. I was engaged by every episode and just couldn't wait to click on to the next one. I really love the style of the show and the direction it has taken. I recommend it too anyone who loves sci-fi and would say it's second to none. Although Firefly and Farscape are also brilliant.
  
  If you don't have a HD-DVD player but have an XBox 360 then I suggest getting the add-on. You can get one of eBay pretty cheap. I bought mine for around 75 pounds. So it's quite a lot cheaper than a blu-ray disc player.
  
  

• Amazing show - HORRIBLE PACKAGING

  
  By A1O0CRJXU7QTME on 2007-12-06
  I love BSG - what an amazing sci-fiction/drama epic. No complaints about the show, or their presentation on HD-DVD - they look wonderful.
  
  But the packaging is ABYSMAL. Cheap cardboard flaps, little rubber nubs, and 6 very scratched discs is what I found when I opened my Amazon package. Thinking it was just a fluke, I went online to see other people's experiences. Nope, the forums are ablaze with complaints of scratched discs. Good job Universal!
  
  Cutesy packaging is fine, but it needs to protect the discs first and foremost. These increasingly cheap boxsets with damaged discs are really getting old (I'm looking at you too Star Trek season 1 HD DVD....).
  
  
• Sound sych in miniseries disc 2 is inexcusable
  By A2NM8W9QRUQJ6S on 2007-12-11
  BSG is the best show on television or anywhere else. The HD-DVD release of Battlestar Galactica Season 1 was the deciding factor that made me decide to go high def with HD-DVD.
  
  In disc 2 of the miniseries, however, 14 minutes in, the film starts to look like a poorly dubbed Japanese film where the words do not sych (even remotely) with the actors' lips. This lasts for about an hour or so, and resolves itself at the end of the film. There are numerous reports of the sych problems on disc 2 (only) across several HD and BSG message boards.
  
  This is high definition dvd. It should look and sound better than the standard definition version, especially at this price. The larger your TV screen, the more the synching issues will affect you. On a 52" TV, they are so distracting, it's difficult to concentrate on anything else.
  
  Disc 2 needs to be reissued. I will be returning mine in favor of my properly synched standard definition discs.
  
  
• Keep your fingers crossed for a recall...
  By A2NDV0TZCMQUA0 on 2008-01-01
  It truly hurts to give this a one-star rating. The last thing I want to do is turn someone off to a show as great as Battlestar Galactica, but the sad reality is that this box set should be considered a war crime. I won't get into the details of how disappointing the transfer is, the flimsy packaging, the stupid rubber nubs (hint: twist don't pull), the scratched discs, the audio-sync problems, the video skipping, or the lackluster extras; other reviewers here and elsewhere have done an adequate job of that. My real goal here is to add another voice to the growing chorus of people heartbroken by this travesty in the (likely deluded) hope that Universal issues a recall and maybe does it right next time. In the mean time, I'm returning this and sticking with my original DVD box set.
  
  
• Scratched discs spoil value
  By A4VEQLQE31X7 on 2007-12-10
  UPDATE: Filling out a support request at universalhidef dot com (URL's apparently get deleted) for scratched disks seems to open up an RMA-replacement opportunity. I received an email saying they would exchange the scratched discs with new ones. Hopefully this works and hopefully they come in standard packaging. I'll let you guys know.
  
  UPDATE2: I just returned the discs for a refund. I dislike the RMA process anyway, and the problems go beyond scratched discs.
  
  I am not criticizing the show, but I am very disappointed with the packaging of the set. Placing the discs flat on paperboard does not jive with those who want scratch-free discs. Discs four and five have show-stopping scratches that the Toshiba HD-A2 can't read through, resulting in skippy playback.
  
  I recommend you buy the set - many of the discs show no scratches. Move the discs immediately to standard DVD cases and COMPLAIN to Universal about the scratched discs. They should recall these and ship out new discs in adequate packaging.
  
  
• Fantastic Series, Awful HD-DVD Set
  By A1ZHG8SSIWUUEW on 2008-01-06
  I rated this series 5*s on Netflix, and was really looking forward to seeing it in the true splendor of HD on my 71" Samsung DLP from a Tosh A30 over HDMI. This review is not about the BSG content, but about the HD boxed set.
  
  What is wrong ? Well, really - everything !
  
  1 - It's not a "boxed set". There is no box. The packaging is 6 discs attached to a flimsy fold-out card holder that fits inside a pathetically flimsy acetate sleave. If I had seen this in a store I would not have bought it.
  
  2 - Disks are all scratched. Yes, every one of them. Perhaps not scratched exactly - it looks rather as if the discs could have been stressed in some way, so that the surface is fractured. It seems likely that the hopelessly inadequate packaging allowed the discs to be stressed in transit. Most of them were partially playable, but 2 would not even load.
  
  3 - Awful mastering. The image quality was comparable with a poorer than average DVD. I just finished watching all 3 seasons of Lost on regaular DVD through the same equipment, and the image quality was FAR superior to the image quality on this set (to be fair, the mastering on Lost is excellent). Now, it is true that a 71" DLP will expose even small flaws, but I watch a lot of regular DVDs on this setup, including some fairly old ones, and there are few that look worse than this BSG set. The blacks are very poorly rendered, with lots of speckles of white, and all of the dark backgrounds are poorly reproduced. On top of that, I see a lot of compression artifacts - about the same as when watching from my ReplayTV through S-Video.
  
  I want my money back. This product is simply not of merchantable quality. Even if the physical issues were reslved (scatched discs, non-box packaging) the video quality is so poor that to sell this material as "HD" is simply dishonest.
  
  UPDATE
  
  Well, they wouldn't give me my money back, but I got a replacement set. This time only 3 of the discs had the scratches, and they were all playable. These more minor scratches seem to manifest themselves as snow in some scenes, and some minor skipping and audio sync problems. The audio sync was resolved by pausing and restarting. Still not acceptable, but it did allow me to see more of the main season (as opposed to the miniseries). The Quality on the season varies from better than the miniseries to much better. The video quality in the scenes on the surface of Cobol, and some of the outdoor material of Boomer and Helo on Caprica, and on Clound 9 is truely eye-popping. Elsewhere there is plenty of good video quality, but also a lot of very mediocre footage as well. But this just makes the quality of the rest of the material all the more disappointing.
  
  Even with a set of perfectly unscrated discs I could not rate this above 3 stars - which is a real shame given how good it COULD have been. I will be returning this set to see if I can finally get an unscratched set.
  
  
• Manufacturing problems
  By A31273X18KJ0H6 on 2007-12-13
  As reported by others, all of my disks arrived scratched. This does not seem to be the fault of Amazon as my set was securely packaged. In addition to the scratches, the Dolby TrueHD audio track on disk 2 is very noticeably out of sync with the picture. Since the problem only appears on that disk, it probably has something to do with the encoding. Hold off buying these and see if Universal corrects these problems. My set is going back for a refund.
  
  
• HD?
  By A2F7MHHCI9NHML on 2007-12-16
  The package is junk, the disk have scratches, some episodes wont play and parts look worse than VHS. Save your money until they can fix this great show!
  
  
• defective disks
  By A3LLFBQ2MTK97O on 2007-12-31
  This is a great tv series, but these disks came with scratches, and won't play without stopping and hesitating in my hd-dvd player. A recall is in order.
  
  
• captivating
  By A3K6BFNQJS1F22 on 2007-11-30
  I 'll keep it short. Simply put, I bought HD-DVD just for this. Words really can't describe how good this show is. Why? Everything. It's perfection in every way. Gripping story with superb acting complimented by a fantastic and emotional soundtrack from Bear McCreary. Please understand that I do not exaggerate when I say this is the greatest thing ever on TV. I'm not afraid to admit that this show has made me cry at times. Bravo to everyone involved with making this show. You have made something truly special that I will never forget. THANK YOU!
  
  
• "The look and sound of perfect"... yeah, right
  By A3NYURBPGIYG7 on 2007-12-17
  I'm extraordinarily disappointed in the quality of this HD DVD set. Not only were half of my discs scratched due to the ridiculously cheap packaging, but the audio on disc 2 (the second part of the mini-series) was massively out-of-sync and therefore unwatchable. This is perhaps my favorite show on tv, and to see a transfer that looked worse than my SDTV broadcast in some scenes along with the sync issues and scratching (and subsequent video skipping) is beyond inexcusable. If you love BG, then you'll want to wait until Universal actually releases a quality Season 1 set instead of this tripe.
  
  
• Poor quality HD
  By A16E50VE4LTIPQ on 2007-12-20
  Poor quality HD, barely better than DVD version and in some scenes is it worse. A lot of noise and grain. Don't bother, get DVD version, any upconverting player will do a better job. Not worth the money.
  
  
• I feel like I just got stood up...
  By A1IVVRB62XH2DE on 2007-12-22
  You know that feeling when you have high expectations about a date with some gorgeous woman who, for reasons well beyond your understanding of the universe, seems to want you?
  
  Then, the night comes, and she's a no-show.
  
  This has never happened to me, though I expect it's happened to plenty of you, and it probably sucks.
  
  On a Saturday night when I *should* have been in the company of someone whose company I didn't deserve, I ditched all normal social activities to go to Borders just before they closed. I grabbed Razor and the Season One HD-DVD set.
  
  Razor? Awesome.
  
  HD-DVD Season One? As others have already pointed out, the content is, of course, great. I doubt many of us would be here reviewing this thing if the content of the original broadcasts/DVD wasn't all very special and spectacular and other complimentary words that begin with "s".
  
  Unlike others, I don't mind the packaging. Life is long enough to give up long stretches of time to watch the entire series start to finish at least half a dozen times, but life it much too short to be worrying about "flimsy" packaging. If you're willing to spend tens of dollars on an HD-DVD set, then you could also shell out a few extra for a little DVD case just for the show. Anyway, when you *do* have that gorgeous woman over, the last thing you want her to see is that you own as much BSG as they sell, including two copies of Season One. This is in addition to the whole of Farscape, Stargate SG-1, and Stargate Atlantis that you must hide as well.
  
  Frankly, I see the packaging, if defective at all, as a great reason to get my indolent little body out the door to buy products with which to hide my fascination with things that are snubbed by the social snobs of this planet because there's some freaking outer-space involved. The show isn't even sci-fi - it's a drama set in space where characters and situations can be pushed in directions unavailable to more conventional shows. It might be odd if, say, a Viper popped in for a low fly-by over The Love Boat. Probably wouldn't work.
  
  But I'm getting off-topic. Point is, the packaging, unless it *is* a problem when it comes to scratching, is a non-event when it comes to enjoyment of the show. It's not like you're going to sit down and watch a box. If you do like to watch boxes, then you might not be the show's demographic. (I'm not convinced that damaged discs are a widespread problem, by the by, as the people who have bad experiences with a product (like me) tend to speak up more often than those who don't - I don't mean to discount the complaints - just to suggest that there are also those of us who had no problems at all with the packaging as it relates to scratches on the discs).
  
  The biggest problem here, and I think this is the thing getting to all of us, is that the HD-DVD transfer isn't much better than the DVD. There were scenes that definitely looked better - I have this thing about Adama's shoes, in that they're the coolest shoes on television (as is the cut of the legs of his trousers), and I was able to freeze-frame my way to shoe-y satisfaction (they look like a modified pair of Tod's for those who're interested).
  
  I've watched the whole of Season One in just about every easily accessible medium out there. Saw a few on TV, though I hate watching TV, so I didn't spend too much time in it. Grabbed the episodes in other ways at the time - not the greatest quality (particularly the mini-series), but the story takes priority over any of that.
  
  Watched it in formats meant for a large screen, for a portable device, from iTunes (always awful), on DVD, and so on. It never looked all that great.
  
  Now that I've watched this version, I'm starting to think it has nothing to do with the medium - it's the show's style. They simply wanted that grainy look. I don't know anything about production, so I apologize if these assertions are grossly off the mark, but given how limited a budget these people have to work with, and given how quickly they have to crank out these shows, is it possible that they only rendered the live action scenes with the expectation that their primary release formats would be standard broadcast 480i?
  
  I say this because the space scenes look beautiful. "The Hand of God" is a fine example - their so much clearer and detailed that the terrain of the planetoid thing actually looks quite fake. The rest of the FX are gorgeous, and I'm not someone who seeks perfection, so I kicked back and enjoyed with the whole of my capacity to enjoy a show/movie.
  
  The Vipers look amazing - the colors stand out, and details I'd always wanted to see more clearly, such as Kara's rescue of Lee by ramming him all the way back to Galactica (*that's* love, by the way), are evident. More than others, those are the scenes I watched over and over.
  
  In general, as I said, the space scenes are exceptional. Watch the standard here's-the-Galactica shots, and you'll see the difference. This is another reason I think the live action scenes are intentionally grainy and unrefined, although I stick by my suggestion that it could also be a budget issue. Rendering video is profoundly time-consuming and expensive - HD-DVD is a new format that most consumers aren't going to get into yet. So, would it have been worth it to have "fixed" the live action scenes? To us, yes, but had that been a requirement, I doubt we'd have anything at all.
  
  Some of you are bringing up other HD-DVD transfers - Heroes, for example. When watching the two shows, I think it's evident that there are tremendous stylistic differences. Heroes, as far as live action scenes go, is an ordinarily lit and shot bit of work. Filters, color correction, blah blah blah - in a way, because of its style, and even if it's on a small scale, every shot of BSG is an FX shot.
  
  I don't know. Maybe we have to make allowances there.
  
  In the end, despite being a quality-apologist for the quality, I don't feel this set delivers. There are HD-DVD transfers from the 60s on (see 2001? it's mind-boggingly lovely) that look far better than this.
  
  I expect Razor to look just as good as other HD-DVD endeavors, as the show already looks great on the standard DVD (the attack on the shipyards as well as the escape of the Pegasus are... yeah - *that's* some good stuff), but I don't think, unless they re-release Season One way down the line, that we're going to get the HD experience we want anytime soon.
  
  If you already own Season One on DVD, there's little reason to pick this up. I'm an addict, which means that I have little control over what I spend on BSG products, as feeding an addiction isn't a rational thing, so I'd still buy it regardless of the reviews (including my own) - I just don't think other people are going to dig it.
  
  I guess I also support purchasing this set because I want as much money as possible to get in the hands of these people to demonstrate how unbelievably awesome this show is - the best thing ever made for movies/television alike. Hopefully we'll see quality transfers in the future based on dough and popularity. If they follow the George Lucas model of releasing a new set of each season every time they so much as pretty up a scene in the head, I'll shell out whatever they charge.
  
  This may seem odd given my disappointment with the work done here, but... like I said, I'm an addict. My approval of this product is disconnected from my satisfaction.
  
  I'd been waiting for that gorgeous woman, and she never came.
  
  Even worse, she sent her ugly cousin instead.
  
  Unless you can't control yourself, in which case none of these reviews will matter anyway, and unless you want to support the cause, don't bother.
  
  Here's to hoping they do the remaining seasons and Razor in such a way that our whining is reduced to that expected pocket of hecklers who are congenitally unable to enjoy *anything*.
  
  
• Another Victim of Scratched Disks
  By A1XU95MU7U5ZMH on 2007-12-27
  I received this set on Christmas Day. I had read various reviews of the set, but I hoped for the best when I opened it. However, there were the scratches clearly visible on sereral disks. I thought they might just be visual flaws that didn't translate into a performance problem, being ever hopeful, but when I reached disk two the stuttering and glitching started. What I saw on disk one looked good, not overwhelming, but good. However, there seems to have been a massive failure in quality control for these disks to have all ended up like this. The packaging of the box and an entire bad run of disks suggest Universal was doing some serious cost cutting here, and it seems to have put companies like Amazon into the expensive position of replacing the disks over and over or simply returning people's money. Why not do a recall and stop selling these until they can assure us the product is 100 percent? I won't be buying this again until I know for sure this problem has been addressed.
  
  
• Whole DVD Set Damaged
  By A39OCPN4PN2M4O on 2008-01-02
  The quality of this HD DVD set is offensive. This is not just a problem with the packaging. Some of my discs were scratched, yes, but even the ones that were not have audio sync problems and general playback issues (such as causing my HD DVD player to freeze, etc).
  
  If these don't get recalled I doubt I will be buying any Universal HD DVDs soon.
  
  
• Utter trash
  By AQYZYDPCHMXRU on 2008-01-07
  The people giving this box set 5 stars either reviewed it before it came out (check the review dates), are extremely naive, or are studio plants. This box set is worthless. If these reviews were supposed to be based solely on the merit of the show, then I would give this box set a solid 5 stars, but the point is to review the whole product and that's what I'm doing. The negatives far outweigh the positives and if you're smart, you'll avoid this set like the plague.
  
  
• there is a dvd god!!!
  By A1XKZT2EGBIGNJ on 2007-08-30
  thank you lord of dvd,s! this bsg season 1 hd set will be out of this world,come on guys bsg in full 1080p hd? thank you universal for being brave enough to bring this out on hd-dvd,it will rock!!
  
  ps.please bring season 1 and 2 out on hd
  
  
• Battlestar Galactica Season 1 HDDVD
  By A2XFKZ98HKML2Y on 2007-12-11
  A fantastic set which I can't wait to watch. BUT THE PACKAGING IS THE
  WORST I HAVE EVER SEEN. So much effort and technology, money and time went into this set, but UNIVERSAL ruin everything with rubber blips
  holding the discs in place. Discs against cardboard just dont go! SCRATCH
  SCRATCH SCRATCH!!! You have an 80 percent chance of scratched discs. Im
  on my third attempt to buy 6 good discs. Grrr. Brilliant show though A PLUS
  
  
• massively inconsistent
  By A3OEG3XSPJ4EHW on 2007-12-12
  The transfer on the show is just horrible. There's quite a lot of static left on the screen to approximate the "film grain" look of the show. However, how much static and the extent that it successfully mimics the grain can change, scene to scene, moment to moment.
  
  The opening sequence of the human negotiator meeting the Six for first time is amazingly bad. The bronze colored walls are practically popping with bright and dark flashes of static. This settles down as the show goes on and then disapears all together in some scenes, only to come back in others. There doesn't seem to be any sort of pattern to this as well. That is, dark scenes sometimes have lots of static, sometimes they don't. Scenes with a lot of visual effects are usually clean but then sometimes they don't.
  
  The audio is great however. Low frequency sounds are portrayed quite nicely which makes the soundtrack, sound effects and edward james olmos sound incredible.
  
  If you own the original SD set, this is a minor upgrade at best and hardly does justice to the show.
  
  edit: Disc 2 does suffer from a very noticable audio/video synch issue.
  
  
• Bad Discs-lousy pacjaging
  By A2C1F0JX4DBZAM on 2007-12-16
  Wow. The shows great but... What's with he discs. 4 out of five were scratched and I bought SEALED in the box. I think I figured it out. The packaging is so bad with these little rubbery plasicky (knobs) that your supposed to stick the discs to are the culprit. I believe that whoever was the poor sap that got hired to make the discs stick to the packaging probably pushed and twisted and pushed like He!! to get them to work hence scratchng them. Too bad - I had to order another set/replacement. I sure hope those are ok..
  
  -Terry
  
  
• It's about time.
  By A3K6S7ZGACOHN6 on 2007-11-12
  Finally the best sci-fi show currently on televison is coming to HD DVD. This set is to be released on the same day as the Battlestar Galactica Razor telefilm on dvd. I'd suggest picking that up too if you're a fan and have finished Season 2 or 3, either way you'd be good to go. As for this particular release, I already own it in standard def but am thinking of giving that away as a gift so that I can get this release, as I love the audio and video quality off of these HD DVDs. This show's first season covers man's journey to survive, to prevent from going extinct, and find the fabled legendary planet told of in their religious doctrine. The battle of monotheism vs polytheism, man vs machine, logic vs morality... This has all happened before, and it will happen again.
  
  
• HD-DVD not worth the extra cost
  By A1MWNTY1DHWCPO on 2007-12-19
  Well I purchased this for my self thinking it would be a great addition to my HD collection. I was wrong, the video is grainy, it looks just as good if not WORSE then the DVD version Upconverted! I am very diappointed by this release. Save your self 25 dollars and get the DVD version.
  
  
• Here's hoping!
  By AD8GM9CAZQ9ML on 2007-10-28
  I did'nt buy the SD-DVD releases of this series because I had a feeling that the HD versions would not be long in coming. Even so a release date for the first season of late 2007 is much earlier than I had expected so this is really excellent news.
  
  My two hopes for these releases are that they include all of the extra's from the dvd versions and that the second season is released as one boxset (like the European release) and not a repeat of the v2.0 & v2.5 US boxsets. Here's hoping!
  
  
• No Blu-Ray ??
  By A237EWD6VMF07Y on 2007-12-04
  BSG is the best dramatic series ever produced. The writing & acting is unsurpassed. It restores my faith in the "system". It's the only dramatic series I've consistently watched in the last fifteen years. But here's my beef. Why no Blu Ray? Why does Universal want to reduce its HD sales by half? Are they in the business of making movies, or are they in the business of marketing electronics? I'm not going to run out and buy a HD DVD player for a few HD-DVD discs. Warner Brothers has recently seen the light, and is releasing movies on both formats. Universal needs to take note. If Universal were to release a Blu Ray version of BSG, I would buy it. But until then, I'll be sticking with my regular DVD set, and spending my $$ elsewhere. The same goes for my Season One Original Star Trek DVD's.
  
  
• manufacturing problems
  By A3ILTW19SOBPX0 on 2007-12-21
  I love the series. I love the portions of the HD-DVD disks I can view. I would give the content 5 out of 5 stars. The problem is an apparent manufacturing problem. The result of the apparent manufacturing problem is that the disks are not able to play. Upon close examination of the playing surface, I see scratches and mottling of the surface.
  I took several steps to ensure that the problems are with the disks and not the player. My player and other gear runs from a UPS. ((I do this to ensure clean power and to allow for a controlled shutdown if there is a loss of power.)) The firmware for the HD-DVD is current. The HD-DVD player was cleaned with a cleaning disk. The HD-DVDs themselves were cleaned with the appropriate materials.
  My recommendation for folks is to proceed with caution. Perhaps wait for the next production run. I have requested an exchange for the original product. I am hopeful that the exchange will come from a new production run.
  As an additional note about the apparent manufacturing difficulties, I'll add some additional information. I purchased the 4 music CDs ((mini series along with seasons 1 thru 3). They arrived damaged with broken jewel cases. The CD purchase was separate from the HD-DVD purchase. The music CD jewel cases needed replacement. I had spares. I was able to make the replacement. A close examination of the jewel cases leads me to believe that that they are a lightweight case. The material seems thinner that that of my other music CDs.
  
  
  
• Great show, shoulda bought DVD
  By A3JRC9K52LKBBA on 2008-01-28
  Let me start by saying the show is awesome. Edward James Olmos is fantastic. And I had been looking for a new scifi show to watch. I own a blu-ray and hd-dvd player. I have seen both and I have seen upconverted DVDs. That having been said, buy the DVD version and play it on an upconverting player. The quality of this version is questionable at best. Especially the miniseries episodes, they are incredibly grainy. I am watchign 30 rock right now on my ps3 in dvd format and it looks way better than the HD-DVD version of BSG. Like i said, save your money, buy the dvd version instead.
  
  
• "33"
  By A3MDZSPTVB2WXN on 2007-12-06
  I am going to keep this short. Cause there is so much to say about this series. If you are not hooked by the first episode "33". I will consider you lost. It was the singles greatest experience I have ever had watching a TV show. Second in line is The Outer Limits episode "Demon with a Glass Hand". Anyway. "33" was so powerful that it almost brought me to tears. Please make sure you pick this up. Having this series on HD is a real treat. No matter what format you watch it in Vhs, Beta Max(hehe), DVD. Make sure this series does no pass you by.
  
  

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• Battlestar Galactica - Season Three