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Post by astromariopion on Sept 6, 2012 21:38:23 GMT -7
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Post by Deleted on Sept 7, 2012 5:57:40 GMT -7
We know. It was supposed to be out earlier this summer, but they postponed it until this month.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 7, 2012 15:56:25 GMT -7
It's funny...Indiana Jones will be coming out on Blu-Ray on the same day...and somehow I'm much...MUCH more excited for the new Teddy Ruxpin set...
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Post by Deleted on Sept 7, 2012 16:17:12 GMT -7
It's funny...Indiana Jones will be coming out on Blu-Ray on the same day...and somehow I'm much...MUCH more excited for the new Teddy Ruxpin set... Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will do that to anyone.  |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 8, 2012 22:53:00 GMT -7
lol...true...still, can't wait to see the other three in glorious HD, but somehow more pumped for the TR release...maybe since it's about $50 cheaper?  |
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Post by astromariopion on Sept 10, 2012 8:29:34 GMT -7
I'd like to know if this version will be better than the older version! Restored video and audio? It will be fantastic!  |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2012 18:48:33 GMT -7
That's what I'm hoping. Not so much concerned about the video quality (it looked fine for me considering the show is 25 years old), but I would def hope there is an improvement in the audio, particularly the "warbling" that was all too constant in the latter 2/3 of the episodes.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2012 19:39:10 GMT -7
"The Complete Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin" 10-Disc DVD Set Review
I was thrilled to receive my copy of The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin on DVD, and since no one else has offered to do so (though I'm anxious to see what others think), I thought I'd offer my impressions of the set here on the forums.
THE GOOD
There's A LOT of good here. A LOT. The set retails for around $20 (I got mine from Amazon.com), and I must say, the packaging alone makes me feel like I should've paid about $30.
As the images online show, the initial slipcase is a long cardboard case. The front cover with the logo and Teddy's picture open up to reveal a map of Grundo above (the BackPack Toys version, it seems), and a view of the DVDs below. The back of the box features extensive art from the book and tape series as well as a picture of the BackPack Toys version of Teddy himself. The description matches the description seen on Amazon and other retail sites, with a brief synopsis of the series and a quick biography of Teddy himself from toy to TV star.
Once you open the initial slipcase, you'll reveal two DVD "books". These are decorated in some beautiful art, again, mainly from the books, with each book opening into five flaps housing the five discs. Each disc, in turn, is decorated with a different piece of artwork from the books, and it is beautifully rendered.
The packaging alone speaks volumes about the effort that Image Entertainment has put into this release. It's much more involved than the Mill Creek release, which felt rather generic by comparison. I was extremely happy with the quality here. I felt like this was a set made for Teddy fans.
THE QUIRKS
On the back of each of the DVD "books" is a list of the episodes found on each disc in that "book". Unfortunately, the numbering seems to be off, as on DISC 2, we go from "Episode 10: The New M.A.V.O. Member" to "Episode 12: The Faded Fobs". This continues to the end of that book, where "Escape From M.A.V.O." is labeled "Episode 36", and then on "Book 2", "Leekee Lake" is ALSO labeled "Episode 36" to correct the problem. This won't be a problem for most people, it's not particularly irksome to me, just happened to notice.
Also, while the DVD "books" themselves are beautifully decorated, the actual "trays" in which the discs sit are simple cardboard, with no finish and no adornment. I wonder how friction against this surface will affect the longevity of the discs themselves, but the packages themselves are wonderfully constructed save for this small qualm.
EDIT:
Upon a direct comparison of the Mill Creek and Imagine/Mayday Entertainment releases, I noticed there is a "Language" menu on the Mill Creek release which is NOT present on the Imagine/Mayday release. Not sure why, but I will have to check and see if the DVD supports other languages by toggling the "Audio" option on my remote. Will let you guys know what I find.
RE-EDIT: Having now watched the next arc of episodes, I attempted to change the language using the "Audio" button on my remote, but the only option was "English", so it would appear there is no other language available on this particular set. This is a little surprising.
THE BAD
To be fair, I did not watch the ENTIRE SERIES (I've only had the set for a few hours), but I watched the first "arc" (Episodes 1-5). There were two things that I noticed right off the bat.
1.) The Color:
The first thing I noticed about this set was the color. While the picture certainly was vibrant, it was almost excessively so. For someone like me, who remembers watching these in their first run, the colors were very indicative not only of the time, but of the medium: television over the airwaves was never even remotely as clear or colorful as it is now with our digital sources. The producers must have done something to these discs because in a direct comparison between the Mill Creek and Image Entertainment releases, the Image release was significantly brighter, almost distractedly so. The colors oftentimes overwhelmed the character lines so that it was hard to see where sections of the character's clothing began and ended. Leota was a great example. I had to change the picture on my television set to get the correct color timing, but once I did that it worked fine. I wonder if anyone else will have a similar experience.
2.) The Timing:
This comes from having seen these episodes a hundred times (and probably more) over the last 25 years.
As most of you know, the first five episodes of the series suffered from timing issues, particularly with sound effects and dialogue. Characters mouths often did not match the sound playing (sometimes their mouths did not move at all.) Similarly, sound effects would often play with delayed reactions, or vice versa. Much of this was corrected post-Episode 5, when the full series began it's first run, but these episodes would always show signs of a budget-constrained production.
It may be just me, but it seemed as though, in an effort to correct these issues, Image Entertainment has made some subtle changes to these first five episodes in an effort to sync up the sound and picture. This includes brief cuts of some shots, and repetition of sound effects in an effort to make up for delayed animations. This was most obvious in the first episode, where these issues are most apparent. Perhaps it's just me, but I'm very used to hearing and seeing these episodes a certain way, and there was just something "off" about experiencing these DVDs.
The frustrating part about it is that these changes haven't really helped these episodes at all. In fact, they only served to exacerbate the non-synchronous experience. Particularly in "The Treasure of Grundo", the dialogue in the first half of the episode is almost entirely out of sync with the video. It seemed to level out by the end of the episode, but it's a problem that hadn't existed in the earlier releases and is suddenly very prevalent here.
3.) The Digital Blur
A few years ago I bought my first 120GB video iPod. At the time, Teddy Ruxpin had been planned for a 13-disc release over three years, and I was determined to digitally convert each episode to be played on my iPod.
To make a long story short, once the episodes were converted to MPEG format, I started to notice an odd sensation, which I've failed to quantify before or since.
Whenever the characters would move, there was an odd "blur" effect, and suddenly the individual frames of movement were visible in the course of the action. This gave an odd "blur" sensation to the entire episode, and for some reason, that sensation is blatantly visible on these DVDs.
I don't know what accounts for this. Perhaps it is the format in which these episodes have been converted (MPEG is generally the standard codec for DVD publishing). In any case, even my brother, who is by no means a nitpick of video or audio, had no trouble noticing this effect. Perhaps someone more technically experienced than myself can explain this for me, or perhaps the frame rate was altered in an effort to fix some of the synchronization issues (see above).
This effect was prevalent in the first two episodes, but seemed to be significantly muted by the end of Episode 3. Still, I found the first two episodes almost unwatchable due to this effect and am a little frustrated at the experience. By the end of Episode 5, the problem was almost non-existent, but still visible in a few places.
4.) The Warble
As has been discussed on these forums, the Mill Creek releases were plagued by the infamous "warble" in sound. While I'd hoped that these issues would have been fixed in this new release, my experience so far has shown that the sound is more or less the same as the Mill Creek release, with warbles in the same instances.
My test for this was the "Freedom" scene between Teddy and Feej (Fij?) As with the Mill Creek release, there is a warble in exactly the same spot in that song.
This is a bit of a disappointment, but not altogether unexpected. It just would've been nice to have a cleaned up soundtrack.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Overall, this is a great set so far. I will keep this post edited if I find explanations for some of my qualms or new fascinations to share. As a rule, though, this is not only the most affordable collection of Teddy DVDs, but is also the best overall production quality. This was made for Teddy fans, and I can only hope that my few gripes are not common for everyone.
MY RATING: 3.5/5
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Post by kaylathehedgehog on Sept 19, 2012 19:26:11 GMT -7
Just out of curiousity, will anyone be doing any scans of the artwork of the set?
Come to think of it, were any backups of the audio made after the first run? The series is twenty-five years old this year, so unless there's a preserved copy of the audio, it makes sense that the songs would have degraded after all this time.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2012 21:05:40 GMT -7
@vilicles - Great review, and extremely informative. Many thanks for posting it! It's a real shame to hear about the audio issues still being present, but overall it seems like they put in a lot of care and effort, at least. As for the "blur" issue that you mentioned, could it possibly be the result of deinterlacing? |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 21, 2012 7:02:02 GMT -7
@cyborg Illiop--Your welcome! I was waiting for someone else to post a review first, but I was very excited about the set and thought the fans here on the board would appreciate a "day of release" analysis.
It really is a terrific set. The care taken in it is evident from the moment you open the package. Like I said, it was MADE for fans like us!
As for the "blur", I had thought about it perhaps being a matter of attempting to upscale a 480i image to my 1080p HDTV. I use my Playstation 3 as my DVD/Blu-Ray player, so it automatically upscales everything it plays. I wonder if I turn the upscaling off, would the "blur" disappear?
The funny thing about it is that I don't remember having this problem with the Mill Creek release or any release before that. I wonder if it has something to do with the codec that was used to convert the movies? I'm a hobbyist filmmaker and am starting to understand more and more about how this stuff works, but am still a novice at heart, so it's possible I'm grasping at straws.
To be fair, the blur is nowhere NEAR as prevalent now (I just finished the third arc of episodes) as it was in the first five. "Grubby's Romance" was the most obvious, but after that it came down to subtle moments, and really didn't detract from the experience the way it did in the first 5 episodes.
I will have to try and turn my upscaling off and see if that helps! Thanks for the suggestion!
Again, there's no better way to support Teddy right now than to grab a copy of this amazing set. It keeps him alive and present, and it's the best set so far.
ON A SIDE NOTE: Upon a direct comparison of the Mill Creek and Imagine/Mayday Entertainment releases, I noticed there is a "Language" menu on the Mill Creek release which is NOT present on the Imagine/Mayday release. Not sure why, but I will have to check and see if the DVD supports other languages by toggling the "Audio" option on my remote. Will let you guys know what I find, and will add this paragraph to my review ASAP.
Hope this is helpful, guys (and gals)!
Vil
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Post by Deleted on Sept 21, 2012 10:42:02 GMT -7
@villicles - I loved your review of the new DVD set. I was gonna buy it from Chapters online, but it wasn't in stock and it would take 1-2 weeks to ship and I didn't have an Amazon gift card to use. So, I will wait until my birthday to buy it. But, either way, I will buy it at some point.
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Post by matt on Sept 21, 2012 16:50:45 GMT -7
I am not happy at all with this new box set. I also will be sending it back. The colors are way to washed out looking and when the characters move on screen, the blur happens and that is very annoying. It sounds and looks like they took the release from Mill Creek and tried to clean it up and failed at it lol. It is the same audio as Mill Creek. It's also cut a little bit from top to bottom. I want my money back, this set stinks! If you have the Mill Creek version, just stick with that until a better release is made.
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Post by pika62221 on Sept 22, 2012 0:55:27 GMT -7
Unfortunately, none of the "Protect Yourself" clips are included.
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Post by kaylathehedgehog on Sept 22, 2012 8:04:34 GMT -7
^ Understandable.
In order to do that, they would've had to pay royalties to every celebrity that appeared on them.
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