The complete Stargate SG-1 series is now available on Blu-ray, for the first time in the show’s 23-year history.
The new release comes from Visual Entertainment Incorporated (VEI), a company that releases budget collections of class television shows. The company also has been selling standard definition DVD editions of SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis since last spring, and recently added Stargate Universe.
According to VEI this new Blu-ray release includes all 10 seasons and 214 episodes, plus 127 hours of bonus features including “Special Features Including Extended Episodes, Behind-scenes Extras, And Commentaries With The Cast And Crew.” That likely covers the bonus material originally included with each season’s original release on DVD. The 10-season set sells for $129.99 (U.S.) on VEI’s Web site.
Prior to now only Stargate Atlantis and the first season of Stargate Universe were released on Blu-ray. SG-1 aired from 1997 to 2007, mostly before the dawn of Blu-ray technology and high-definition video sold to consumers. In the years since, Stargate franchise owner MGM has opted not to go back and remaster the series for a proper HD home media release.
VEI has also followed up the SG-1 news with an announcement this month that it will release a new budget Blu-ray edition of Stargate Atlantis. All 100 episodes and more than 50 hours of bonus features are available for pre-order at $64.99 (U.S.), with a shipping date of December 28.
Both boxed sets include Region 1 (North America) discs.
Atlantis does have a previous Blu-ray release, published by 20th Century Fox in 2011. That one originally came with a $199.99 price tag, and today typically sells for at least $80 on sale.
IS THIS ACTUALLY HIGH-DEF?
So what’s on these discs? So far VEI has not been forthcoming with technical details. So we’ll need to understand a bit about the history of the two shows’ production to make a reliable guess at the quality that customers are paying for.
SG-1 shot on film during its first seven seasons, switching to HD digital cameras with Season Eight. So while the final three seasons are readily available to the studio in high definition, the older seasons were limited to standard-def. For many years the 480p DVD releases were the best quality visuals available.
MGM confirmed to GateWorld earlier this year that these early seasons of SG-1 have been digitally upscaled to improve the picture quality. These new “HD” episodes are available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video (at least for a few more days), and have appeared on HD broadcast television in Europe.
This might be the version that VEI is selling on Blu-ray discs. GateWorld is still working to confirm this with VEI or MGM. But it would seem to be the only version of these episodes in existence that are remotely suitable for Blu-ray media, which can accommodate 720p or 1080p (or 1080i) pictures.
Note that VEI also sells budget DVD sets for the three Stargate series. So far the only difference in VEI’s listing of Stargate SG-1 on Blu-ray is the label “Super clean picture.” However that descriptor also appears on the Amazon listing for the DVD edition, as well as on the Atlantis DVD listing.
“Upscaling” uses digital technology to improve existing video, essentially adding interpolated pixels and smoothing rough edges to create a crisper image. This process is very different than “remastering,” however. The latter entails going back to the original film negatives, and even creating new CG visual effects, in order to reproduce all 44 minutes of every episode from scratch. That would amount to many hundreds of hours of labor, to which is added other steps in the editing process: color correction, recovering and remastering the audio and score, etc.
Upscaling is more cost-effective, and the technology is better now than it has ever been. (GateWorld recently looked at one fan-made upscaling project.) But this process isn’t likely to produce true 1080 picture clarity.
Efforts to reach a VEI representative for clarification on its Stargate Blu-ray releases so far have been unsuccessful.
BETTER THAN DVD?
If it is the case that the VEI Blu-ray release of Stargate SG-1 includes the HD-upscaled episodes newly commissioned by MGM, customers will likely find this an improvement over the show’s original 480p DVD releases (at least for these earlier seasons). It is very unlikely, though, that the studio also has applied the same upscaling treatment to the bonus material released on the original DVD sets. Those would be in 480p.
But isn’t this just the same improved, “super clean picture” that VEI has been selling on DVD since the spring? Until we can get some answers from the company, or do a side-by-side comparison, we can only speculate.
It’s possible that a Blu-ray release of the same upscaled episodes would look better. Videos rendered for DVDs would doubtless suffer some degree of compression due to disc space (leaving the final visual fidelity largely in the hands of the compression algorithm). But Blu-ray discs are large enough to accommodate the upscaled copies without additional compression.
In short: We expect that the Blu-ray release of Stargate SG-1 will probably match what is streaming on Amazon. For Seasons One through Seven these are likely to be around 720p HD, rather than 1080p (or 1080i) full HD. However Seasons Eight through Ten should be 1080p/1080i, if VEI has not cut corners.
A user named “cdittmer” at Blu-ray.com’s forum has posted screen captures from the VEI release. They do indeed show what looks like a clean, upscaled picture, which makes an improvement over the show’s previous release on standard definition media. But it is not the quality of image we would see from a true remastering from the original film source. Here’s an example:
Stargate Atlantis, on the other hand, was filmed entirely in HD and has already seen a 1080p Blu-ray release. Presumably the VEI release is also at this resolution. Curiously VEI lists this also as having a “New Super Enhanced picture” — but it isn’t clear if this is any sort of new rendering of the episodes, or only an improvement over VEI’s own standard-def DVD release.
Given the price point and the fact that VEI is a budget publisher, the latter seems more likely.
We’ll continue to dig and see if we can find out anything further on these discs. Meanwhile, if you have received them, drop us a line and let us know how they look!
On Twitter: @VEI_Studios
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I am curious which upscaling method they used, but whichever it is the results are pretty nice. I looked at a few of the season 1 captures from the forum and found the same or very close frames from my DVDs, and it’s noticeably smoother and less noisy. As these things go there may be places where in making these things happen it loses some detail, but it doesn’t jump out at me in these three images. https://imgur.com/a/ycKhe1z
Thanks, Joshua! Those three image comparisons show really well how upscaling can be hit or miss. I think the upscaled RDA image from the opening credits shows that overly sharp, waxy look that makes the image look slightly unreal. The Teal’c image looks great — the facial features and armor benefit from the sharpening. And finally the group shot (from “There But For the Grace of God”) doesn’t look sharper, necessarily, but its markedly improved by the removal and smoothing of artifacts.
Imo the European broadcast found on the forums still looks best due to the preserved noise/details. That dude posted a lot of samples. Though in some way the BluRay does look better. I guess it’s about preferences if you’re purist or not. But I’m glad the show is finally released on something better than DVD. Ideally they’d also update the VFX or remaster the whole thing. Maybe later if this sells well enough. It’s a start.
So is this the same awful time compressed upscaling that everyone else has? Where the episodes are 41 minutes instead of 43 and everyone’s voices are higher pitched? If not, please take my money. Anyone know?
You’re thinking of NTSC to PAL conversion, where 24p sources is sped up 4% to 25p for use in PAL countries. That’s really only done for broadcast; Blu-rays are international and run at 24p if the content is 24p.
is that really the cover on the box?
kind of strange choice with season 6 group image.
Yes, and unfortunately it gets worse. If you look closely at the Stargate itself you’ll find a bad cropping job (next to Teal’c’s shoulder on the right, and Jonas’s head on the left) that shows the Stargate was flipped and mirrored to make a complete circle. The result is eight chevrons, uneven spacing between the side chevrons … and duplicated symbols around the Stargate’s inner track.
It’s too bad a show like Stargate can’t get a proper HD release (even if yes it’s better than nothing.), especially when it helps promote the possible future series.
And since the first seasons were shot on film, they could be done in 4K right?
I must ask: How embarrassing is this? The back cover even has “Aspest ratio” printed on it… Just horrible…
Thanks for information and curious to read more of a comparison on how good of a blu-ray release it is if you are able to get more info.
I just thought you all might want to know that I will be doing a full Unboxing, in depth comparison & review between the Stargate SG-1 Blu Ray & DVD sets coming soon. I will also be going into Image quality differences and overall impressions. I am just starting to work on this Big review and hope to have it completed most likely by 01/22/2020. So make sure to SUBSCRIBE to my YouTube channel: In Search of Physical Media , I am very excited about this review because I like the show a lot. So stay tuned to my YouTube… Read more »
Did you get my comment about the comparison Review I am working for this set?
No, I haven’t seen it. Did you comment here on the site, or send an e-mail? (You can reach me here.)
I just sent you the same comment again let me know once you get it? It says awaiting your approval for the comment to be posted. It’s letting everyone know I am working on a very in depth review, unboxing & comparison between the Blu Ray & DVD sets. On my YouTube Channel:
In Search of Physical Media
Let me know if you see the comments I have sent?
I also just emailed you with the same information about the review I am working on to the email address you have listed. Let me know if you get any of the stuff I sent to you. Thanks
In a thread on the Blu-Ray.com-Forums a member reported that every season except the first one has broken 5.1 audio. He wrote: So, I actually imported the audio files for the 5.1 tracks into my computer and took a look at the separate wave forms and compared them to the 5.1 tracks from the dvds AND the dolby surround 2.0 tracks. It looks like what they did was they have the left channel sound playing out of the Front Left, Center, and Front Right channels. And the right channel sound playing out of Surround Left and Surround Right. It is… Read more »
I looked at the audio in Audacity and thinks all in mono. I separated the first two tracks (left and right), inverted the left, and added it the right, and got a completely flat line. It’s the same track, and that’s what was on five of the channels, while the low-frequency channel was just blank. I think someone screwed up.
Will you STOP saying that film is “standard def.” Film is NOT SD. Film has more resolution that a blu-ray does.
I don’t see anybody here making that claim, Mom. The film elements are not standard def … of course. But the final edits of the episodes (including VFX) are in 480p, as are the DVD releases.
That’s why I state a few times that the studio has been limited to these copies prior to the upscaling. Anything else would require a return to the film elements in order to remaster the episodes.
I just looked at this on Ebay (Because its not available on AMAZON UK because I live in Ireland) and it would cost more than €200 to import it. So I hope they release it in europe or amazon UK at a more reasonable price
Who did Shanks tick off to be left off the cover art?
We need this released in Europe!
Any idea when this will be released in the Uk?
Unfortunately, no. VEI is a North American distributor that does not appear to do business elsewhere. It may take MGM finding a different partner to produce and distribute the sets in other territories.