Batman Binge Options

[Avenger90]

Hi All,

I'm getting close to my next re watch of the whole series, having not done a full run for about 4 years!

Every time I do a watch, I play my DVD boxset which I purchased back in 2014. However, this time, I'm wondering whether to do something a bit different and purchase the series on Amazon Prime and view the episodes in even better quality.

What I wanted to know is;

-Is there much difference between the quality of the episodes when streaming them on Prime compared to the quality of the DVDs. If there is a difference, is it worth shelling out £20.00 per season?
-I have never bought a Blu Ray or a Blu Ray player - are these worth investing in to watch the show in all it's pristine glory or, again, is there not much difference in quality to the DVDs.

Thanks in advance

[AndyFish]

Its going to depend on the quality of your TV-- and if you're streaming the quality of your connection.
I have the series on DVD- Blu Ray - and via Vudu. I can see a difference between the DVD and the Blu Ray-- and Vudu matches the quality of the Blu-- which is how I rewatch the show.

I have Amazon Prime, but I have the series on Vudu because that was a perk of buying the DVDs or the Blu Ray (I don't remember which). Because SUPERMAN is being released this weekend in theaters Vudu is having a sale on much of their superhero titles including the BATMAN TV Series.

Vudu has it in HDX which is high def.

[Jim Akin]

I have Blu-Rays but haven't busted them out since buying the series on Apple TV. (I don't know its resolution, but it doesn't matter much to me because I only watch on a laptop screen.)

I got the VUDU streaming version with the Blu-Rays but lost the password or some such ages ago. I've forgotten whether the VUDU version shares a minor but enjoyable benefit of the Apple TV version: Restoration of the "Next week:" villain teasers to their rightful spots in the episodes.

The teasers—still images of next week's guest villain, accompanied by an announcement by Desmond Doomsday—originally appeared just before the end credits of Thursday night episodes, They were initially omitted from the Blu-Ray set, then added as bonus material, all strung together in a way that obscured their intent and effect. "Next week, the Clock KIng" (or any other villain I'd never heard of before) would prompt no end of curiosity and speculation about the latest menace to our heroes.

Do the teasers appear in the VUDU version?

[AndyFish]

Yes they do, Jim, at least as far as I can remember.

[Jim Akin]

Thanks, Andy!

[Ben Bentley]

What I wanted to know is;

-Is there much difference between the quality of the episodes when streaming them on Prime compared to the quality of the DVDs. If there is a difference, is it worth shelling out £20.00 per season?
-I have never bought a Blu Ray or a Blu Ray player - are these worth investing in to watch the show in all it's pristine glory or, again, is there not much difference in quality to the DVDs.

Thanks in advance

Good questions!

RE: Prime - Amazon has options to buy/stream in Standard Def (DVD equivalent in terms of resolution) and HD (BluRay equivalent resolution). Given your specific scenario, if the HD option is £20 per season that would still be cheaper than buying the BluRay boxset and having to buy a BluRay player too. That being said, if you're a collector, there is a few different variants of the BluRay set which come with different packaging and goodies.

Honestly, if you've never seen the show in full 1080 HD, you're missing out, it's magical. The transfer and restoration that was done from 35mm is really quite something and IMHO is a vast improvement on standard 640 res.

[Avenger90]

Thanks Ben, that's just the answer I was looking for. I always assumed that the DVDs were remastered into HD, but just not as good high def as the Blu Ray version. So for 10 years I've been watching and re-watching the series in standard def ! I never knew until recently that the streaming option restoration matched that of the blu ray. And, the price for the full seasons in HD on Amazon is the same as if you were to buy them in SD. Weird.

On my next re-watch (which will be very very soon as I need my fix) I'm going to watch, for the first time, the whole series in 1080 HD! And I cannot wait!!

[Ben Bentley]

Thanks Ben, that's just the answer I was looking for. I always assumed that the DVDs were remastered into HD, but just not as good high def as the Blu Ray version. So for 10 years I've been watching and re-watching the series in standard def ! I never knew until recently that the streaming option restoration matched that of the blu ray. And, the price for the full seasons in HD on Amazon is the same as if you were to buy them in SD. Weird.

On my next re-watch (which will be very very soon as I need my fix) I'm going to watch, for the first time, the whole series in 1080 HD! And I cannot wait!!

Enjoy!

Also, it's worth noting again (I know both Scott and I have touched on this previously), but when the show was scanned and restored ahead of the 2014 release, it was done so at 4K and downscaled for BluRay and DVD, which *in theory* means we could be seeing a 4K release down the line, whether that be strictly streaming or physical. There's an anniversary right around the corner after all...

[TheBlueHombre]

The Vudu HD streaming of BATMAN includes all of the “next week villain announcements” exactly as they aired at the conclusion of the episodes. It also has the Season 2 preview at the conclusion of the first part of the Archer episode, just like it originally aired. This was one of the bonus features added to the replacement discs. I enjoy watching the series this way.