ATTN GEORGE: Babylon 5 on DVD?

[B5JMS Poster]

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From: "Clay Johanson" <clayj at microsoft.com>
Date: 4 Apr 1997 12:16:39 -0500
Lines: 58

Hello George!

I know in the past it has been mentioned that Babylon 5 may eventually be
released, not on videotape, but on DVD. I've recently obtained a Pioneer
DVL-700 combination LD and DVD player, and I've found that the picture
quality of DVD is superior to that of LD (and waaaaay beyond videotape).
Anyway, I have a few questions concerning B5 and DVD:

1. Warner Brothers appears to be the biggest proponent of DVD to date; they
are releasing quite a few movies on DVD (including Blade Runner, my
favorite), and seem to be far ahead of the pack with regards to future DVD
plans. Given that this is the case, can you give an estimate of the
likelihood of B5 being released at some point on DVD? (Don't worry, I won't
hold you to the estimate... just some kind of idea is all I'm looking for.)

2. If B5 is released on DVD, will it be released in widescreen (16x9)
format? Will it still be encoded in Dolby Digital/Surround? (These are both
musts, in my opinion.)

3. Typically, a single-layer, single-side DVD can hold about 133 minutes of
material. Since two episodes of B5, less commercials, is only about 84
minutes (I believe), would it be possible to do any of the following to
fill out the rest of the disc?:

 - Include extra footage originally cut from the episodes due to time
constraints (sort of a Producer's Cut type deal)
 - Include footage of JMS discussing cool stuff in the episode
 - Include multiple languages (English obviously, but also French, Spanish,
German, etc.) or multiple subtitles
 - Include cast information (like they do on the Blade Runner DVD) and easy
chapter search (also on the BR DVD)
 - Use the dual-layer process to lessen the amount of compression used in
the video (this would help to increase picture quality even more, wouldn't
it?)
 - Put a second Audio track in (like they do on some laserdiscs) where JMS,
Doug Netter, Mr. Copeland, and yourself could discuss the process of
creating the episode, cool trivia, etc.
 - Include the trailers for upcoming episodes

B5 fans are well-known gadget junkies, so there's a strong likelihood that
WB would rake in the bucks if they released the entire B5 series on DVD.
Assuming 5 seasons @ 22 episodes per season, plus a 2 "episode" pilot, that
would be 112 episodes, or 56 DVDs. At $20-$25 each, a complete set of B5
would cost $1120-$1400... that may seem like a lot of money, but I know
that I would definitely spend it to receive the entire series. If 100,000
B5 fans purchased the entire series, that would equate to $112-$140
*million* dollars in sales for WB... and I believe that even more sets than
that would actually be sold.

Anyway, I thank you for your time, and for any response!

Clay Johanson

NOTE: The opinions in this post are mine and do not necessarily represent
those of Microsoft Corporation.




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From: daoffer at ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Debora Offer)
Date: 7 Apr 1997 10:40:33 -0400
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[I think I got the attributes right.]
In article <cmarie.860361289 at max.tiac.net>,
Claudia Marie  <cmarie at max.tiac.net> wrote:
>"Clay Johanson" <clayj at microsoft.com> writes:
[...]
Clay]
Also, if you put 4 eps on each disc, you
run the risk of breaking up two-parters like A Voice in the Wilderness or
War Without End.

Claudia]
I don't follow this at all.  2 eps per disc runs the same risk of this.  
In fact, if they're in original broadcast order, both two-parters so far
have been (even-numbered episode, odd-numbered episode), whereas they'd
be packaged two episodes per disc as (odd, even), so to keep them together
they'd have to play around with the episode order.  If they did that for
a release of two episodes per disc, they could just as easily do it for
more episodes per disc.
[...]

What was done with the ST:TNG tapes was to occasionally put 3 episodes
per tape.  I don't see why you couldn't do the same with DVD.  I've
already shelled out way too much money for those ST:TNG tapes.  I'm
not going to balk now at getting B5 which is so much better than 
anything else I've ever seen.
-- 
\__ __/ Debora      daoffer at ccwf.cc.utexas.edu    Austin, Texas \__ __/
   T any opinions expressed are mine, not necessarily my employers T
"If you cannot say what you mean, you can never mean what you say.  The
 details are everything." -- Durano, Babylon 5, "Into the Fire"


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From: raven at solaria.sol.net (Raven (J. Singleton))
Date: 9 Apr 1997 02:45:19 -0400
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Debora Offer (daoffer at ccwf.cc.utexas.edu) wrote:
| Clay]
| Also, if you put 4 eps on each disc, you
| run the risk of breaking up two-parters like A Voice in the Wilderness or
| War Without End.
| Claudia]
| I don't follow this at all.  2 eps per disc runs the same risk of this.  
| In fact, if they're in original broadcast order, both two-parters so far
| have been (even-numbered episode, odd-numbered episode), whereas they'd
| be packaged two episodes per disc as (odd, even), so to keep them together
| they'd have to play around with the episode order.
[snipped]

Depends on whether they package the pilot separately or with the first
regular series episode, doesn't it?  Counting the pilot as #0 (separate)
or as #1 (together) would change the odd/even count, and thus the pairing
on disc, of all subsequent episodes.



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From: cmarie at max.tiac.net (Claudia Marie )
Date: 9 Apr 1997 14:57:03 -0400
Lines: 31

raven at solaria.sol.net (Raven (J. Singleton)) writes:
>Debora Offer (daoffer at ccwf.cc.utexas.edu) wrote:
>| Clay]
>| Also, if you put 4 eps on each disc, you
>| run the risk of breaking up two-parters like A Voice in the Wilderness or
>| War Without End.
>| Claudia]
>| I don't follow this at all.  2 eps per disc runs the same risk of this.  
>| In fact, if they're in original broadcast order, both two-parters so far
>| have been (even-numbered episode, odd-numbered episode), whereas they'd
>| be packaged two episodes per disc as (odd, even), so to keep them together
>| they'd have to play around with the episode order.
>[snipped]

>Depends on whether they package the pilot separately or with the first
>regular series episode, doesn't it?  Counting the pilot as #0 (separate)
>or as #1 (together) would change the odd/even count, and thus the pairing
>on disc, of all subsequent episodes.

Well, I suppose, but I don't know why they would count the pilot as a
single episode when it's the same length as *two* regular episodes.
I figured it would get its own disk in the two-per scheme.

Claudia
-- 
  "Mathematicians are like Frenchmen: whatever you say to them they
   translate into their own language and forthwith it is something
   entirely different."
          -- Goethe



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From: "Clay Johanson" <clayj at microsoft.com>
Date: 10 Apr 1997 17:45:24 -0400
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Claudia Marie  <cmarie at max.tiac.net> wrote in article
<cmarie.860612141 at max.tiac.net>...
> raven at solaria.sol.net (Raven (J. Singleton)) writes:
> >Debora Offer (daoffer at ccwf.cc.utexas.edu) wrote:
> >| Clay]
> >| Also, if you put 4 eps on each disc, you
> >| run the risk of breaking up two-parters like A Voice in the Wilderness
or
> >| War Without End.
> >| Claudia]
> >| I don't follow this at all.  2 eps per disc runs the same risk of
this.  
> >| In fact, if they're in original broadcast order, both two-parters so
far
> >| have been (even-numbered episode, odd-numbered episode), whereas
they'd
> >| be packaged two episodes per disc as (odd, even), so to keep them
together
> >| they'd have to play around with the episode order.
> >[snipped]
> 
> >Depends on whether they package the pilot separately or with the first
> >regular series episode, doesn't it?  Counting the pilot as #0 (separate)
> >or as #1 (together) would change the odd/even count, and thus the
pairing
> >on disc, of all subsequent episodes.
> 
> Well, I suppose, but I don't know why they would count the pilot as a
> single episode when it's the same length as *two* regular episodes.
> I figured it would get its own disk in the two-per scheme.
> 
> Claudia
> -- 

I guess what I really meant to say is that at 4 eps per disc, a season of
22 eps would take 5.5 discs... so there would be some overlap from one
season to the next on a single disc, possibly, or an inconsistent number of
eps per disc (not cool).

Instead of trying to cram as much stuff as possible on one disc (like 4
eps), I would prefer that they put 2 eps on each disc, plus some
supplemental material. That way there would be no splittage from one season
to the next, and the video compression on each disc could be kept as low as
possible (resulting in better picture quality).

Still haven't heard George Johnsen's take on this, though... where are you,
George? :-)

Clay Johanson


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From: George Johnsen <ndeiprod at earthlink.net>
Date: 12 Apr 1997 00:14:06 -0400
Lines: 20

Clay, Jay, Claudia, and other DVD interested folks:

The discussions we have had concerning DVD with Warners have all been
based on 2 episodes per disk, with supplimental material, and full use
of DVD's capability. 

4 episodes per disc hits the compression scheme pretty hard, and I don't
like the way it looks, so we will stick with two per, IF this were to
become a product.

(Big IF by the way, for reasons we have already discussed in this forum)

And, btw, ehat do you mean where are you, George?  I've been here
working my behind off getting these episodes out!  :-)

George Johnsen
CoProducer, B5



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