I’m Furious About This Modern DVD Practice—and You Should Be Too
Please note that after writing this article, the YouTuber in question discovered that he had been sent bootleg copies of the DVDs in question, and that these were not official releases. So the section below explaining why companies might sneakily degrade the quality of DVDs is not accurate, because it’s not the official DVD producers who make these discs in the first place.
However, everything else remains true. This is particularly concerning since these bootlegs appear indistinguishable from the real thing, other than being defaced, and the same advice for detecting lower quality versions below remains in effect.
So I was recently watching one of my favorite YouTube channels (Technology Connections), when the channel casually posted a video explaining how DVD reissues are of lower quality than their previous printings.
Now, Alec Watson (who owns the channel) seemed more amused than anything by this fact, but by the end of the video I was really pissed! You might be wondering why poor DVD quality matters at this point in the game, but as someone who enjoys collecting physical media, I can tell you it’s an unpleasant surprise.
When “new” means worse
To understand how these new DVD releases were downgraded, you first need to know a thing or two. Most importantly, DVDs largely come in two varieties: single layer and dual layer. Dual-layer discs have a capacity of around 8.5 GB and single-layer discs reach 4.7 GB. When DVD video is encoded, this is done to provide the best quality at the target resolution. Typically 480 or 576 pixels high for NTSC and PAL regions, respectively. With a width varying between widescreen and 4:3 format content.
For films, a single-layer disc is usually sufficient, although longer films or those with many additional features may use a dual-layer disc. However, for television series, it is common to use a dual-layer disc to get as many episodes on one disc as possible.
It’s mainly TV series that are in question here, because what Technology Connections points out is that newer versions of some TV series are single layer now, while the original version was double layered. The original DVD master has been re-encoded to fit in almost half the space.
That’s exactly what people who pirated DVDs did back in the day. Since blank dual-layer discs were rare and expensive. You would use special software to further compress the video so that it fits on a single-layer blank. You also usually remove all the special features to give the main content as much space as possible, but they clearly can’t do that with an official reprint of a DVD series.
This leads to a visibly lower quality version of the series or movie, because the bitrate takes a hit and the image contains less detail. Especially in motion.
Why they do it
Even though sales of physical media have dropped over the years, there is still a lot of money to be made selling DVDs to millions of people who continue to watch and collect them. Especially for classic series which are not always available for streaming.
Companies that offer these lower quality DVD releases probably do so to save money. It only costs a few cents per disc, but if they think no one will care, saving a few cents at the cost of an intern spending an hour or two recompressing a DVD image is probably worth it in their eyes. They also wouldn’t redo the set on more discs, because that would mean a basic creation of the DVDs and not just a deletion of the original master.
Why is it scandalous
Am I making a big deal for nothing? I hope not, because, from my point of view, this is a horrible practice. First, consider that for many standard definition TV shows and movies, the home DVD version is the highest quality copy available. There is no Blu-ray version or HD version. Usually because the series was mastered in SD and either it was not shot on film or this film is no longer usable.
Consider Star Trek: The Next Generation. It was possible to make a wonderful HD version of this show because they were able to re-scan the film at a higher resolution. It was still a huge task as all the CG had to be redone and all the episodes had to be re-edited according to the original editing notes. It cost an awful lot of money, but it was worth it for such an iconic series.
Star Trek: Deep Space 9on the other hand, was shot on cassette and not on film. There is therefore no additional detail to extract. I bring this up because, according to Technology Connections, DS9 is one of the re-releases affected by this problem.
By reducing the video and audio quality of these releases, I find myself deprived of the ability to own and keep the best version of the series. Perhaps this could be excused if these new releases were labeled somehow, but as far as I can tell the packaging, labeling, and everything else on the outside is identical.
- Year
-
1987
- Gender
-
Science fiction
- 4K
-
No
One of the few Star Trek television series to benefit from a careful HD remaster using the original camera film negatives. To date, this is the most “HD” television that classic Star Trek has to offer!
How to avoid getting burned
The fact that it’s not clearly marked which versions are which makes it easier to accidentally purchase the downgraded version of a DVD. In some cases, however, there may be a “single layer” or “double layer” marking on the DVD cover if you view it in person. If you’re wondering about a given DVD release, it’s probably best to do an Internet search to see if the original release was dual-layer or not, and then see if later releases are now single-layer.
If you’ve already purchased the DVD set, insert a disc into your computer’s DVD drive (you have one, right?), then check its size. If it’s 4.7 GB or less, it’s a single-layer disc and you may still be able to return it to Amazon, assuming you’re unhappy with the image quality.
If there is a Blu-ray version of a show or movie, you might be better off getting that version. However, if it was scaled in order to make the BD version, this scaling process may also have introduced visual artifacts. So check the reviews for the Blu-ray version.
The main reason I haven’t been hit by this issue yet is that I buy most of my DVDs used and therefore they come from earlier production runs. This is also a viable strategy, if you’re OK with a little wear and tear on the packaging, although I never buy used discs with signs of damage.
What really irritates me is that even if this practice were reversed (questionable), it wouldn’t remove all lower quality discs, but at least now we all know what to watch out for.
