AVENGERS DEBACLE

I wish I had a more positive report for my fellow fans of The Avengers. We've waited so long in the States for a quality transfer and the Season 5 Hi-def release promised so much. My copy of the new box set arrived today and I have to say the Blu-ray is unfortunately not an overall upgrade. I previewed a few episodes with a fellow audiophile/videophile and we found the visuals were sometimes washed out, suffered from odd contrast (especially in the credits), and some unnatural color boost. Other footage looked SUPER nice in terms of texture and clarity, but in general, the A&E DVD sometimes looked natural in comparison. I imagine this is due to the sources being varied in quality (yet the UK Optimums look good, right?) and that there are 8 hours of episodes compressed on each of the 3 discs. Now the bad news… The new Blu-ray suffers from PAL speed-up, giving the actors a helium quality (talking at a higher pitch!) and causing movements and pacing to appear unnatural. The difference is subtle, but Steed and Peel sound unlike themselves (to my ears). Hopefully we'll see this important series get its due someday, but in the meantime, I suggest sticking with your A&E DVDs. What does speed-up sound like? The Optimum DVD discs provided improved visuals, but also suffer from speed-up. See my comparison video below between A&E DVD and Optimum DVD. Some viewers don't mind (or notice) the change in pitch- I envy them. I've heard Optimum re-pressed the DVDs with corrected speed and I'll post more about that once I can confirm. 

**SEE updated review and pitch comparison video (A&E DVD, Blu-ray, Optimum DVD) here.

Selected Spy Vibe posts: Tokyo Beat 1964, Polaroid Spy, Modesty Monday, Feraud Mod Fashion, Flint Scores!, Bond Danish, Louis Feraud, Roger Moore Day, Home Movies, New Richard Sala Book, New 007 Comics, Unseen Fleming in new 007 by Horowitz, Designing Bond Books, Foster Spies, Green Hornet Manga, Margaret Nolan Art, No 6 Festival, Barbarella Returns, 007 Audio Books Return, Harry Palmer Blu, One Million Prizes, Designer: Gene Winfield, Avengers Blu-Ray, Avengers Interview: Michael Richardson, Ian Fleming: Wicked Grin, Jane Bond Hong Kong Records, Ryan Heshka Interview, Comics Week: Man From R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E., Comics Week: Archie, Comics Week: Robots, Comics Week: Cold War Atomic, Comics Week: SPYMAN, Comics Week: Jimmy Olsen, Diana Rigg at 76, Gerry Anderson Doc, Mr. Hulot's Box Set, Rare Avengers Scripts, Man From Uncle UK Comics, Mattel X-15, Thunderbirds Comics, Shakespeare Spies: Diana Rigg, Shakespeare Spies I, Batman News, Monty Python Fathom Spies, Rodney Marshall Avengers Interview, Avengers Book: Bowler Hats & Kinky Boots, George Lois Design & Mad Men, Richard Sala: Super-Enigmatix, Big Fun Toys, Danger Diabolik Soundtrack, Mod Fashion Dolls, Cold War Archie, Playboy Bunny Interview, The 10th Victim Japanese and Kindle, U.N.C.L.E. Japanese Books, The 10th Victim German Edition, The Saint books return, Trina Robbins Interview, Catsuits, Batman '66 Green Hornet Interview: Ralph Garman Ty Templeton.