Customer Reviews

Not perfect but worthwhile over the DVD - By: MoJo, 27 Nov 2008
As other reviewers have noted this disc is a compromise. The show was shot on 16mm film but then all the editing was done digitallyin standard definition, with effected added. To go back & re-do all that would be prohibitively expensive, so we end up with this.

The picture quality is not up to the standard one might expect from 1080p, but it is better than the DVD. The sound is a lot better too, not least because Dolby specify a standard loudness which means the over-compression on the original TV broadcasts & DVD release has been corrected with re-mastering. That alone makes it worth getting over the DVD IMHO.

I'd say this is worth getting over the DVD, but not worth upgrading to if you already have the DVD. The frame rate dropin particular was a terrible decision - rather than keeping 25fps so wein the UK can enjoy it they changed to 24fps so that now both us & the US get the wrong frame rate. For that reason anyone with a 100Hz TV might want to stick with the DVD because this will suffer from juddering.

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Imperfect, but a definite improvement over the DVD - By: P. Waller, 04 Nov 2008
Life on Mars is arguably one of the better TV shows of the last 10 years, & so I feel no need to pick apart the series itself. Instead, this review will focus on the differencesin video & audio quality between this Blu Ray release & the DVD. Life On Mars is presented with a 1080/24p AVC encode & 5.1 Dolby TruHD sound.

As noted by another reviewer the frame rate has been slowed down from 25fps to 24 - this is the format used on many Blu Ray movies as it is said to give motion a more film-like quality which Kudos are trying to replicate here. Having previously seen the show on DVD I could not notice any changein audio pitch or speed of movement caused by the slowdown, although each episode is a couple of minutes longer as a result.

In terms of video quality this release is everything I expected. Life on Mars was shot on 16mm film & was intended to have a very retro-70s look, so while there is a definite layer of grain (and the occasional scratch-mark/blemish) present, along with a slight softnessin long & motion shots, these are all intentional. Close-up detail & colour reproduction show a definite improvement over the standard definition DVD. However, the biggest improvement comes with the sound, as the TruHD track is deeper & more well defined than anything previously released, especially when it comes to the fantastic early 70s soundtrack.

Ultimately, if you're expecting the Blu Ray of Life on Mars to be a pristine, pixel-perfect presentation then you're going to be disappointed. But if you want to see the series at its best & as the production team intended then look no further.

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Series is encoded at the wrong frame rate - By: M.C., 27 Oct 2008
The series was filmed at 25fps but it's been slowed down & encoded at 24fps (23.976 fps). The picture quality isn't very good either.