Recent comments in /f/television

KremlinHoosegaffer t1_j9y462v wrote

Reply to comment by el_filipo in Why are Succession's S2-S3 not on BluRay yet? It's one of HBO's most successful dramas. by el_filipo

Oh yeah, absolutely. Quality is better. There's no question about that. There was a serious waste problem in the early 2000's with CDs, DVDs, PC gaming, etc. Now, in a world with recovering supply chains and an emphasis on using the least amount of materials, mass producing discs is a total hassle. They're being both cost and environmentally effective by limiting DVD releases. Does that mean we have the best quality shows? Nope. But, we also have far more access than ever before.

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el_filipo OP t1_j9y3xr9 wrote

Reply to comment by KremlinHoosegaffer in Why are Succession's S2-S3 not on BluRay yet? It's one of HBO's most successful dramas. by el_filipo

As convenient as streaming is, the bitrate is nowhere near as good as BluRay.

Most streams have a bitrate of about 6-8MBps for 1080p or 10-12MBps for 4K. That's not sufficient for a good picture, it results in lots of color banding and artifacts. BluRays have 20-30MBps for 1080p and 50+MBps for 4K.

Not to mention the audio. The best you can get in streams is an AC3 640KBps, while BluRays have 3-4MBps of DTS-HD/TrueHD.

To put it plainly, a 1080p BluRay stretched on a 4K TV would look and sound better than a 4K stream on a 4K TV.

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farseer4 t1_j9y3hvm wrote

Reply to A question on shows like Star Trek and Doctor Who by [deleted]

I'm not very familiar with Dr. Who (I just watched season 1 of the reboot and did not continue), but I can talk about TNG because I have watched the whole show (and I really like it). It's a long show (178 episodes over 7 seasons). Being episodic, each episode is a different story and there are stronger and weaker ones.

Yes, if you don't want to devote much time to it, you can watch the best episodes following whatever guide you want. The episodes are quite standalone, barring the occasional double episode, so you'll be fine sampling the highlights of the show that way.

However, there is something you will miss, because part of the charm of a long, episodic, ensemble show like this is the feeling of living with those characters day to day, so that they become almost members of the family, and following their character arcs. Even weak and campy episodes are enjoyable for me because of that. But, if you don't want to spend all that time, that's a reasonable trade-off you can make.

One thing you should know about TNG is that season 1 and, to a lesser extent, season 2, are considered weaker by most fans. Have you heard the expression "jump the shark" to refer to the moment when a show stops being good? It's an expression that was taken from an incident in the sitcom Happy Days. Well, the opposite expression is "grow a beard", to refer to the moment when a show starts being good. That expression was born from TNG, because during season 2 the character Riker grows a beard that he keeps for the rest of the show, and that's where fans say that the show started being good.

Personally, I also like season 1, although I agree that it has more weak episodes than other seasons.

This is a watch/skip guide. Just somebody's opinion, and I would personally recommend watching more episodes than this list suggests, but you could give it a go if you don’t want to watch many episodes: https://wordmerc.medium.com/star-trek-the-next-generation-watch-skip-guide-e489377bfd9

You could also look the the TNG re-watch at tor.com, and watch only the episodes that are given a 5 or more rating, for example (you can see the rating at the end of the write-up for each episode, just go directly there to avoid the spoilers in the rest of the write-up). It has the advantage that, having a rating, you can set the bar as high or as low as you want. Again, it's just somebody's opinion, and I often don't agree with his ratings, but that's a given when it's something subjective like this: https://www.tor.com/series/star-trek-the-next-generation-rewatch/

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Boss452 OP t1_j9y3egv wrote

Reply to comment by doctorMiami1337 in Game of Thrones Season 4 has to be in the GOAT discussion. by Boss452

Good writeup. Yeah those 4 seasons were supreme. Even when met with competition like Breaking Bad or Sopranos, what wins the case for GOT is how many levels above it was compared to others in ambition and scope. Basically it was much easier to mess up Thrones than something like Mad Men or BB. There are just so many parts in motion and a great skill was required to make it all coherent and thrilling.

> After seasons 7 and 8 and what they did to the show, a large part of my life was just gone.

Same. I dunno how many hours I have sunk in watching, reading, discussing, arguing over Thrones.

> the reason why i included season 5 which wasn't as good as season 4 is beacuse of episode 8 "Hardhome", which is a straight 10/10 )

Hardhome is magnificent. I always get chills during the last 20 minutes or so. Such fine piece of filmmaking.

HOTD was above average. The story isn't exciting and neither are the characters too compelling. But visually it is dazzling.

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657653 t1_j9y1o4s wrote

Reply to Is “The Shield” episodic? by saulgoodman673

Idk what everyone else is talking about. The shield is a fully serialized show where our main character (Victor Edison Mackey) has a 7 season arc. There are episodes where the main story doesn’t progress as much as others, or where it is just character building, particularly in the first season. There are 2 side arcs throughout the show (Acaveda, and Danny+julien) as well.

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