If you check your DVDs you'll see that the Canadian and US DVDs were released by different companies. In Canada, the last season was broken into 3 and 4, but in the US, they aired as one complete season 3, thus the difference between DVD boxsets. The US releases from Alliance include the pilot in the first season set (imagine that) instead of in season 3, as they do in the Canadian release (where I think they had licensing issues).
I have seen references to the fact that the Canadian DVDs were produced using the show's masters while the US likely had VHS sources, resulting in poorer quality (along with the fact that they cram a whole season of hour-long episodes on four discs!). Because of the much lower price point, I was considering buying the US releases anyway--they're probably still better than the tapes I made from TNT after all--but your review indicated it may not be worth it. I'd love to own this series for not much money, but it might be worth holding out for the more expensive sets...though I also think their packaging sucked given the overlapping disc trays, which isn't such a big deal.
Re: Caveat emptor!ivy03January 5 2006, 15:12:24 UTC
In Canada, the last season was broken into 3 and 4, but in the US, they aired as one complete season 3
That's what I figured, which is why I bought it. It makes sense to be aired as one season, with "Mounty on the Bounty" as the sweeps week two-parter, especially since Vecchio says in "Call of the Wild" that he's been gone a year. That explains why the set was labeled season 3, but it still doesn't explain the shocking lack of CKR on the packaging.
I'm not a fan of the Canadian sets either, really, with their double-sided discs in overlapping packaging. One of my season 1 discs started to crack from the force needed to remove it from the packaging (I've now transfered them to other cases). I'm enough of a videophile that I'd like to get the Canadian season 4 at some point, but it wasn't in the budget and I wanted to watch CotW, so I stooped to the American set.
Why can't they package these things better? due South was one of the first shows I remember going to DVD, but it's always had the worst packaging.
I have seen references to the fact that the Canadian DVDs were produced using the show's masters while the US likely had VHS sources, resulting in poorer quality (along with the fact that they cram a whole season of hour-long episodes on four discs!). Because of the much lower price point, I was considering buying the US releases anyway--they're probably still better than the tapes I made from TNT after all--but your review indicated it may not be worth it. I'd love to own this series for not much money, but it might be worth holding out for the more expensive sets...though I also think their packaging sucked given the overlapping disc trays, which isn't such a big deal.
Right. Hope I cleared things up.
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That's what I figured, which is why I bought it. It makes sense to be aired as one season, with "Mounty on the Bounty" as the sweeps week two-parter, especially since Vecchio says in "Call of the Wild" that he's been gone a year. That explains why the set was labeled season 3, but it still doesn't explain the shocking lack of CKR on the packaging.
I'm not a fan of the Canadian sets either, really, with their double-sided discs in overlapping packaging. One of my season 1 discs started to crack from the force needed to remove it from the packaging (I've now transfered them to other cases). I'm enough of a videophile that I'd like to get the Canadian season 4 at some point, but it wasn't in the budget and I wanted to watch CotW, so I stooped to the American set.
Why can't they package these things better? due South was one of the first shows I remember going to DVD, but it's always had the worst packaging.
Reply
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