Many have not found the series in the US, yet. I found them by looking for it every time I went into the store. I think I happened to look when it was there, and was just lucky.

I have just received my box set from Deep DiscountDVD - it took just under a month for it to come through, and that includes transatlantic shipping time and postal delays due to the holiday season.

As with an earlier poster, I can confirm that at the time I placed my order, DeepDiscount were showing this item as not being in stock, and yet they were still able to dispatch it within a couple of days of ordering. So anyone who is having difficulty finding the box set in stores should definitely try DeepDiscount.

Now, the quality of the DVDs. I was concerned about this because of the earlier posts, and because it seems obvious that cramming 28 hours of material onto 5 discs would involve a lot of compressing. I am a video engineer by training, and teach DVD authoring - so I know a little about DVD quality issues...

...and the publishers have screwed it up on this occasion! The pixellating on fade-to-black which some posters have noticed is a very common giveaway of excessive compression when using MPEG (which is what is used for DVDs). Basically, when a picture fades to black, a lot of picture information changes all at once, and if the compression is too heavy you get pixellation as a result.

I have also noticed that in "busy" pictures, where there is a lot of texture - such as leaves on trees, or lots of grass - the picture becomes very blocky. (Video engineers, being great wits, will tell you that MPEG stands for "Motion Perfect, Except Grass".)

This is by far the worst commercial DVD transfer I have ever seen. However, you get what you pay for, and 28 hours at $24 is quite a bargain!

Finally (phew!) I should correct my earlier post, where I indicated that the discs might have the episodes in the original broadcast order: this isn't correct. They have placed the episodes in roughly the right order (disc one has the earliest episodes), but the order on each disc is pretty random.

Phil
www.bradburymedia.co.uk

[This message has been edited by philnic (edited 01-13-2005).]

Ooh, I have to get this! I really don't care a whole lot about the image quality, I just want to see the episodes.

I also have this set from Deep DiscountDVD and I, while an engineer, did not care about, nor notice, the kinds of objections mentioned above. I thought they were great and the fact that the episodes are all there after these many years is just a boon to real Bradbury fans.

It is fun to watch some of the actors who have gone on to become more famous in these early roles. I thought the series was very well done in terms of production as well. Certainly a buy for the dollars.

I am starting a SF distance class tomorrow. I requested some updates from our technical and administrative offices and will have use of a DVD compatible computer that links into classroom screens at all sites. I have reviewed the RB set and numerous episodes will be worked into the 6-7 week unit based on Mr. Bradbury's works. (I could do a whole semester, but...Mythology, Shelley, Verne, Wells, Stevenson, Poe, Clarke, Asimov, Keyes, L'Engle, and others will also be covered.)

RB titles will include:
Martian Chronicles
Something Wicked
Illustrated Man
Fahrenheit 451
Also, 20-25 thematically selected short stories, many to coincide with the Theater Collection.

I'll offer feedback in the coming weeks as to the "Bradbury Effect" on the 11th and 12th grade students who have signed up for the course!!

(On more than one occasion in past offerings, I have had girls tell me they were moved to tears while reading portions of M.C. for homework. I allow for journals and artwork to be incorporated into final projects. The young people really capture the scenes and mood when they express themselves after reading the literature.)

His imagery is second to none in modern literature!

When you have time, fj, could you tell me what a "distance class" is in your context? I know what it is here, where an instructor at a large university, for instance, beams tv lectures to satellite classes throughout the state, for college credit. Is that what you're doing?