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The Borg MegaCube
Alien54 writes "Paramount Pictures this week revealed plans to release a DVD box set containing every single episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Called the 'Borg Megacube', the box set will include all seven seasons of TNG across 48 discs, thus collecting all the individual DVD sets into one package. As the name implies, the set comes in the form of a Borg cube. Due out at the beginning of November..."
From TrekToday:
"The Borg Megacube is currently scheduled to hit stories in Region 2 (Europe) on November 3, 2003. It is not known whether a Region 1 (North America) version will also be released, but only 1000 copies will be on sale worldwide."
http://www.trektoday.com/news/260903_01.shtml
"0101100101? It's just jibberish. *looks in mirror, gasps* 1010011010@!? AHHHHHH!!"
Considering that in the US each single season goes for ~$100, how much could this cost?
:)
Oh well, there go my savings! And retirement benefits! And computer gadget money!
The Borg MegaCube
The Complete Star Trek: Next Generation Seasons
1-7DVD Collection
Captain's Log 3rd November 2003
By order of Starfleet Command, The Borg MegaCube, a DVD Box Set Collection unlike any other is to be released to commemorate the legendary voyages of the Starship USS Enterprise-D.
The Borg MegaCube, the ultimate DVD collection, contains the Complete Star Trek: The Next Generation series 1- 7 across 48 discs and is strictly limited to just 1000 numbered copies worldwide. This collection is presented in the shape of a Borg Cube - both in recognition of the crew's struggles against one of mankind's greatest threats - The Borg - and in remembrance of the thousands of Starfleet lives lost at the battle of Wolf 359.
A collective intelligence, formed of organic beings with cybernetic enhancements, the Borg wander the galaxy, seeking out cultures to assimilate. The Enterprise Crew are first introduced to the Borg in the second season episode 'Q - Who' and the Cyborgs have since become the single greatest threat facing the Federation......
In 'The Best of Both Worlds', voted as the best ever TNG episode by the US public in a recent poll, the Borg arrive in Federation space to assimilate their people and technology. They capture Picard, turning him into 'Locutus of Borg' in an attempt to conquer the human race and set course for Earth. Acting Captain Riker must find a way to stop them before the Enterprise has to break off the pursuit.
In 'I-Borg', the Enterprise discovers a crashed Borg scout ship with an injured survivor. Dr Crusher insists on saving his life, despite the concerns of the others. She is shocked when she discovers that Picard intends to use him to spread a virus that would destroy the Borg completely.
'Descent' sees the Borg return to do battle with the Federation, boasting a new individuality. Things become complicated when they enable Data to feel his first emotion and an injured Borg starts to show individualistic tendencies.
This Star Trek Next Generation box set collection also includes an individually numbered certificate of purchase commissioned by Starfleet Command and holds a special limited edition Star Trek Next Generation Clock, specifically designed for this exclusive release.
The Borg MegaCube Box Set, with digitally re-mastered picture quality and Dolby surround sound, is available from Paramount Home Entertainment on 3rd November and costs 449.99 from major DVD retailers.
Live Long and Prosper
The Story of the Borg Ship
At the time of the filming of 'Q-Who', there were two visual supervisors: Dan Curry and Rob Legato. They each had their own specifications for the design of the Borg ship:
Rob Legato - The Borg ship should be a ball with a trench of detail around the middle.
Dan Curry - The Borg ship should be a cube that looked smooth at a distance. As you got closer and closer, more detail would be revealed. (Dan had hired Special Effects for this job).
The Rob Legato team experienced problems and the job of building the Borg Ship went to Special Effects. It took 14 modellers two weeks to finish the job. That is nothing short of amazing when you consider that while the specifications called for only one side finished, Special Effects supplied a Borg ship that was finished on all sides. In order to achieve that level of detail, F/X put everything in they could find, including R2-D2, toy soldiers, plastic model "rails", and the F/X logo.
Highlights of Next Generation Seasons
Season One includes the very first Next Generation episode, 'Encounter At Farpoint' which introduces us to the Crew of the Enterprise. Episode Guide - Q challenges the crew to prove the humanity of the human race through a series of tests on Farpoint - if they fail, they face certain death! When an unidentified ship begins firing on the old Bandi city, they learn that the people of Deneb IV have captured its mate and are holding it against its will. Will the crew of the Enterpris
All of the DVDs have already been released by season; only the packaging and pack-in items are unique to this set.
And yes, pirated copies did start appearing when each season of ST:TNG was released, but they've all been out for quite some time now.
I wonder if it's region encoded.
Yes, they released it region coded.
But wait for the kicker...
They haven't yet announced a region-1 version!
Good thing most of the people with an interest in this have the sense to buy a region-unlockable DVD player...
The number of disks sucks as well. At least, I think it does.
If we assume that the DVDs are storing everything in slightly higher quality than analog television streams, each episode should take about 300MB - which is realistic, since the feeds were made for television and are going to be played on televisions.
Each DVD holds just over 9GB. We'll leave the extra for "special features" and just leave the 9GB. Actually, why not leave an extra 216MB and only use 9000MB? 9000MB*48(Disks)/300(MB/Episode)=1440 Episodes.
In actuality, there are only 177 episodes, which would fit in (300*177)/9GB=5.82 DVDs. Each episode actually gets a total of roughly 2500MB each.
People who're willing to pay for such a waste of space deserve the price.
Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!
From that article:
They're Not Really PAL or NTSC
The first thing I need to clarify about DVD is that PAL and NTSC are words and formats that are applied to DVD for convenience, and because of historical convention. There is nothing fundamental about a DVD which makes it either PAL or NTSC, but for simplicity and brevity, I will continue to use these terms throughout this article.
At their heart, DVDs are merely carriers of data files with compressed audio-visual information contained therein. This information can be placed on DVD in one of two resolutions; 720 x 576 pixels (PAL DVDs), or 720 x 480 pixels (NTSC DVDs), and with various frame rates (24, 25, and 30 frames per second are common). The DVD player itself takes this data file and formats it appropriately for display in either PAL or NTSC.
Perhaps you should read what you link to?
Yes, there is a difference in resolution, but this is compensated for in the player.
Mmmhmmm...
There's 168 star trek: TNG episodes total.
Each episode is about 45 - 50 minutes long, IIRC.
A "well encoded" DVD will fit not much more than 2 hours per layer. Since a layer change would be acceptable, but not a side change, during an episode, that's no more than about 5 episodes a side, or about 10 episodes a disc.
That leaves us with a 17 disc _minimum_ requirement, which doesn't leave much room for enhacements. I agree, 48 is a bit much, but perhaps they want art on each disc for readability purposes? That leaves only 14 "extra" discs.
Either way, since a pressed DVD costs less than $5 CDN to produce (evidenced by WalMart crap movies sales) even at 48 discs, that's a hefty premium for an already paid-up show.
If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
Incorrect.
DVDs are digital
Correct.
and it's your DVD player which is PAL or NTSC, not the disc.
Sort of, but not exactly correct.
When 'NTSC' is used on DVDs this usually means it is Region 1, and I can still play it on my region free player which is connected to a PAL TV.
Incorrect.
I've never seen a DVD labelled 'PAL'.
That may be, but I highly doubt that you've seen every DVD. I own a few DVDs that say PAL on them. Here are links to the NTSC version and the PAL version of the same film.
PAL DVDs are 720x576 resolution, 25 frames per second; NTSC DVDs are 720x480, 30 frames per second.
It's not PAL30. It's PAL 60. 99% of TV in the market today support it. 99% of the TVs in Europe support NTSC, as well. Basically, PAL is a superior format, resolutionwise, and has no problemwith inferior resolution NTSC video. Anyway, most DVD players convert NTSC-60 to PAL-50 flawlessly. You only there is some kind of conversion in extreme pan shots.
Mother is the best bet and don't let Satan draw you too fast.
Sony and Pioneer Player can made codefree with a new firmware. The codefree Sony firmware also disables User Prohibitions, so you can skip to the next chapter whenever you want and you can always change subtitels, audio etc.
Many recent Pioneer Players also can be made codefree with a code entered with the remote control. Sony and Pioneer are both manufacturing really nice dvd players and many retailers here(Germany) are offering them preloaded with a codefree firmware, so there is really no reason to avoid these players. You can get almost every player in a codefree version here, no matter which brand.
Jan
Actually, not having a label would make the disk -less- prone to damage. The label side is the one that, if damaged, causes a loss of information. If you look at a CD/DVD, you'll notice that the 'shiney side' is a fairly thick slab of clear plastic; the reflective surface is just a thin foil layer on the label side, which is poorly protected (you may notice that video rental places have been putting thick stickers over the labels for extra protection).
Scratches to the media side can often be buffed/polished out without losing anything; scrathes through the label are uncorrectable, as the material carying the data is lost.
my sig's at the bottom of the page.
Actually, not having a label would make the disk -less- prone to damage. The label side is the one that, if damaged, causes a loss of information. If you look at a CD/DVD, you'll notice that the 'shiney side' is a fairly thick slab of clear plastic; the reflective surface is just a thin foil layer on the label side, which is poorly protected (you may notice that video rental places have been putting thick stickers over the labels for extra protection).
This is true for CDs, but not for DVDs. DVDs have the data layer sandwiched between two clear polycarbonate layers. Here's a few links on the subject.
In other words, having a label or not having a label does not truly affect the "safety" of your data layer, when it comes to DVDs. Apparently, all it affects is your overall capacity.
Can you explain the logic of this statement to me?
Sure.
US DVDs use region 1. Paramount has not yet announced anything but a region 2 (Western Europe) release of this set. Without a region unlocked player, Americans could not enjoy this product.
Your empirical evidence is bogus.
;)
I'm staring at a Star Trek The Next Generation DVD in my hand now. It contains 4 episodes, with each one being ripped to the hard drive producing 1.8 GIG files in size.
The very first DVD contains Encounter at Farpoint (both parts), making it one of the exceptions. Each season ends with 3 episodes, and a "features" video. There are 48 DVD's in total, spread across the series so that there are on average 4 episodes on each (roughly, some have 3 and a feature).
One more thing. Each episode on the DVD has approximately 42 minutes running time, since there are no commercials, and that's what the show's airtime was given.
Just thought you might like to know some facts.
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