I just read that “Seinfeld – Season 9” and ‘The Complete Series’ will be released by Sony in November. The 4-disc set of the last season will go for $49.95. And, at the same time ‘The Complete Series’ containing all 180 episodes will be released. This 32-disc set will go for $283.95.
But what about Blu-ray and HD DVD? Who is going to spend $283 on a format that is going to be dead in a year? Less than a year, I would predict, if Sony and Toshiba would smarten up and start giving away their players for next to nothing. When you can go to at CostCo or Sam’s Club and buy an HD DVD player off a palette, then you will the DVD format die. I hope this time comes soon. Looking at standard discs nowadays is nothing short of torture.
So why aren’t the Seinfeld discs being released in high definition? Could it be that the studio doesn’t want to spend the money to convert all that tape footage to high definition? Could it be that there is no demand to see Seinfeld, Kramer, George, Elaine and Newman in perfect clarity? Come on! You gotta wanna see Newman in high definition!
No, I think it is because if you were to release a ‘Complete Series’ of Seinfeld on Blu-ray no-one would buy it. Given that the average Blu-ray disc is about twice the cost of a standard disc, the ‘Complete Series’ of Seinfeld would run you about $600. Ouch.
