Page 1 of 1

Knight Rider coming to Blu Ray!

Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2016 2:22 pm
by Scott Kirkessner
Confirmed! Knight Rider (and Miami Vice) will be released on Blu Ray on October 4th!

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=19345

Re: Knight Rider coming to Blu Ray!

Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2016 10:55 pm
by jeremy223
I think we should email Mill Creek about the music issues and find out if they will be fixed. This is our last chance to get a release with the music intact. Their season 1 and 2 dvd release each had music replacement which doesn't give me much hope for the Blu-ray. We've already talked about White Line Warriors missing "Little Red Corvette" in another thread, but I just remembered about Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death. "Hurts So Good" was on the very first season 1 release, but all other releases have changed it. Just checked the episode on Mill Creek's dvd release and they didn't fix it.

I have bought EVERY vhs and dvd release of KR released in the U.S. If they don't finally fix the music, I don't think I'll get this one. I already own the series about 5 times over.

Re: Knight Rider coming to Blu Ray!

Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2016 4:18 am
by KITTfan
They never fixed the missing sound effects for European region dvd's in season 3 and 4 so I'm wondering if they will be fixed for the Blu-Rays. Have bought all different packing versions of the S3 and S4 they have released, hoping that new versions would have fixed sfx because what I have gathered from this forum, they have fixed them in US region dvd's.
I have the following Knight Rider DVD's:
- Knight Rider -the Best of, includes 5 best episodes from Season 1 and 2. I agree, these are the best ones :)
- Knight Rider Season one box, the original 2004 release.
- Knight Rider Season 2 box.
- UK release Season 3 and 4.
- first Scandinavian release with similar packaging as the original UK version Season 3 and 4
- updated slim case version of Season 3, didn't bother getting the Season 4 as there was no change in S3 dvd's.

I have all episodes on vhs tapes also and have finally gotten a USB videograbber so my summer holiday project is to transfer at least those episodes with missing sound effects and altered music from vhs tape to dvd.

I really hope the blu-rays would have intact sound effects and as much original music as possible. Maybe even better image quality even the dvd episodes look pretty good already.

Re: Knight Rider coming to Blu Ray!

Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2016 4:24 pm
by jup
Honestly, I don't think making Blu-Ray discs is considered a 'high level tech' in the industry. So, if what I suspect truly is the case, then they probably won't go spending a ton of money to restore the original sound tracks. It's just a good thing that some company sees potential profit in a re-release of this classic series in any form.

Like KITTfan said, the best approach is to just get your hands on the original broadcasts that pre-date all these copyright, money grabbing issues and dub together your own master set of Blu-Ray footage from the original source and picture perfect releases.

Re: Knight Rider coming to Blu Ray!

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2016 12:01 pm
by moviefan2k4
I'm looking forward to this, especially if they can get the cast back to do a more extensive documentary on the series and its impact. William Daniels is getting up in age now; I'd like him to offer his comments on the experience before its too late. I'd also want "Knight Rider 2000" added to the set in HD; to me, its the only proper continuation of the series.

Re: Knight Rider coming to Blu Ray!

Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2016 8:42 pm
by Knight Racer
I doubt they will be releasing any new content for special features. We'll be lucky if this includes all the actual music used in the original broadcast.

Re: Knight Rider coming to Blu Ray!

Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2016 7:47 am
by RafaelLOJ
Technical question...
The highest resolution a DVD can support is 720 x 480 pixels. And not sure the DVD set is even that.
What was KR recorded on, and the resolution of that format?

I think $99 for a BluRay HD copy is a great price for all 4 seasons...

Rafael

Re: Knight Rider coming to Blu Ray!

Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2016 12:40 pm
by jeremy223
Knight Rider was recorded on 35mm film so it has more than enough resolution for an HD release.

Re: Knight Rider coming to Blu Ray!

Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2016 1:25 pm
by jup
Knight Racer wrote:I doubt they will be releasing any new content for special features. We'll be lucky if this includes all the actual music used in the original broadcast.
Out of curiosity, I looked up reasons why some songs might be missing from episodes. When concerning productions like shows and movies, one of the facts was when songs have reached a hit status, it's not uncommon for then to demand amounts that can go as high as $100,000 for use of any parts. Considering that KR liked to use the chart topper of the week and that even a mass release of a full season set may not fetch a gold mine's worth of profit, I can begrudgingly understand why song fillers get used. While there are prices to ask for, so as not to be taken advantage of for one's art, there are ranges that are just disgustingly greedy.

Re: Knight Rider coming to Blu Ray!

Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2016 9:03 pm
by jeremy223
It's mostly Prince songs that are missing. Three episodes are affected. It will be interesting to see if Prince's estate will make a deal, if Universal or Mill Creek are even trying.

Re: Knight Rider coming to Blu Ray!

Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2016 3:29 am
by jup
It seems in seventy years, those Prince songs might fall into the public domain...

Re: Knight Rider coming to Blu Ray!

Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2016 10:52 am
by MZONDERL
Will the movie Knight Rider 2000 also on this box? And in HD?
Somewhere I saw something about Knight Rider 2010 on this box, is this true?

Does someone know if Team Knight Rider will be available on DVD or Blu-ray?
(I am from The Netherlands, Team Knight Rider was only once on TV, never seen again...never seen Knight Rider 2010, I know it isn't like the original and also without KITT, but I like to see it)

Or Knight Rider 2008 series on Blu-Ray?

Thanks!

Re: Knight Rider coming to Blu Ray!

Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2016 5:46 am
by jup
KR 2010 was apart of the Action Pack. I've never heard of any of those shows ever coming out as a season set. In fact, the company involved almost seems like they'd prefer to remember all the second season stand alone shows over this combo experiment. As I do seem to remember seeing episodes of Hercules/Xena on VHS sets. So...there may be some TKR episodes out there.

As for the failed pilot that is KR 2000? How often do stand alone pilots ever make it to DVD? I know that another Hasselhoff failed pilot did make it. So, you never know.

Re: Knight Rider coming to Blu Ray!

Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2016 5:33 am
by KITTfan
jup wrote:Honestly, I don't think making Blu-Ray discs is considered a 'high level tech' in the industry. So, if what I suspect truly is the case, then they probably won't go spending a ton of money to restore the original sound tracks. It's just a good thing that some company sees potential profit in a re-release of this classic series in any form.

Like KITTfan said, the best approach is to just get your hands on the original broadcasts that pre-date all these copyright, money grabbing issues and dub together your own master set of Blu-Ray footage from the original source and picture perfect releases.
Transferred the Lost Knight episode from VHS first, not as good image quality as those DVD's or Blu-Ray but sound effects are all there :)
Image

Re: Knight Rider coming to Blu Ray!

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2016 7:06 am
by Knight Racer
I just got the email from Amazon about the blurays. I already have the season box sets and don't feel it's a necessity to have blu rays unless it's got some new bonus features. I grew up watching kr with static from bunny ear antennas and bad coloration. I could have sworn one episode, Michael hit the accelerator and it went orange instead of green.

Re: Knight Rider coming to Blu Ray!

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2016 4:22 pm
by KFCreator
Any time there is a jump in the quality of the video, I will be on board with buying the episodes again if I have to. I also have the big box set of the entire classic series (the black one with the electronic scanner at the bottom that lights up and plays the theme song), and I will happily add the Blu-Rays to my collection. I may do as others suggested and rip the audio from the DVDs and apply it to the video from the Blu-Rays for select episodes if substantial things are missing for select episodes.

Re: Knight Rider coming to Blu Ray!

Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2016 3:26 pm
by Lost Knight
On one hand, it's nice to see the series finally debuting on Blu-ray (something a lot of us never thought would happen at one time). I do think the only way you're going to see the series in HD quality with music intact is on online streaming services, though. The bottom line is that the music licenses for home video are just too expensive (even if it is only 3 songs for the entire series that were omitted, but especially in Prince's case). With his recent passing, perhaps his estate will be more lenient with the distribution of his music, but I wouldn't count on it especially with the release coming next month.

I'm more optimistic that the release will include the missing sound effects. Universal already went back to correct this with their Region 1 DVDs; I don't see why Mill Creek wouldn't simply make their transfers from the corrected DVD releases. According to this thread it seems like only the overseas editions were the ones that were never corrected.

Not sure about Knight Rider 2000, though. The DVD release's picture quality was changed from the original airing's to a grainy, desaturated look. I wish they'd go back to the more polished look of the original airing and upgrade that one to HD, otherwise I don't see how the upgrade will help much. I'd expect a simple port over of only the featurettes from the first season DVD release and nothing new.