Since Planet of the Dead, Doctor Who has been made in high definition. The only legal way to own your own copies in HD is to collect them on Blu Ray rather than DVD.

If you collect 21st Century Doctor Who, do you collect on Blu Ray or DVD?

Personally, I love the much better picture quality in resolution and colour fidelity that high definition brings, and I'm looking forward to 4K becoming much more mainstream. I've collected all Doctor Who that's been made in HD on Blu Ray.

I also bought Spearhead from Space on Blu Ray too because, being shot entirely on film, the picture quality is greatly improved in HD.

The poll makes no sense. DVD isn't in HD. As for Bluray being the only legal way of having HD Doctor Who that is not true, it is possible to get HD Digital Downloads (except for Spearhead from Space).

But the post makes it clear the reference to HD in the poll is to the format in which it is filmed, not the format it which it is delivered.

I still buy DVD's for Doctor Who as opposed to Blu-ray, I'm not sure why I haven't made the jump yet. I think to some extent it was because I buy the vanilla/volume DVD's rather than the box sets - I have no interest in the special features, and the DVD designs were always colourful, vibrant and made Who stand out on the shelf.

Of course, now the BBC have done away with the vanilla releases and only released Series 8 as a complete box set. And yet I still feel compelled to buy it on DVD rather than Blu-ray, it seems too random a time to jump to Blu-ray for the series

Of course DVD isn't in HD. That goes without saying. DVD is SD only. I'm not sure what your point is there since the poll is about BD vs DVD (and only by implication SD vs HD).

Downloads are still a small proportion as yet and, with respect, as a collector (which is who the poll addresses) I would go for physical media. Every time.

Interesting. Do you have a HD TV and a Blu Ray player?

For myself, I always need to collect (those things I collect) in the best available form to try to avoid re-buying later. In the case of video that's currently HD and the medium is Blu Ray. Even if I didn't already have a Blu Ray player, I'd expect to get it sometime soon as a natural upgrade. I'd be tempted to get the Blu Rays (or leave it altogether until I did get a Blu Ray player (they're not very expensive these days)), so I wouldn't have to replace DVDs. Of course, the downside is being unable to play the BDs in the meantime. And BDs are more expensive than the equivalent DVD.

Last Blu Ray I watched 2Entertain had inserted an animated HD BBC logo onto the opening credits instead of the usual BBC logo.

So the programmes are no longer as transmitted.

If your looking for uniformity on your shelf from the Tennant specials and series 5, 6, 7 and 8 boxsets are all the same size cases for BluRay, but as people have said on here, the series 8 DVD is a smaller box. So in BluRay only the Matt Smith Specials Day and Time are the odd ones out whether you have the special box set they did for the 50th or have them as separates.

Which one was that?

I don't own a Blue Ray player so I only collect/buy DVD's. Got them all though !

I collect C20th DW on DVD. I'm not fussed about Blu Ray (I think there's only one C20th DW on bluray anyway). The three voting options above don't really meet my criteria. Or I don't meet their criteria, maybe?

Yes, I've had a PS3 for many years now and a HD TV as well. I even own Torchwood on Blu-ray, having never bought the DVD's it was a natural decision to go for the superior format.

If I recall correctly, I thought about buying Series 5 on Blu-ray as it seemed to be a natural point to jump up to the format. I think what put me off at the time was the inability to play the discs on my laptop, which I was using a lot more frequently for DW rewatches than my TV at the time.


Thanks for the info
I will likely upgrade to Blu-ray at some point or another, and will likely begin back-purchasing the previous series as I do. I can then pass on the DVD's to my sister or something.

And on that note, I've just picked up what I think is a real bargain! I was lacking Series 8 but have just bought it on ebay for £13 brand new!

Just because I prefer digital media doesn't make me any less of a collector. I got/had plenty of VHSs, DVDs, Digital Episodes, Books and Big Finish Audios. If collectors editions come in a digital format then yes I would get it but I am not interested in getting physical media just for not a lot of extras in the case of the new series (some are available digitally). You had a poll asking what format we watch the HD episodes in. Digital is a perfectly valid answer, I am not impressed that you suddenly claimed it is aimed at "collectors" when reading the poll and first posts (even though you made a factually incorrect statement) the whole point is the format people watch their HD episodes in.

You're quite right, the only C20th DW worth getting on Blu Ray is Spearhead from Space because it was shot and produced entirely on film. The original film has much greater resolution than SD so you get a much improved picture quality in HD on Blu Ray just by rescanning from the original film in a high resolution format (and cleaning it up a bit).

Other C20th TV DW doesn't exist in any higher resolution than SD (so is perfectly fine in SD on DVD), with the possible exception of the Television Movie. If the original film of it still survives (a big if) and if the suits thought they'd make a profit (an even bigger if), it could be given the same treatment as ST:TNG.

The Peter Cushing movies benefit greatly from the HD treatment, and so are worth having on Blu Ray.

Fair enough, I have sinned by omission. My opening statement was a little too broad and I neglected to include the possibility of downloads. So shoot me.

I'm not impressed by your needlessly quarrelsome and picky attitude over what is meant to be a bit of fun. It's not scientific research, you know.

I was and am curious to know which of the two physical formats people like to collect on. That is all.

It was not an attempt to "get at" those who prefer downloads or streaming. You're turning this into a download vs media debate, which I never intended this to be. For the time being, the point you raised is a minor side issue.

The only Who I own on Blu Ray are the specials and Spearhead.

If series 1-4 were released individually on blu ray and the overall quality is noticeably better I would be tempted to double dip. I know there is a box set but at that price..no thanks.

DVDs. There's not a HUGE difference to me, and if I want to watch a Blu-ray, I have to be in the living room while no one else is using the Play Station, whereas I can watch a DVD on my laptop. And Doctor Who doesn't do that shitty thing where the Blu-rays have exclusive extra content, so for me there's no benefit to buying Blu-ray.

Blu-ray all the way. For me the quality is absolutely astounding. I refuse to purchase DVD's and it irks me to no end that a lot of TV shows are released exclusively on DVD when they were broadcast in HD. I cannot even bring myself to watch an SD television airing knowing a HD version is available. The compression on television is abysmal! At least DVD's are relatively serviceable, however everything that I deem "important television" I.e. Doctor Who are watched on a projector screen. At that large an image the thought of a DVD is unimaginable. I even lament at the limits of the Blu-ray format and the fact that the show is shot at merely HD.

An ideal world would see the show shot at 4K+ resolution though this isn't exactly financially viable (yet) for a majority of people. Saying that HD itself seems to be a niche format for home cinema enthusiasts. I cannot tell you how painful it is to hear friends say "There is no difference between DVD and Blu-ray". I feel like collapsing in agony at ignorance.

At the end of the day though it depends on television size, viewing distance, screen resolution and a whole other host of factors. Heck, I'd imagine 99% of people have picture wrecking filters and settings on their televisions, automatically set by manufacturers. Maybe I might be the 1% that is incredibly anal about picture quality. Maybe I've written a response that is spectacularly preposterous overlong. I will be content no doubt to be buried with my Doctor Who Blu-rays. DVD's for me are like ASDA brand coke. It's cheaper, but too poor a quality for me to stomach.

That's my though as I now own separate BluRay's of Tennant specials and some of Matt Smith's, I wouldn't want to spend over £100 for some of the same stuff only for series 1-4 on BluRay, separately though and I would!

I do think there's a difference - I just don't think that there's often enough difference.
I do buy the more recent shows on Blu-ray, because I like the extra sparkle of HD, but I've never found myself watching a Series 1-4 episode, or an SD broadcast version, and feeling like I'm missing out.

We aren't missing out on the older ones being in SD as that is all there is though. I would like to see them upscaled on BluRay as they are in the big 1-7 box set though and the classics done like that too. Its a shame that the TV movie was so poorly received as that would be great in HD if they decided it was worth the effort and money of redoing for HD from the original 35mm prints!
I can imagine one day when DVD has died out and everyone has BluRay players, that rereleasing on BluRay upscaled to HD would be done with just about everything. I wonder if they are trying to encourage DVDs to die out by putting them in lower quality cases and having less extras on them?

I think they've been doing that on some episodes since series 7. It's annoying, but for me does not spoil enjoyment of the stories.

I'd assumed the animated BBC logo on is overlayed on the start of some episodes on the recent DVDs as well. Or is that wrong?

I've seen the full screen, colourful animated logo on some of the Tennant era DVDs (though not overlayed on the programme).

Please remember that here in the USA, we are missing out on the older ones being only on DVD. With the PAL format having more lines than the NTSC format, we would notice an increase in quality with the first four Series simply by having enough lines to show all of the lines in which the PAL original transmission was broadcast.

I would love to have Series 1-4 on Blu-Ray.

I believe there are now a few shows made in 4K. Netflix and Amazon, but there may be more. And an agreement has been reached on a standard for putting 4K on blu rays. Of course you'd need a blu ray player made to that standard (available late this year? Maybe?) and a 4K capable TV (available now) and a compatible connection method (available now - latest HDMI standard).

Unfortunately, I doubt Netflix or Amazon would have much interest in making their shows available on blu ray or 4K blu ray.

It's a pity DW wasn't made in HD from its re-start. It was a late adopter of HD due to HD's extra production costs. Now that's not a factor as everything is supposed to be made in at least HD.

The PQ on blu rays is noticeably better than the broadcast version (due to the higher compression used for broadcasting, I guess). Via Sky at any rate. (I don't have Freeview HD or Freesat, so I can't comment on them.) I frequently notice banding on smooth gradients on broadcasts that isn't present on the blu ray of the same material.

I don't think you're incredibly anal about picture quality. You just have higher standards, that's all.