Rating  - Ken Burns "Civil War"
Fast service, recieved product as promised, No complaints on program or service. John Simon
Rating  - Dull
It was so dull to watch the first DVD that I actually ENJOYED dusting and vacuuming the living room while "watching" this show. Not well done at all. My suggestion is borrow it from your local library. Watch it. If it appeals to you, then spend the money. Otherwise, invest the cost in your IRA or 401K. I donated my set to the public library. It is someone else's beast now.
Rating - THE CIVIL WAR - A FILM BY KEN BURNS
I HAD WANTED TO OWN THIS FOR A LONG TIME. I WAS VERY PLEASED WITH BOTH THE PRICE I FOUND IT FOR AND THE SERVICE. PERFECT!
Rating - Public Television's Finest Hours....
Ken Burns' absolutely superb documentary "The Civil War" may have been public television's finest broadcasting hours, now available in a DVD set. Burns' unique mixture of photographs, period music, interviews with various historians, voiceover narrative by David McCullough, and excerpts from period letters and speeches creates a spell-binding effect for the viewer, whether dedicated student of history or general viewer.
Burns takes the war chronologically, as a festering debate over the future of slavery becomes a civil war between the American states and a total war for the future of the country. Although the series covers the fighting from Fort Sumpter to Appomattox, it is less a battle history than the story of nation undergoing a primal shaping event. In Burns' hands, this catastrophic event becomes almost a lyrical epic poem, touching everything from high strategy to the impact of war on individual homes North and South. A particular highlight is the commentary by Civil War historian Shelby Foote, whose wry observations provide perspective on the war. Extra features in the DVD set detail the making of the documentary, along with some additional commentary. Originally broadcast in 1990, the content of the documentary generally holds up pretty well.
This DVD set is very highly recommended as superb entertainment and education.
Rating  - Do they still have the digital master?
Background: I have enjoyed this documentary set for as long as I can remember. Back in 1990, I taped it of PBS and didn't hesitate to purchase it on DVD as soon as it was available.
This "new" (2004) DVD package seems to be physically different than the "old" (2002) DVD package that I bought. Mine has (had) a gold banner on the top where it says "PBS Home Video", while this one is silver. I'm thinking that they changed this because the gold flakes off very easy. Other than that, I'm happy with my "old" DVD package.
With one small exception, that is.
The "wobble" that many reviews talk about. Recently, I looked back on my old VHS tapes and the "wobble" didn't appear to be as pronounced as it does on the DVD package. It is only a minor annoyance, but it would've been nice if they had done something about it.
Something else that I was thinking: In the "Re-Making of the Civil War" documentary in the "Special Features" section, they say that they ran the old film through a datacine and captured the film at "5 to 6 times" that of 480 (original telecine). They went on to say that it was datacined down to "film granual level" and showed a demonstration. Each frame, taken from original film, would be between 2,000 and 2,400 lines! Each frame was also, as they said, 14MB! Did they digitize the entire series at once or did they just do a little bit at a time? If they did it all at once, that is an insane amount of data. 14MB * 24 (frames per second) * 60 (minute) * 60 (hour) * (Entire hour length). You get the idea.
This is what I am getting at: If they still have all this datacined data, then shouldn't it be pretty trivial to re-release the series on Blu-Ray? Would 1080p be worth it since it is just still pictures? Can they fix the "wobble" problem in the process? Finally, figure out a way to get it neatly in 16:9. I'll re-buy the set for $200 for all the above.
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