From David Simon, creator and co-writer of HBO's triple Emmy-winning mini-series The Corner, this unvarnished, highly realistic HBO series follows a single sprawling drug and murder investigation in Baltimore. Told from the point of view of both the police and their targets, the series captures a universe of subterfuge and surveillance, where easy distinctions between good and evil, and crime and punishment, are challenged at every turn.
Release Date: 19/8/15
High quality series that went totally under the radar for me until recently. For some reason it's so far only been available on DVD in 4:3 here, so a Blu-Ray 16:9 release is very welcome news.
It was only remastered into widescreen/HD a couple of months back. While it was originally shot in 16:9, it was framed in 4:3, so in the remaster some digital editing/tactical zooming has had to be used to get crew members and equipment out of the shot, and some of the shots don't quite come across as originally intended. The show's creator said some stuff about it here.
Ideally it would see an HD 4:3 release, but I don't see that happening.
I watched the remastered edition (via the internet). I've seen other 4:3 to 16:9 TV show remasters and I only noticed an occasional zoom or loss of detail at times, which is rare and shows the effort that was put into getting this right. But, I was watching this with new eyes, so someone more experienced with the show could notice more.
For new viewers of the show, this is a high quality series and remaster.
That's a fantastic link. Thanks for sharing.
If you read the reviews on Amazon.co.uk some people have pointed out a bit of stuff is cropped. I've got 4:3 on DVD which I'll probably just stick with. But a good price compared to Amazon's pricing.
I looked for this in 16:9 a couple of years back however at that time the directors or producers were adamant that there would be no 16:9 bluray release as all of the framing was done in 4:3 and that was the look and feel of the show.
Things changed I guess….
Money talks and more people want their TVs filled with picture. It's always baffled me. They don't realise or just don't care that 9/10 times you actually LOSE image when you lose OAR. And you ALWAYS lose original shot composition. But that doesn't matter…god forbid we get black bars or curtains. (There's nothing stopping these people from using the zoom function BTW…voila…instant filled screen) Sadly, things haven't changed since the 4:3 CRT days when widescreen films were cropped to suit the masses.
The decision to make the Wire BD 16:9 means I won't be buying it, but for every one of me there's 10 more that'll buy it because it is. Money talks.
/end rant
This is different. It was actually filmed in 16:9 and David Simon (creator of the show) is on board with this re-release, see his blog http://davidsimon.com/the-wire-hd-with-videos which has before and after video samples.
Fantastic series. 10/10
I agree. One of the best TV series ever made
Soooooo slooooow
OMAR COMIN YO!
There's no code for this deal. A man's gotta have a code.
Y'all need to open up before I huff n' puff. Feel me?
Is this a special pre-order price? Will it go up closer to release date? I've never preordered from JB but same price as Amazon US is pretty sweet - and the remastering work that went into this set is impressive in itself; http://davidsimon.com/the-wire-hd-with-videos/
My guess is it probably won't - if you look at the other Blu-Ray box sets they have the only HBO ones that are more expensive (excepting GoT) are either longer series or are special/limited/whatever editions. Yes, this box set is re-mastered but it doesn't appear to come with any trinkets or t-shirts or et cetera. So I reckon you're safe.
Follow the money, in other words.
Sheeeeeeeeeeeeit
Super series this is..
Good price if this is the Re-mastered version of the whole series, which I doubt by looking at the details:
Aspect Ratio - 1.78:1 ?
If you read the link I posted above you'll see the show director chose this ratio for the remastered release as the series was shot in 4:3.
Great price for a 20 disc set!!
Aspect Ratio - 1.78:1 is 16:9
You are right :)
Best TV series ever. Breaking Bad doesn't even get close to this. A'ight.
All in the game ya'll
"All in the game, yo… all in the game. Haha, fo'sho."
Loved both of them, but they're are hardly comparable; two completely different series, with The Wire being a far slower burn.
I also liked both but consider The Wire to be far superior in quality and for sheer depth it is unmatched in my view.
Define 'superior in quality.' They're incomparable. The Wire is an ambitious, tragic swan song to American industry while Breaking Bad is a focused, family-driven drama. Even tonally, Breaking Bad's a borderline dark comedy while The Wire's moments of levity are few and far between (Sheeeeit, Mr Nugget). They're the best of their weirdly specific subgenres, there's no need to promote one at the expense of the other.
Need the boxset to even see smoke.
i think my comment was misunderstood. I LOVE the wire, 2nd only to breaking bad and thats not just cause of who i am. I just think breaking bad was just about flawless. The wire was great but had some down moments and the final season was a bit of a train wreck
I am SO pleased there's someone else who thinks this. Most people I know said The Wire is too dull, and that Breaking Bad is the greatest series ever made.
11/10 series.
This is an amazing series. To me it's essentially Game of Thrones in the drug world - the character development, plot, and writing is just amazing.
As someone who watched The Wire while it was airing, and still remember people calling it 'Oz in the drug world,' it's surreal hearing the comparison to another, newer, and less consistent HBO series.
Where Wallace at?
Best television series ever made in terms of character development, story, themes, exploration of the world and its various issues, exploration of institutions and how they fail the individual, etc. And it's just entertaining to watch.
"Come at the King, you best not miss." - Omar Little
I've got a proposition for you.
Amazing show!
What about Frank Sobotka? I'm not seeing his name anywhere here. This show is about FRANK SOBOTKA.
That whole season doesnt get the credit it deserves.
A few of the Season 2 characters re-appear in Season 5, episode 6 briefly, including Nick Sobotka. But oddly, it seems the show dropped the Season 2 storyline for the most part.
Also, Season 2 had the best opening of any in Episode 8, with drunk Jimmy McNulty (lol): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhaZunwvW5o
Well the show is broken into 5 "perspectives" that loosely align with seasons (cops, criminals, school system … forget the fourth and the media specifically newspapers) and Mr. Sobotka was only in one of these seasons.
The 4th season was about the courtroom system with Littlefinger playing the mayor IIRC. Definitely wasn't as memorable as the other seasons though.
As Jimmy McNulty would say "What the f**k did I do?"
He's probably still floating in the river
Would vote for Senator Clay Davis any day of the week. :)
Loved the series overall
I had to do a double take the first time I heard Idris Elba aka Stringer Bell with a British accent.
I also felt like an idiot when I found out Felicia 'Snoop' Pearson was a lady.. haha
It had some characters in the show that I really felt sorry for.
Hamsterdam yo!
Fuzzy….
Fuzzy who?
Fuzzy Dunlop, Sir.
Gold!!!
I only saw the first 10 mins and was a bit put off by the shaking camera. Shaking camera gives me nausea.
Is the camera style the same throughout the series?
If not, then I can give it another try.
Thanks
it took me a few months to get through the first episode. Takes a few episodes to realise how awesome it is.
It's HBO, so usually no
So I've seen Breaking Bad, The Wire, and Sopranos. Any recommendations for series as good as these?
The Shield is great, similar to the wire in terms of a cop drama but is way faster paced and almost as good. Ive watched all those shows you listed and have been recently watching Sons of Anarchy and have been pleasantly surprised by it, as it is quite good. Boardwalk empire is also really good.
Game of Thrones is probably the greatest TV series of all time, so you check that out ;)
One of my favorites. Wish there were more than 10 episodes per season.
Yeah as stated above, The Shield is effing scintillating viewing.
It does not pretend to be based in reality, so is heaps different to The Wire.
Another one that knocked me sideways recently was Justified, which has just finished its run stateside. Phenomenal. Watched the first 5/6 seasons a second time while waiting for the sixth, which I've never done apart from The Shield and The Wire. Put a few people onto it at work and they all came back raving about it.
The Americans
Deadwood
yeah Deadwood is up there with the finest, also liked The Americans and justified. The one that blew me away recently is true detective some of the best camera work and editing i have ever seen. Think the director is the same guy who did The Killing another worthy show to check up on
suppose this gos on sale in November
Surprised that OZbargainers actually would be willing to pay for media when you can get them for free on the internet… lol.
Yes, nothing like 4:3 xvid encodes. I'd rather pay for this awesome show and support someone than waste endless hours downloading the 16:9 Webrips/BD encodes.
Don't underestimate the community here. We may be frugal but we aren't savagers. Entertainment industry needs to eat too.
You are kidding arn't you? American Media Empires can afford to eat.
It's the Australian film industry thats f*****ed.
You're an idiot, whatever this bluray format is in, someone in the world will upload it to TPB or KT eventually. In fact, if you just search it, the remastered version is already there.
Plus, the wire isn't that good. Naruto is better.
You're the worst.
Why don't you create a new deal with nothing but a link to PirateBay and see how well that goes down with 'OZbargainers'?
Pity it's not releasing for another couple of months. It's already out in the UK, even though including shipping from Amazon it's about $10-15 more.
is this a box set or a thick blu ray case?
I hope its like that, from the picture provided by jbhifi it looks like a single thick blu ray case, which would be really disappointing.
![[JB Hi-Fi] The Wire: The Complete Series (Blu-Ray) $95 (+ $0.99 for Delivery) - PRE-ORDER](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/12/196812.jpg?h=6942b9e0)
Good price. Any when it is released and they have a 20% off it will be a great buy!