James Bond Blu-ray Collection Six-Pack (Dr. No / Die Another Day / Live and Let Die / For Your Eyes Only / From Russia with Love / Thunderball) (Amazon.com Exclusive) [Blu-ray]

With Daniel Craig back for his second turn as 007 (currently in theaters), now's as good a time as any to rediscover the classic film franchise that has become the most successful in history. And what better way to do it than on Blu-ray Disc where the films look and sound better than ever?

This six-pack provides a sampling of Bond throughout the years - a 40+ year span in fact - from the classic "Dr. No," where Sean Connery set the bar high for Bond, to Pierce Brosnan's final turn as the debonair spy in "Die Another Day."

Popping "Dr. No" into my player for the first time, my jaw practically hit the floor when I saw the luscious detailed images on a 92-inch 1080p projection screen. A 46 year old film has no right to look this good!

The main reason the films look and sound so good is that all twenty of the pre-Craig Bond films were painstakingly cleaned up and restored by Lowry Digital Images, each from the original camera negatives. The first nine films (including four of the films in this set) were all scanned in at a whopping 4K resolution, and the other eleven were re-mastered at full HD 1920x1080 resolution - a perfect fit for Blu-ray disc. While the 12 megapixel (4000x3000 pixel) mastering of the first nine films may seem like overkill, for 1080p high definition's 2 Megapixel image, the results speak for themselves.

The sound is no slouch either, with the films re-mastered in lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround (the original mono or stereo track is also included on each of the older films, for the purists among us). And make no mistake, this is no cheesy pseudo-surround effect. The producers went back to the original master sound reels, cleaned up the audio and re-created a truly immersive surround sound stage for each film. If you haven't seen the early Bonds before, then you're in for a treat with these Bond classic on Blu-ray.

As to compatibility, yes it is *very* important to note that some players (notably the LG BH200 and Samsung BD-P1500) currently have playback problems on some of these discs. But it's not fair to blame the Blu-ray Disc producers for the flaws of the machine manufacturers in meeting Blu-ray specifications. LG and Samsung have committed to providing firmware updates to fix any playback issues. But most of the current generation players (including the newer Panasonic and Sony players with the latest firmware applied) have no problems playing these discs. The fact is that Blu-ray is still an early adopter technology and is going to have some growing pains. But the ultimate reward to any possible frustration is the outstanding pictures and sound of which the format is capable, and nowhere is that truer than in this Blu-ray Disc set.

Full reviews of each of these discs are available on Big Picture Big Sound.

It has been said there was a corrupt jar file on "For Your Eyes Only" and others have issues that can be fixed with firmware updates for the players (SPECIFICALLY THE SONY'S AND SAMSUNG'S).


All I gotta say the movies look great in High-Def and I'm laughing at people with the Sony and Samsung players! HAHA!

These compatability issues, though iritating, are a format liability issue that will hopefully end soon. I am not sure why continuing to update would be necessary indefinitely. What I really don't like about this set is that the packaging itself presents problems if you someday hope to have a nice, clean, uniform Bond set someday. There are no hardcases for individual disks like the old DVD Bond collections. The outer case is kinda cool with slipcase, sorta fake leather texture and a nice multi-layer look into a pipe with a bond figure. However, once you open up the booklets, the holder for the discs is very cheap with just a foam knob pasted to the cardboard itself which will undoubtedly fall off over time. What one also must understand is that there are at least one or two bond films not licenced through the same studio so you are guaranteed that you will not be able to collect all the films in a similar set. The packaging will be simple blu cases on those most likely. Depending on your preferences, you should just go with the single cases to start with. For a short time after the release, you are going to get those free movie tickets(QOS)on each box anyway as long as you buy from a reputable dealer.

I have played Dr. No, Thunderball, From Russia With Love Blu Ray's, on my PS3 and Sony BDP-550 without a problem ! Excellent Video and Audio !

I just updated the software for my Sharp Blu-ray player, and these discs have all played flawlessly. They are stunning. The picture is clear and the sound is well mastered. If you are a Bond fan, you will love these, I do. But be sure that you have updated the firmware of your player (and that the firmware update includes updates for the Bond discs.)