Blu Ray Focus On WWII

The last world war is about to come to life again as FremantleMedia is preparing to release its famous WWII series in Blu-ray DVD format.
After 37 years, The World at War, the documentary series produced by Jeremy Isaacs, is getting an extensive frame-by-frame makeover, as owner FremantleMedia Enterprises prepares to release it on the latest high-definition (HD) Blu-ray DVD technology.
The second world war documentary is the first of Fremantle's thousands of hours of classic TV and films to go through the conversion process, which is taking nine months, and it is unlikely to be the last.
Fremantle, part of the RTL Group, owns brands such as TalkbackThames and Grundy and has classic serials from The Sweeney and Rumpole of the Bailey to Dangermouse in its archive.
Also among the company's assets is Baywatch, but it is not yet known whether that would ever make the transition to 3D, not least because the process on older films is more expensive and the technology is patchy.
First broadcast in 1973, the 26 hour-long episodes of the World At War have won numerous awards and sales have steadily increased since it was put on DVD almost a decade ago.
Since its reissue in 2005, the DVD box set has sold more than 100,000 units and its highest annual sales were achieved last year at 40,000.
Soho-based Dubbs and sister company Eyeframe have been carrying out the work and there are an average of 70,000 fixes per episode – almost 2m across the series. With additional features, the box set runs to 33 hours and Fremantle is looking at adding another two hours of additional features to the Blu-ray set, which it will release in the UK in September.
The process also means Fremantle will have a new high-definition set of masters for the series meaning it can also be broadcast on HD channels across the world.
(BMcC/GK)