A&E DVDs - Thoroughly Superceded?

[Great Hierophant]

By 2006 I had bought all DVDs A&E released of The Avengers and The New Avengers. Seasons 2-6, TNA 1 & 2 the Peel Megaset Bonus Disc have sat on my shelf for more than 15 years. This year I finally decided to "upgrade" with the 2009-2010 U.K. DVDs from Studio Canal for Seasons 2-3 and the Blu-rays of 4-6. The Cybernauts Trilogy Blu-ray and Tunnel of Fear DVD has also been acquired. Is there anything that one might want to salvage from the A&E discs of the Original Series? Any reason to keep them when their intended replacements take up a lot less room? From what I can gather from here and elsewhere, the answers are "nothing" and "no."

What about TNA? A&E released the series in 2003-2004, but Studio Canal seems to have last visited the series in 2006? Is there any good reason to replace those A&E discs with U.K. discs?

[dissolute]

I sold all my A&E sets on ebay - they were rubbish compared with the recent ones - but never had their TNA, I had the Contender set.

[Frankymole]

I lose track of what are meant to be the best TNA editions. I have the big German DVD set with both The Avengers and The New Avengers disks but haven't watched them, mainly put off by how hard it is to get disks in and out without scratching them (I wonder if Legacy of Death has the correct restored picture and sound, unlike the UK sets?). I have French sets of each TNA season individually, and the Contender UK one (both seasons in one box).

[CCrawford]

My first experience with the series on disc was the A&E sets...and they were truly awful. In 2006 and for years to come, that's all there was if you were in North America. There's absolutely no good reason to keep them around. Having said that...I still have mine, I guess as a reminder how far we've come in terms of quality. I recently bought the two Cathy Gale series DVD releases from Studio Canal and what an improvement, plus all the extras!
If you're region free, as I am, you now have two choices to own the series on Blu-ray. We've come a long way, even if it took awhile to get there.

[dissolute]

I agree! I only ever bought one of the A&E Cathy sets, the picture was so terrible I decided not to get any more. Every other release of them was so much better.

[Allard]

Throwing in my one penny remark. I have The Avengers on DVD in the Dutch release (except series four), not perfect on content, but the quality of the physical discs is superb, so I never switched.

Should really get those Optimum sets, feels a bit like a huge expense to buy something double.

[MRotten]

The quality of the A and E sets is not great compared to later releases. I have one of the Honor Blackman 2 disc sets in case I feel like watching without the commercial bumpers, since A & E edited them all out. The print for the Thorson episode You’ll Catch Your Death was really bad to the point of being unwatchable.

[mousemeat]

the problem with the initial DVD releases from A & E, that they were simply transferred from VHS sources....and look not so good...

[mousemeat]

Initially, I was thrilled with the series came out on VHS, as it was a pleasure to be able to watch the series, as the episodes were being released..instead of hoping to catch a re broadcast...somewhere......I don't recall if the series made it to Laser Disc, and when it first came out on DVD, I was sorta happy, as DVD's can handle multiple plays, where VHS tape tends to degrade with plays...but overall, the discs didn't look all that better than the tapes, for the simple reason of being mastered from the VHS format, instead of doing a totally new remaster and mix..

The A & E releases did have some nice graphics...and I've gotten rid of most of my original discs, except I did hold on to the EMMA mega set..and will probably hold on to it..it does look good on my shelf...as for later U.S. re issues....few years ago, Lionsgate put out the mega Emma set...with new graphics..but sadly, no new remastering ...it was simply the A & E release....I will say in defense of A & E, they were working with the best possible source materials, that Studio Canal was providing....since then, multiple releases from around the globe, really put the A & E and Lionsgate discs
to shame.....and I still have a few of the original A & E VHS tapes at the house...nice graphical box..you know ?

[Frankymole]

Yes, I don't get rid of old sets if the art is nice (which it all has been, so far), I even have the VHS sleeve inserts somewhere (though the tapes are long gone).

The first UK DVDs still have pride of place:

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