Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

FROM 1-STAR TO 5-STARS - UPDATED REVIEW NOTE: In this review I use UPPERCASE for heading titles or for emphasis - please do not think I am including uppercase for the purpose of "shouting" as the use of uppercase within emails or web pages is usually interpreted as being rude or offensive. That is not my intent. Why the change from a 1-star review to a 5-star review? A number of things... 1) On "Cyber Monday" the price for the "Complete Season Bundle" dropped from $398.93 down to $203.99. This is the lowest price I have seen, although in a comment on my first review, Kermsroomy said that on November 7th, 2013 "It was $198.49 on a six hour lightning deal earlier today." 2) D. Moore, in another comment on my first review was helpful. He indicated that although the entire bundle is shrink-wrapped the individuals season are still sealed in individually shrink-wrapped DVD cases. If you read my original review below, you will see (as I required subtitles for my 82-year old Dad) the way the whole bundle was shrink-wrapped one could not read that product details on the back of the ANY of the individual seasons. I was afraid if I broke the shrink-wrap enclosing the whole bundle Amazon might not accept the item if returned due to a lack of subtitles. 3) A good number of comments on my review variously said that the entire run of the series had subtitles. Either [CC] (Closed Captioning) or [SDH] (an initialism for "[S]ubtitles for the [D]eaf or [H]ard-of-hearing".) Some comments claimed the entire series had BOTH [CC] AND [SDH] -- that is not true, at least according to what I learned below. So, based on these three things, I took a gamble and ordered the bundle a second time. HERE IS THE SCOOP ON WHETHER OR NOT THIS SET HAS CLOSED CAPTIONING, SDH, OR SUBTITLES. Having removed the shrink-wrap that sealed the entire bundle I was able to carefully examine the DVD features and here is what I found: 1) From Season One, Volume One, through Season Five, Volume One the individual DVD boxes are indeed labeled with the letters [CC] -- meaning the DVDs up to Season 5, Vol. 1 have "closed captioning." However, if you look at the BACK of the DVD cases for Seasons One Vol. 1 & 2 and Season 2, Vol. 1 & 2 you WILL NOT see any indication that the first two season have [CC]. BUT, if you carefully examine the microscopic print at the very bottom of the SPINE of the DVD cases from the first two seasons, you WILL see the DVDs are indeed labeled with the [CC] logo. I would never have dreamed of looking there! Especially as, unless you have great eyesight, you may need your reading glasses or a magnifying glass to see the tiny [CC] text. Why they did not put the [CC] information on the back of the DVD cases for seasons one and two is beyond me. (All the rest of the DVD technical details are there on the back -- as is usually found on the back of ALL DVD cases.) 2) From Season Five, Volume Two, right through to very end of the series with Season Nine, Volume Two, the individual DVD boxes are very clearly labeled on the back of the DVD case as having [SDH] subtitles. SUMMARY It appears then, if you have hesitated to buy this set because you have to have subtitles -- [CC] or [SDH] -- YOU SHOULD BE SAFE IN ORDERING THIS BUNDLE. I say "you should be safe" because, as I am in the middle of moving to a new home, I cannot play any of these DVDs as of yet. (My DVD player and my TV are boxed up for the move.) It is still true, technically speaking, this item is not a "boxed set" and, indeed, there are no bonus features but one - Season Nine, Volume 2 does have one episode with commentary by Barbara Hale (Della Street) Amusingly, there is even a disclaimer that subtitles -- [CC] or [SDH] -- "might not be available on any extra content" on this DVD - presumably in reference to the episode with the Barbara Hale commentary. Based on the very significant price drop and the inclusion of subtitles throughout the series -- as either [CC] or [SDH] format - I have changed my 1-star review to a 5-star review. In all honesty, I would prefer to give this item a "4.5" as it might be better packaged as a boxed set with at least some bonus material. NOTE to Amazon: I do wish that Amazon would update the PRODUCT DETAILS section that identifies this item as a "boxed set" -- it really is not. And, it would have saved a lot of frustration -- and perhaps missed opportunities to sell this item -- if Amazon stated somewhere in the PRODUCT DETAILS section that this "Complete Series Pack" DOES INDEED include subtitles either in [CC] format or [SDH] format. CLEARING UP THE ISSUE OF THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN [CC] AND [SDH] SUBTITLES There IS a difference between closed-captioning [CC] -- on the DVDs up through Season 5, Vol. 1 -- and [SDH] -- which is found on the remaining DVDs Season 5, Vol. 2 through to final Season 9, Vol. 2. The information below, courtesy of Wikipedia clarifies the difference between the two: "[SDH] is an American term the DVD industry introduced. It is an initialism for "[S]ubtitles for the [D]eaf or [H]ard-of-hearing", and refers to regular subtitles in the original language where important non-dialog information has been added, as well as speaker identification, useful when the viewer cannot otherwise visually tell who is saying what. The only significant difference for the user between "SDH" subtitles and "closed captions" is their appearance: SDH subtitles usually are displayed with the same proportional font used for the translation subtitles on the DVD; however, closed captions are displayed as white text on a black band, which blocks a large portion of the view. Closed captioning is falling out of favor as many users have no difficulty reading SDH subtitles, which are text with contrast outline. In addition, DVD subtitles can specify many colors, on the same character: primary, outline, shadow, and background. This allows subtitlers to display subtitles on a usually translucent band for easier reading; however, this is rare, since most subtitles use an outline and shadow instead, in order to block a smaller portion of the picture. Closed captions may still supersede DVD subtitles, since many SDH subtitles present all of the text centered, while closed captions usually specify position on the screen: centered, left align, right align, top, etc. This is very helpful for speaker identification and overlapping conversation. Some SDH subtitles (such as the subtitles of newer Universal Studios DVDs/Blu-ray Discs) do have positioning, but it is not as common." ------------------------------------------- Original Review of August 15, 2013 ------------------------------------------- For shame CBS/Paramount - and Amazon. This is NOT a "boxed set" - as it is clearly labeled in the PRODUCT DETAILS, FORMAT SECTION. And I will be returning this item unopened for a full refund. This item is simply a shrink-wrapped collection of all the individual previous season releases. The first two seasons (4 volumes) are even boxed differently (exactly as they were originally released) and differ from the remaining seasons 3 - 9 which are packaged in narrower DVD boxes. Worse, they have shrink-wrapped these DVDs in such a way you can't even read the details of even a single season to answer common questions such as format, language, running-time, or whether or not there is closed-captioning/subtitles. According to the "official" [...] site, closed captioning or subtitles - they use both terms at the site - do not appear as a feature until Season 5, Volume 2. I was hoping this "boxed set" would have finally rectified that problem and that Seasons 1 through Season 5, Volume 1 would finally have closed-captioning/subtitles. Why is this important? Because I had hoped to watch these programs with my Dad, who is 82 and hard of hearing. One would think CBS/Paramount might realize a very large portion of the sales of these DVDs would be targeted to older viewers who remember having watched the show when it originally aired. And that their hearing might not be so good as it once was. I had high hopes for this boxed set - primarily that each and every season would now finally have closed-captioning/subtitles. Or that they might have even added DVD "extra bonus" materials to the set. It certainly appears not to be the case, [sorry for the pun] if all they did was to gather together parts 1 and 2 of each season only to shrink-wrap them together. My first advice would be to avoid this "bundle" - it is not a boxed set, or an updated release, and offers no benefit at all to the consumer. As of August 15, 2013 Amazon's price for this collection is $311.25. You might even find buying all the individual DVD releases cheaper than buying this collection. Second, if closed-captioning/subtitles are important to you as they are to me, you might want to suggest this feature be included in a future "true" boxed-set at the official CBS/Paramount website at [...] I'm no spring chicken either - so down the road closed-captioning/subtitles might be useful to me, let alone my 82-year old Dad. A very disappointed customer. And my first ever 1-star Amazon review.