Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The video quality of these specials on Blu-ray is, as was the case with the release of Charlie Brown Christmas last year, simply the best these specials have ever looked on home video, period. That would make them an instant purchase, if only... Warner Home Video remastered the audio of all these specials with a very cheesy faux 5.1 surround, giving the audio a hokey, echo-filled sound that just sounds very, very wrong. They sound as if they were processed through a "faux surround" mode found on the cheapest surround processor available. Worse, because there is an echo added to the tracks, even if your processor or TV has a "mono" mode you CANNOT restore the audio to the original mono soundtrack most of us have heard for years, meaning that if you buy these for any kind of decent experience you need to WATCH the Blu-ray but sync up the DVD release for the AUDIO. Warner Home Video could have EASILY included the original mono soundtracks as well, but decided that hokey fake surround would be a better choice, so ironically, sound quality-wise the mono Spanish audio tracks are BETTER. As most of the reviews concentrate on the VIDEO quality of these releases, you likely would never know until you placed these discs in your player, hit play and wondered just what went wrong with the sound. I can't say to stay away - I'll keep mine for the video quality and because I doubt I could get a decent price for these on the second-hand market - but be warned that if you are expecting that sound you've heard from years of TV runs or on the DVDs, you'll be SORELY disappointed. Update: Note the 2011 release of this collection features the same horrid 5.1 DD mix as the earlier release. Stay away if you like the audio until WB gives us the original English 1.0 track back...