Sharpe's Rifles

The Richard Sharpe series based on the novels by Bernard Cromwell are absolutely fabulous, and they deserve a FAR better treatment than is presented here! The viewer does not even have the option of going directly to a menu screen, but is forced to fast forward through the opening titles and theme song.

Whomever transferred these made-for-tv episode films to MPG2 should be publicly humiliated - this is a disgrace! The picture is fuzzy and grainy as heck! The VHS cassettes actually look better, if you can believe that! I never thought VHS would beat DVD in quality until I compared the Sharpe's series side-by-side. The VHS won out every time.

The sound quality is extremely poor on the DVDs too, it has a hiss and sounds muffled. Again, the VHS wins out!

Buy these on VHS until enough of us complain and they discontinue these "Joke DVDs" and deliver the public the Sharpe's Series at a transfer rate that is not just acceptable - but worthy of this incredibly brilliant historic series!

Yes, the quality of the DVD is no better than a VHS master.

In short, who cares? Watching the movie, I quickly forgot about the quality and simply enjoyed a great telling of a great story.

It would have been nice if it were a little sharper (sorry about the pun) but look at it this way - in five years, the comparable VHS master will be so much video snow, and the DVD will still look the same as it did today!

I gave it 4 stars simply because I've come to expect "extras" with DVD's - cast and crew notes, bloopers, etc...none of which were present here. The presentation strikes me as a "rush it to the market" approach by the DVD maker. The original story more that makes up for it, though.