Mayday!

If you're a fan of "anatomy of a disaster" shows like Seconds From Disaster, you'll like the show Mayday! (also known as Air Crash Investigations and Air Emergency). Comparing the show to Seconds From Disaster, Mayday! is a little less sensationalistic than Seconds From Disaster, but it still quite gripping.Based on the reviews here, I decided to get the 10-DVD set over the Blu-Rays, and I'm quite happy with it. There are 23 episodes spread out over 10 DVDs ... which will give you quite the Mayday! marathon.The DVDs are packaged in two heavy cardboard packages inside a larger box. The two cardboard packages are the same dimensions as a typical multi-DVD box set, so they're easy to store if you take them out of the larger box.The DVDs themselves contain either two or three episodes each of the series. Picture quality is decent - you'll notice some jitter in the credits, but nothing distracting during the shows themselves. There are no extra features whatsoever - it's a very basic set. Those who need closed captioning should avoid this set, as there are no subtitles of any kind and no closed captioning.Still, for the asking price, the DVD set is a great deal.

Watched this on my laptop and found that the disk is only season 3 not 3 and 4 as indicated. As for the video quality, Season 3 was shot back in 2004 and high def had really not taken hold by then. Video is interlaced and quality is what is to be expected for a TV series. Also, several episode have historical footage shot with what appears to be VHS cameras (Aloha Air for example) and those so about 240 lines of resolution....no amount of processing is going to fix that... Go watch other interlaced material like CSI and you will see the same artifacting. There is no 1080p broadcast material.....it is either 720p or 1080i. 1080p is Movie or PC/game console territory....3 stars for being incorrectly advertised..... 5 stars for content. If you want to know exactly what caused these flight and train disasters, you have come to the right place.Are they going to take the time and reincode for 1080p? Obviously not

UPDATE AT THE BOTTOM REGARDING THE DVD VERSION OF THIS RELEASEAs an avid fan of this series, I was thrilled to see them announce a blu-ray release. I've been patiently waiting for this release to show up on my doorstep, and my copy arrived today. Sadly, this is a massive disappointment. For starters, there's the fact that the blu-ray is absolutely only season 3, and has nothing from season 4 (episode/disc breakdown at the end of this comment). But that's not my main problem. I was kinda figuring that was going to be the case, given the low disc count and the wildly conflicting info on various sites about this release (Image Entertainment's own site gets the info wrong about this release, for crying out loud).No, the real problem with this release is the quality. It sucks. As somebody who owns the season 1 DVD set (USA release) and the season 7 DVD set (Australian release), which are the only 2 previous home video releases of the show, I figured this blu-ray ray set would be at least somewhat better quality. Not only is it not better, it's significantly worse. These encodes are SEVERELY plagued by interlacing/combing problems. I have no idea how many different frame rates and encodes this was pushed through to get to the form it is in now (29.97 fps 1080 interlaced), but it must have been a mess of a transfer process. Like the other commenter said about the DVD version of this release, it also has a flickering couple lines across the bottom. That's not a big deal for me, as it can be matted/cropped off. But the main interlacing problem is unbelievably bad. It's actively distracting. Every edge of every object in a frame has jagged lines, and the heavy motion sequences and cuts between scenes have a massive amount of interlace "tearing". I've tried re-encoding parts of one of the episodes and pushed it through all manner of deinterlacing, decombing, detelicine and other various filters (in many different combinations, via multiple encoding/editing apps). Some do better than others, but nothing I've tried, messing with it for hours, can eliminate all this crappy interlacing. I'm thinking that this has multiple stages of different interlacing mixed together, transferred from one to the next. I've tried playing the discs in a couple different set-top players, but the interlacing problems are just as obvious there. I'm going to try to contact Image Entertainment/Madacy about the issue and see what they say. This release clearly went through little-to-no quality control. I have to wonder if anyone actually bothered trying to even try watching the discs. Unlike the 2 previous DVD sets I own, which are quite nice, this set sucks.The only good thing about it is that it seems to feature extended cuts of the episodes. Each clocks in around the 50 minute mark, and I definitely pick up on scenes that I don't recall being in the broadcast versions (I've seen these episodes numerous times).This is a fantastic series, but this blu-ray set is anything but. Avoid it. I'm probably going to give the DVD set a shot (for one thing, it should have the season 4 content as advertised, hopefully). I can only hope it doesn't suffer the same horrific interlacing problems.Anyway, here is a list of the episodes on the blu-ray version, broken down by disc:Disc 1:- Hanging By A Thread- Attack Over Baghdad- Out Of Control- Fight For Your LifeDisc 2:- Bomb On Board- Mistaken Identity- Helicopter Down- Death And DenialDisc 3:- Kid In The Cockpit- Head On Collision- Collision Course- Runaway Train- Ocean LandingUPDATE: OK, so my copy of the DVD version of this set arrived yesterday. Put simply, this is a major improvement over the awful blu-ray release. First, to get it out of the way, yes the DVD version does in fact have both seasons 3 & 4. Each is in a separate fold out box, and both seasons are contained in a larger gatefold box. I've only watched 5 of the episodes so far, but they are all generally good quality. As is true of the other DVD releases of the series, and of the blu-ray set of season 3, the episodes are longer cuts than the aired versions. The good news, though, is that the DVD's do not suffer from the unbelievably bad interlacing/combing problems that the blu-ray set has. These DVD's aren't 100% perfect. They suffer from a very mild, occasional frame rate jitter, but it is a minor thing. I believe the symptom is also a result from poor frame rate conversion and/or deinterlacing. But in this case, it's hugely improved over the blu-ray. It only becomes noticeable if you're looking for it. All in all, these are perfectly acceptable transfers. Hardly home theater demo material, but decent enough for a marginal budget documentary series. It's a fantastic series, and I highly recommend it. I'm happy that this format release is one worthy of recommending to folks. I'm not going to change the star rating, because Amazon is only allowing me the one review for the product (regardless of format) and I really want to make it clear just how bad the blu-ray is. The DVD version, however, get's a 4/5 recommendation for me. It would be nice if that slight jitter wasn't there, and would help me give it a 5/5, but don't let that minor little issue stop you from getting this set. It's truly pathetic that a DVD release of the same content would be so vastly superior to a blu-ray release, but in this case that is absolutely the case. Whoever produced that blu-ray version should never be allowed to work in the industry again. I'd also blame whomever did the quality control step, but there was clearly NOBODY doing that job in any way.

Once Air Disasters on the Smithsonian channel began showing re-runs, the Mrs. and I set out to find Air Disasters on DVD, with no luck. (Not even available at either of the Air & Space museums in Washington, D.C. or Chantilly, VA.) So, I stumbled across this gem for $16, and we are very satisfied!! If you are familiar with Air Disasters, this is a similar concept. I would have to say that Air Disasters seems to have a somewhat noticeably larger budget for special effects and authenticity, but this show is still great!! (Example, a recreated scene from the 1970's might have one or two cars in the background from the 1990's, and such.)Overall, a great find!!Oh, yeah, and based on some of the reviews describing trouble with the Blu-Ray format, I avoided the Blu-Ray, and went with DVD instead, and so far so good!!

I've always loved watching disaster films but after watching all 1155 minutes of this MAYDAY set I'm now on the look out for more! This set is well worth the money and I have no doubt I'll be watching them more than a few times. Each episode is one incident showing a recreation and giving you the investigation results, when they were known. Most of these are about air planes but there is a bit of tornado, , hurricane, mudslide and train wreck added as well. Narration was easy to listen to and I felt the whole set was put together nicely. No over dramatization or repeated phrases like OMG. If you're a fan of real disasters, you won't go wrong investing in this set!

I have nothing bad to say about the show just the audio on the blu ray does not match the people speaking. Be prepared to see someone talking and than finally you can see what they said. Company who produced this sucks!

I will never fly again. lol.The same quality show I would watch on TV. The packaging is a bit large making it difficult to keep on the shelf with other DVDs/Blue-Rays.

I wasn't disappointed in the videos. Just so sad when you see how many tragedies could have been prevented. ! Good series of videos.

Great documentary

If you are a North American like me this series was aired on Discovery. It is a great series, but probably the best part about it is the narrator, Stephen Bogaert. But they did this for British audiences with Jonathan Aris as the narrator. He does not have nearly the voice and tone that Bogaert does. This series--all 19 hours of it--is with Aris narrating.THEY SHOULD HAVE MADE THIS VERY CLEAR TO THE BUYER ON THE WEBSITE.Why would a N American buying from Amazon expect to get the narrator switched on them?For me, this really made a difference and I don't like it at all and probably will not watch them. Most of the show is narration, and I just find Aris' poncy voice to be grating on my nerves. What bothers me the most is that it would not have been difficult for the distributor to have made both narrators available, with a choice in a menu for the viewer to decide which one they wanted. But 19 hours of Aris? Sorry, I just can't do it.If I could return it and get my money back, I would.