Since it's launch on DVD, The Big Lap Series has been watched by over 50,000 people and based on the feedback we've received, the series has inspired many people to make their own travel dreams a reality.
This is fantastic news but until now, no-one (except us) had seen the series as it was originally filmed . . . in FULL HD resolution.
That's because you can't deliver HD video on standard DVD discs.
Many people have asked us if we were planning to release The Big Lap Series on Bluray Discs so that they could see it in HD.
After all, most of us have big HD TV's in our lounge rooms and plenty of people have a Bluray disc player as well.
It's something that we've wanted to do and planned to get to one day!
. . . and that day has come.
Just last week we took delivery of our first (and only) consignment of The Big Lap Bluray Series and it is now available to buy from our online Shop.
I have to admit that watching The Big Lap Series again myself in Full HD when I was proofing the Bluray discs really felt like seeing it all again . . . but for the first time.
The Full HD image on the Bluray discs is razor sharp and you see so much more detail. A good way to describe it would be that the image is much 'crisper', which is not surprising when there are 4x more pixels on the screen.
You get a much stronger sense of actually being there.
This screen shots below will give you an idea of the size difference between standard definition (DVD) and High Definition (Bluray).
The Bluray Full HD image has 4x the number of pixels on the screen.
Another thing you'll notice is that the maps throughout the series are so much crisper and sharper and you can see every detail.
Like in this Cape York screenshot below:
This a 'one and only' production run of The Big Lap Bluray Series and when they are all sold it will no longer be available.
Click here to learn more and order your copy
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between a Bluray Disc and DVD Disc?
Bluray discs are the same physical size as a traditional DVD but they hold up to 50 gigabytes of data so we can put the 10 episodes of The Big Lap Series onto 3 Bluray discs in their original FULL HD 1920 x 1080 format.
Traditional DVD's are only capable of holding Standard Definition (SD) video so The Big Lap frame size was scaled down from FULL HD 1920 x 1080 that it was filmed in, to 960 x 540 Standard Definition for the DVD version.
The bottom line is that the Bluray version looks way better with much crisper detail and will take full advantage of that giant HD TV sitting in your living room.
Do I need a Bluray player?
Yes you do. The Bluray version will only play in a Bluray disc capable player (or Sony PlayStation). A standard DVD player won't play Bluray discs.
Was the whole series filmed in HD?
Not quite - some of the shots were taken using our small standard definition camera so these are still in standard definition, but the majority . . . 95% or more . . were filmed using our high quality Sony HD camera.
Will the Bluray version play outside of Australia?
There is no 'region coding' on the Bluray edition so it is not restricted to playing in Australian Bluray players.
However The Big Lap Series is filmed in PAL format (25fps) so if you are outside Australia and in a country that uses NTSC (29.97fps) like the USA, then you will need to ensure that your Bluray player and TV are capable of playing PAL format discs.
Is the content the same as in the original DVD version?
Yes, it is the same, except it is in FULL HD 1920 x 1080 resolution.
We've had a few people suggest that the recaps at the start of each episode were too long and we agree, so we've shortened them quite a lot for this Bluray edition.
The reason they were so long in the first place was that we never imagined people binge watching the whole series in one or two nights. Instead we figured people would watch one or two episodes per night.
Click here to learn more and order your copy
