David Attenborough: The 3D Collection [3D Blu-ray]

I had trouble deciding how many stars to give this set of video disks, because it is excellent in many ways but it does have flaws. Let’s look at the strong points first. Above all, the photography is superb. I have never seen sharper images from my TV and Blu-ray player. The brightness and contrast are just right and the colors are excellent and vibrant. The “MicroMonsters” disk uses magnification to make these scary creatures look big enough to jump out at you. On top of all of that, the 3D effect is perfectly managed so that the overall effect is total realism.As if that weren’t enough, we have narration by David Attenborough, with his encyclopedic knowledge and infectious enthusiasm. His narration of the Galapagos disk helps us understand why the creatures on those islands helped Darwin become convinced of mutability of species and evolution by natural selection.Now for the flaws. Unlike most of the BBC nature study sets, this one has no subtitles. On top of that, there is a music track. It seems to me if they are going to be too niggardly to give us subtitles, it would be more intelligent to save some more money by dispensing with any music. Attenborough’s diction is pretty clear and the music is not loud, so I missed very little, but there are a few places where his words are obscured by the noise of the music.Every manufacturer of DVD and Blu-ray disks forces us to sit through several minutes of garbage before we get to the program. There is the art work of the studio which they think everybody wants to see. Then there are the warnings intended to terrify us if we were planning to copy the disks. Then there is the idiotic disclaimer, called for by their lawyers, that the opinions expressed in any interviews are not necessarily the opinions of the Emperor of Japan. Then they may want to inflict some previews on you. All DVD’s and many Blu-ray disks are made in such a way that if you leave them in the player and turn it off, when you turn it on again it continues where you left off and the garbage is bypassed. Two of the disks in this set — MicroMonsters and Galapagos — work that way, but the two “Plant” disks do not. If you watch the several Plant episodes on separate occasions, you will have to sit through the garbage again each time.I’m not sure the Plant disks should have been included in this set. Personally, I’m not that interested in plants. Since they don’t move around they aren’t very interesting to watch, though time-lapse photography is used extensively so you can see how they grow. There is one main Plant disk and one “Making of . . .” disk in the set. I thought the “Making of . . .” disk, which by the way is not in 3D, was so boring that I skipped most of it.Since you can’t pick and choose, you may well decide that the first two disks on their own are worth the price. I feel that way.

I have practically everything I can get in 3D, but this is by far my favorite thing to watch on it, particularly Micro Monsters 3D. They use their 3D cameras very skillfully to great effect, to show rather dramatic blowups of the arthropods on display. And of course, the direction and narration are as fantastic as you'd expect from David Attenborough.There are, only very occasionally, cases where 2D content is used that has been "3D-ified". Most people don't even seem to notice when this happens, but I'm sensitive to it. They'll either take 2D content and "inset it" in 3D, so that it's a 2D image that appears to be further back than your screen, or in some cases they apply a general and arbitrary 3D effect to it (like your TV does when you tell it to go into "fake 3D" mode when you're viewing 2D content). They just do this in a few "filler" instances that last a few seconds, and it's likely you won't notice - all the primary material (the vast majority of content) was recorded with 3D equipment and not "fake 3D"Anyway, it's not enough to remove a star for, and as I said, this is far and away the best content you can get for your 3DTV. Seriously, buy this collection. I also just discovered "The 3D Collection: Volume II", and you can be sure I'll be getting that too.

The 3D camera work is beautiful. The only problem is that none of the bonus material on any of the three 3D discs will play in my Panasonic Blu-ray player (Region 1). Neither will the "Making of Kingdom of Plants" (a 2D disc) play. David Attenborough's narration is lucid and his enthusiasm for his subject is infectious. The 3D disc on plants contains scenes that are not only gorgeous to look at, but also at times pretty scary (with scary-movie music for added pleasure). You've heard of the Venus Fly-Trap, but seeing it and other plants in 3D interacting with and capturing insects and even a rodent, in scenes that speed up or slow down time, brings a whole new level of excitement for the nature-doc aficionado. The Galapagos 3D is gorgeous and informative, too. Micro Monsters was absorbing, but also disturbing and disgusting at times. It reminded me at times of "Silence of the Lambs." Attenborough doesn't sugar-coat the natural world in the way that some nature docs do.All in all, a very worthwhile purchase.

I'm very impressed with the content, narration, and 3D effects of this Blu-Ray DVD set. One of my favorite 3D Blu-Ray DVDs of all that I own. I'll definitely be ordering the Volume II set soon as well.I would like to point out one bit of confusion in the listing for this set, which is actually an error as printed on the back cover of the box set. Here's how the instructions for watching the 3D content is stated: "To watch these programmes in Blu-ray 3D, you will need a 3D-capable television that comes with active-shutter glasses and a 3D capable Blu-ray player. This Blu-ray disc will display only in 2D without special hardware."My AV system is made up of entirely 'Sony' equipment and my television and glasses are the Passive 3D Polarized version. The 3D content of this set plays fine and is very impressive. You do not need an "Active-Shutter" type TV and glasses to watch these Blu-ray DVDs in 3D. Please don't let the statement in this listing or on the rear cover of this box set dissuade you from purchasing. You won't be disappointed.

I ordered this video collection from the states as it is not available here. I am a huge fan of 3D and wanted to add these to my collection. I had read that contrarary to the product description these 3D discs play region free and I'm happy to say this is true. I have been enjoying these high quality productions in my region 1 player all week. As is to be expected Mr. Attenborough's presentations are of the highest quality and contain amazing 3D photography. I highly recommend this series to anyone who enjoys nature programing and quality 3D. The 3D is so good in these shows that I'm sure it would make converts of many people who profess to not enjoy 3D. See them in 3D if you can.

These were my first 3D purchase and I was amazed at fabulous 3D effect. Outstanding glorious colours and superb photograhy and David Attenborough's wonderful narration.bought on special deal price as well.

Superb collection of three topics, yet again from David Attenborough, this 3d collection is the best i've seen, and each one is over two hours long, great value for money for three excellent topics.

Mr Attenborough never fails to deliver, and these 3 films are a delight. the colours are so vivid in 3D, and don't forget the 'Pink' Iguana on the Galapagos DVD a wonderful set, expertly filmed and pure delight for anyone who loves Nature!!!

One the best 3D blurays I have seen/bought. If you like nature, plants and all that stuff and a good 3D TV, you will be able to really enjoy watching this. The closeup shots are especially thrilling.