Is the dvd transfer as bad as many have said?

The DVD from A&E has chopped up a two part theatrical event into nine episodes, cutting out some parts and artificially extending it by repeating the opening and closing credits for every hour. It renders this historical masterpiece into not much more than a sitcom.

The British DVD is only three discs, which hopefully isn't as chopped up as it was by A&E.

I have the A & E version on DVD and would not describe it as a "sloppy disaster" but unfortunately I have not seen the UK version and would love to compare. I first saw the production broadcast on Australian TV in the early 1980s and recorded it to watch and re-watch on VHS over the years until the tapes wore out. I believe it was broadcast in 9 episodes and the A & E DVDs are also in 9 parts over 4 discs. The new thing to me on the DVDs, compared with my VHS version, was that the actors act out the story so far at the beginning of many of the parts which was not seen in the early 1980s Australian TV broadcast. I share your love of this production, CineSight, and would be keen to see an even better version.

And to reveal something nerdy, when it was broadcast none of the actors were familiar to me, except perhaps John Woodvine from American Werewolf in London (1981) and later recognising Alun Armstrong and John McEnery in The Duellists (1977),and the cast list on the broadcast did not indicate which actor played which role. So, for the next 20 years, I would follow these actors' careers and note down when I could finally put a name to a face after seeing them in another film or TV show. Of course, after getting access to the internet (very late - only in 2002) I could find out all this info on imdb in a matter of seconds. Still, it was enjoyable to discover these Shakespearean actors branch out and appear in a number of quality shows over the years.