Customer Ratings & Reviews

Michael Mann's iconic 80's powerhouse Miami Vice has made it's way to Blu-ray with this good but sadly controversial set. Miami Vice is the show that really defines and in a way chronicles the eighties through the lens of a squad of Vice cops battling everything from drug barons to outlaw bikers to even corrupt government officials. Of course as noted many times before the show has a treasure trove of guest stars such as Bruce Willis, Liam Neeson, and Pam Grier often giving strong and memorable performances. As mentioned above the set has been quite controversial due to some troublesome glitches and such. To start off the show is presented in its original 1.33 aspect ratio which means for Widescreen TV users of today the show is presented with black bars on the side to keep the intended look. I've noticed a fair number of complaints online about this but for Universal/Mill Creek to change this they would have had to either cut off significant portions of the frame which would not have been possible anyways as there's a lot of shots throughout the series where every inch of the 1.33 is used especially on close-ups or they would have to stretch the picture which would have given whatever is on-screen a bloated look as well as given it a blurry glaze that would have compromised the detail and clarity Blu-ray offers. On the subject of detail and clarity while obviously taken from the same masters as the DVDs came from the show is still a significant if not uneven upgrade over the DVDs with better colors and detail especially on Season Two plus a lot of the print anomalies such as scratches and dirt have been mostly cleaned up. Grain levels are mostly even except on Season One where some episodes like Milk Run have an uneven look due to moderate amount of noise reduction applied to some scenes and not to other scenes. Smuggler's Blues though on Season One is a huge leap over the muddy and beat-up print from the 2004 Universal DVD set. Season Three through Five looked pretty consistent though (although Lend Me an Ear on 3 had some mild compression in a shot of the causeway at the top of the screen) and Season Two did as well minus The Prodigal Son. Audio-wise is where the real gaffe took place though and why I couldn't give this set a full five-stars. As of writing this Season One has some nasty audio bugs such as echoing on the 5.1. mixes for Heart of Darkness and Evan plus a total lack of 5.1 on The Home Invaders. Luckily the problems are being addressed by Mill Creek according to their Facebook page as they are going to send replacement discs with fixed audio for those who provide proof of purchase. Otherwise this release unlike the Universal DVDs has the original 2.0 Stereo tracks which honestly best both the 5.1 mixes on not only this set but the original DVDs as well. The show fully utilizes its Stereo track with plenty of range and details that doesn't seem to be as audible on the 5.1 mixes. As of now I haven't noticed any issues regarding the Stereo mixes and can easily say the are the most optimal way of hearing the show. Two other complaints I'd like to address would be the packaging and of course the lip-sync. On the packaging front yes this is a fairly cheap way to package the discs. Each season is four discs each but rather than have a standard Blu-ray case with a smaller flap in the middle so each disc gets their own slot they chose to have two slots with two discs each stacked on top of each. Granted since Blu-rays have scratch-resistant coating on the back of the disc this isn't as big a problem if it was done for DVD but it still seems like penny-pinching at it's worst otherwise the set is nice and simple with five individual cases in a cardboard box. Lip synching also has been cited as an issue here. It must be noted first that a lot of shows and even movies then when on a tight schedule would later utilize techniques such as automated dialogue replacement in post-production to add or re-do dialogue missed or messed up during filmmaking and it was employed often enough on Miami Vice to be noticeable especially with the show being presented as a much higher resolution. I didn't encounter much lip-synching issues myself outside of a handful of places where post-dubbing was obviously used. Granted much like the CBS Twin Peaks box back in 2014 this could also vary from player to player as well. Overall this is still quite a solid release with some hiccups. A lot of the issues can simply be chalked up to the original source and some gaffes on Mill Creek's part regarding the audio. It's not as perfect as it could have been and lacks a few bells and whistles such as subtitles and the bonus features from the Universal Season 1 DVD but even at it's worst still bests previous releases of the show plus the original Stereo tracks are a revelation compared to previous audio choices. If you can accept the limitations the show has then this still comes highly recommended.

Go back to the 80's with this HD collection of the classic Miami Vice series. Overall, all the episodes look good in HD. The picture is 4x3, which is the aspect ratio in which the shows were filmed back in the day, so don't gripe that they are not letterboxed! No bonus features on the discs.

to finally see on blu ray. While the show's quality went down the final 2 seasons, one cannot argue on the impact Vice had on the TV landscape. Great stuff!

Much better sound & picture quality than the previous DVD releases. Positively worth the upgrade. If you liked Miami Vice, then this is worth the purchase!

A great classic TV series... for anyone who loves vice this is a great addition

The music, the action, the clothes! Miami Vice is a not-so-guilty pleasure! A FINE television show at a steal of a price!

Been waiting for the this show to be released on Blu-ray. Exellent cop drama. This show put Miami on the map!!

I am returning this. I got my copy in. Right off the back, there were issues, as the episodes are not in widescreen so I have to use the wide button on my tv to smear the pic across the screen, another thing, 5.1 has a hollow echo effect, and in some episodes the lip synch was off. You can also clearly see the artifacts, or snow in the picture. I guess I was expecting a remaster, maybe that was unrealistic but I expected better. The quality control just isn't good, and I am suprised Universal would allow Mill Creek to release one of their greatest series with such quality issues. Why put these old tv shows in full hd if you don't do anything to enhance the visual quality, or the aspect ratio?