4/5 Great collection, even with the "cut" episodes.
  by Mike R SD
As pointed out in the other reviews, these episodes are "cut" - and by quite a bit. Image/Discovery originally released the Atlas titles in single-episode Blu-Ray discs retailing for the same price as this collection. The individual sets didn't get far, only releasing 4 countries (Italy, Australia, Brazil and China). To give you an idea of how much is cut, the original Blu-Ray discs listed runtimes of just above 100 minutes (the new episodes are a little less than half of that). Despite this, I still gave the overall set a very good score because the episodes are still very good in their shortened form, and most of these are previously unreleased on Blu Ray (and for the ones that have been released, you're getting EVERY episode for the same price as what you originally paid for one episode (and in 1080i before). The shortened episodes work nicely as they don't feel overly long, and still contain a very good amount of content (several stories, landscapes, etc..)

If you don't mind the edited episodes (I never saw them on their original airings, so I'm not sure exactly what I'm missing (other than from what I saw on the 4 previously-released Blu Ray discs)), this is a great set at a great price.

2/5 Discovery Atlas Redux
  by Tom (St. Petersburg, FL)
I agree with most of reviews here that these shows are heavily edited. I saw the Brazil Atlas and it was 2 hr on discovery channel with commerical. and if you look at the Brazil Atlas Blu-ray you'll see that it has the running time of 94 minutes too. i really like how the show look at different people of each country so that not only you learn about the country, but its people, culture, and ways of life.

I like this show very much- i only got to see Brazil on TV so I dont know what else i miss with the rest of the shows.

if you never seen this show, then you'll be amazed and love this series- especially in hi-def, but if you bought it before you saw them before- you'll be very disappointed... you're missing more than half of the original show!

5/5 Beautiful, stunning series in HD; but the edits are deeply disappointing....
  by H. Kobler
To those complaining that this edition features edited versions of the shows, you're absolutely right! At least four episodes (Italy, Australia, Brazil and China) are heavily edited. I own the original disks for those, and they each clock in at over 100 minutes. But in this new compilation of all the episodes, they are only about 44 minutes long. I'm not sure if the second season episodes (Japan, Mexico, Egypt, etc.) were also edited down to 44 minutes, or if they originally aired at that length.

At any rate, it's horrible that Discovery is peddling half-episodes. The beauty of the Discovery Atlas series (beyond its stunning looks) is that it would really explore the lives of the country's inhabitants. You miss a lot of that depth when four or five storylines get truncated into 44 minutes...

2/5 I thought this was the complete collection
  by William (Fort Worth, TX USA)
I could not be more disappointed with this "collection". Then again, it shouldn't surprise me - previous DVD releases I have bought from Discovery are also trimmed from the original episodes. There are 11 episodes here, with a running time of just under 8 hours. China, Brazil, Italy and Austrailia were previously released on HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, and were 100 minutes a piece. You do not get those here - rather, these episodes are all trimmed down to 43 minutes, throwing out more than half the length of the original 4. I recommend purchasing them in addition to this "collection".

I am thrilled to see some of the other episodes - the only other two I had seen were Japan and Mexico, and these were previously unavailable.

Having 8 episodes on two discs does have its problem. I currently have it paused on a single frame to write this review of a sunrise over Africa. There are compression artifacts and color banding and macroblocking. Its sad - the previous Discovery Atlas releases were demo discs - this release leaves a lot to be desired.

The audio is not as dynamic on the Italy and China releases as the previous releases. Not sure what is up, but sounds like DVD audio as opposed to Blu-Ray. Quite disappointing. Also, unless I am mistaken, both of those episodes also have different narrators. I have not checked out the second disc yet.

I am quite disappointed with this set. The Discovery Atlas series is one of the greatest series ever produced, and to see them mutilated in this form is sad. I think Discovery should give everyone who purchased this copies of the full episodes free-of-charge. I would not be so upset, as it was only $30, except that this was advertised as the "Complete Collection".This is sad, sad, sad, and certainly false advertising.

2/5 Not Complete Series
  by A. Petrov (Syracuse New York)
Have some of the series in Blu-ray, such as Brazil, but these are only about 43 mins. No where does it say they are edited. Save your money and buy the country separately. They have some extras, but still almost half the footage from the originals are missing.