A five-disc DVD boxed set of the complete series (BBCDVD1883) was released in the UK for
regions 2 and 4 (
PAL) on
27 November 2006. It is presented in 5.1-channel
Dolby Digital surround sound and
16:9 widescreen video. The bonus features include
Planet Earth Diaries (ten minutes of behind-the-scenes footage for each episode, as on their original broadcasts) and
Planet Earth: The Future,
[10] the three documentaries as detailed above.
2 entertain, which publishes and distributes BBC programming on DVD, produced four-disc
high-definition versions of
Planet Earth on
Blu-ray Disc and
HD DVD in the
US. The boxed sets were released on
24 April 2007, just after the series ended its run on the Discovery Channel.
[4] Both the Blu-ray and HD DVD versions feature
1080p transfers of the original UK broadcast, as narrated by David Attenborough — even though the US Discovery Channel broadcast featured Sigourney Weaver as its narrator. The Blu-ray set contains four
single-layer BD-25 discs,
[11] while the HD DVD set uses four
dual-layer HD DVD-30 discs.
[12] Except for a small amount of extremely hard-to-obtain footage,
[13] the series was originally filmed entirely in high definition.
[14] However, the high-definition releases omit the extra disc of bonus features that is present on the
standard-definition boxed set.
[15] The Blu-ray region B boxed set (as sold in countries such as the UK and New Zealand
[16]) includes a fifth disc containing two episodes from the BBC
Natural World series, "Desert Lions" and "Snow Leopard: Beyond the Myth". This extra disc balances out the loss of the bonus material from the standard definition DVD boxed sets. It is not known exactly why the standard definition and high-definition versions have this differing content but given that the
Natural World content is in 1080i it is hypothesised that the
Planet Earth Diaries and
Planet Earth: The Future were filmed in standard definition only, and that there was an intention to avoid standard definition material where possible in the Blu-ray release. Verification of this will be required from anyone who has seen the HD broadcast version.[
citation needed]
Also
The U.S. version also features a new narrator: award-winning actress and conservationist
Sigourney Weaver. The Discovery Channel DVD, Blu-ray, and HD DVD release contain this new narration, but the BBC's DVD, Blu-ray and HD DVD releases in the USA feature the original version with
David Attenborough as narrator. In addition, the
Planet Earth Diaries segment was retitled
Capturing the Shot in the Discovery Channel version. This will not air on the Canadian Discovery Channel, as it is owned by
CTV and the Canadian rights were exclusively sold to
CBC.
[19]
