Shout! Factory ... an appreciation

You're forgetting TONE. Vidiot is simply stating facts and furthering the discussion of how things could be better for all consumers and fans of SHOUT!, he's not stirring up trouble for the sake of it. That's the difference. Threadcrapping is more about tone than anything else.

 

Well I'm guessing that's as good as it'll get. In light of this I'm glad they released the stripped down set.

 

As others have mentioned, those are subjects for a different thread. This one was created as an appreciation of what Shout! does.

If you're unhappy with their work, start a "Shout! Factory Does Crappy Work" thread.

Appreciation threads don't have to be happy-happy joy-joy, so critiques from fans are allowed. Constantly criticizing the subject of the appreciation thread is off-limits - or was supposed to be, but apparently it's A-OK in this one!

 

10-12 times ? Jesus, you say it once, maybe twice if you remember a detail, but 10 to 12 is just your drunken grandfather beating a dead horse for the sake of hearing his own voice.
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How about a Shanachie appreciation thread? Watching my Car 54 set..surprised Shout Factory did not come out with them..

 

Thanks for the tip ! Looking at their site right now.
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Yeah, calling them "cheap bastids" is "simply stating facts"...

 

We have never heard that term before have we?

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/search/27470549/?q=cheap+bastids&o=relevance&c[node]=36

 

Blu Ray players are dirt cheap. Get one.

 

As a matter of fact, yeah, it is. Seriously.

 

Didn't seem like exactly threadcrapping to me but, maybe, I dunno. Whatever it is, it is true.

 

Original poster here.

I'm fine with people weighing in on this site with criticisms of a home video company, record label, etc. if warranted. Just because it's called an appreciation thread doesn't mean there isn't room for debate or other opinions on the subject.

In this case, I honestly don't know how Shout! Factory's video quality compares with other companies. It's not my area of specialty or a subject I've given a lot of thought to, honestly. I hadn't heard that criticism about the company until I started this thread. Given the history of Shout! Factory (founded by former principles of Rhino Records, which was a superb record/CD reissue label), I'd be surprised if they are releasing truly substandard work from a video quality standpoint. I have several Shout! DVD sets, and I've been fine with the video quality.

What I'm certain of -- and this is really the point of my original post -- is that Shout! releases a lot of TV classics that no other company is touching, and it does so with attractive packaging, booklet notes, bonus content, etc. A good example of this is their "Hill Street Blues" complete series set from last year. Many TV historians rank that show as one of the best dramas of all time, yet it had stalled on home release since the first two seasons were put out back in 2006 by 20th Century Fox. The remaining seasons likely would have stayed unreleased if Shout! Factory didn't pick up the rights. And the cool thing is that they put together a nice complete series package -- giving the show the kind of treatment that it deserves.

I don't yet have the "WKRP in Cincinnati" complete series set, but from what I understand it has been received well by TV show fans. Shout! made the extra effort to clear as many of the music rights as possible, and I know fans appreciated that. And, really, in the past few years, Shout! has been on a nice roll of releasing these complete series sets of some TV classics ("All in the Family," "Barney Miller," "Bob Newhart," "The Jeffersons") that either had been ignored or released previously with inferior packaging. I'd love to see the trend continue ("St. Elsewhere" next maybe?).

That's my take on the subject.

 

It is my business, my specialty, since video mastering is a large part of what I do for a living. My previous comparison to "releasing CDs made from scratchy LPs" is an apt comparison, because that's essentially what Shout Factory is doing: putting out unmastered (or poorly mastered) standard video and taking the shortest, cheapest route to getting the shows released. I'm merely sad and disappointed that anybody would go to the trouble to get the legal rights to a title and then spend little or no time or money fixing the hundreds, even thousands of technical imperfections that are there. It's a good question as to whether they simply feel it's good enough, or that audiences don't care, or they're so technically ignorant that they don't know what good video mastering is; maybe it's a little of all three.

Small correction: Rhino was founded by Richard Foos and Harold Bronson. Richard Foos and his son Garner run Shout Factory; as far as I know, Bronson is retired.

Look at the Twilight Zone and Dick Van Dyke DVDs and Blu-rays, and you'll see how good video can be. Even crappy 1970s video can be made to look about 25-30% better than what Shout Factory is doing. Even the videotaped episodes of Twilight Zone never looked better, since they did get the benefit of remastering.

I agree, I appreciate anybody who is trying to preserve the history of television and present classic TV shows in some form. But I'm sad when I see it done badly. At some point, moves beyond sloppy work and becomes an opportunistic venture by people who don't really care about what they're doing. It's not a lot different from the many, many companies that release public-domain videos that are uncopyrighted, some of which look like Super 8 projected on a bedsheet (and may well be).

 

Shout! is reissuing the Decline of Western Civilization documentaries in a box set that sounds pretty sweet. I'm glad that these are finally getting issued, and in a way that sounds like they're doing justice to the films. I guess we'll have to wait and see just how good, or not, the restoration is. I hope that it isn't all hype.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/n...n-films-finally-get-official-release-20150324

 

I first read this as Shout's reissues are the decline of western civilization! I was going to say that regardless of what one feels nothing is THAT bad!!! I guess that is what I get for reading with very tired eyes and barely any sleep.

 

C'mon Shout, release 'Supertrain'!

 

At least that's a film show, and they can rescan it in HD. There's also now the "Digital Content Improvement Filter," which will make the acting, stories, and directing better.

Speaking of horrible shows, did My Mother the Car ever come out on DVD? It's an awful show, but even that one had a few funny moments.

 

Even sadder to me is when NO companies bother to release certain movies or TV shows. AT least SHOUT does that.

 

My point with everything is how much I am enjoying the Maude set regardless. I certainly see each side, and agree with points on each side ... Excellent shows being released vs. No care or quality control. Shout has a record of many success (the Maude set) and many misses (he first season of Rhoda) so I give my praise where I can. I still feel that I have my money's worth with Maude, and being able to buy the Rhoda season 1 set new for $5 or $10 was well enough for me based on the edited episodes, poor quality on some episodes, etc. I think with Shout when they're hot they're hot, when they're not they're not. Still comes back to who is to blame, the ones supplying the masters or Shout?

 

In my case, I'd say that's a fair statement, though I care about the quality, too. But "quality" encompasses things other than the picture, areas in which I think Shout! does a very nice job.

 

As do I, unfortunately Shout! took a bath on the releases, esp .considering the $ they spent on procuring some, not all of the music rights.
Which is truly a shame as the Cinemax season and the first three seasons probably won’t ever see the light of day.

 

just got my Sgt. Bilko Complete series and the 1st season is a sealed overstock/duplicate of the earlier 1st season Paramount thrown in (disc made in Mexico)..Too bad I have it already, thinking that this set was a redo of the 1st season as well, nonetheless, the remaining 3 seasons are all housed professionally and it appears that Paramount let Shout Factory pick up the ball totally...BTW I think that the extras missing found on the UK set are (all ?) found on the earlier Sgt. Bilko CBS 50TH Anniversary Edition..

 

Given that the director is supervising the process and how she thinks of these movies as her legacy, I'm somewhat optimistic that they will be about as good as they can be.