Beatles Ed Sullivan DVDs

Note this eBay auction - has anyone gotten this DVD and (if so), can you tell me the video/audio quality? More important, will it even play on my standard Panasonic DVD player (which won't play DVD-R, etc. etc.). Auction says this is a region 1 NTSC format, which my player will play.

thanks,

Allen

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2303&item=3322569155&rd=1

 

Looks like a boot to me, probably a DVD-R.

 

Is that a boot?

 

Do you think Apple/Capitol would let that out with their logos on it without a big fanfare? Even if it was a Japanese only release, all the Beatle people would've known about it well before now (ie, the Budokan laser disc).

Gotta be a boot, stick with the legit Andrew Solt release at http://www.edsullivan.com.

 

There's no question it's a boot; but it has additional stuff that's not on the Solt official release; I'm just wondering if A) it will even play on my DVD player and B) is the sound/video quality any better than my old VHS boot copies.

Allen

 

If that's a boot, the packaging is very, very well done, right down to the bar code and logo setup. It probably is. And anyway, the legit 2-DVD Sullivan set has what you need, and the whole shows, not just the Beatles segments. Very nostalgic to view it as it happened, commercials, dubious pop acts and magicians, etc. Video quality could be better--and the 5.1 surround sound is laughably bogus--but the regular mono sound is good and the B&W picture acceptable(but variable). I'd go with the legit package first, though might spring for that boot if the price was reasonable. Doubtful it will be before long.

ED

 

If this were a "foriegn" product, why would there be Capitol logos on it?

 

I wish all the tiles that the seller had were legit because I would buy them all. (Notice that the bar code number is identical on all the releases.)

 

I'm probably going to get the legit set too, but are you sure it has all those promotional videos too ("Strawberry Fields," etc.)? Also, the Feb 16, 1964 rehearsal as well as the actual televised show? I'm not too crazy about watching the entire shows (the other acts besides the Beatles); I don't want to go into the number of hours I've spent watching entire Sullivan shows at the Museum of TV & Radio in NY, plus a number of other, similar 50s shows - I never want to see another juggler! (Although -- I gotta admit, some of those acts that Sullivan booked were incredible).

Allen

 

The legit set is just the four shows(or at least that's as far as I've delved into it to date)intact; no rehearsals or the extras the boot claims to have. I simply like the context of watching the shows pretty close to how they actually aired; that's a true time capsule, not just pulling the Beatles clips together as this boot purports to do. On the other side, I haven't gotten maxed out at watching old Sullivan shows; hell, I wouldn't mind a bit if Andrew Solt and gang started reissuing more(featuring great rock and pop acts of the time)in the same vein. Once you've viewed them you can just skip by the dross--any variety show is going to be erratic in quality--but some of that stuff, like the recreations of broadway performances and tunes, are priceless. Compilations of the music acts are all fine and dandy,
but give you no sense of what watching an hour's worth of Sullivan as it was broadcast live was like. I like the legit Sullivan DVD because it gives you a sense of history, of being there(if you can get past the videotape problems inherent to the format).

ED