Shout! Factory ... an appreciation

Still not color corrected though, right?

 

Th

the colors look better than the hd asian versions.

 

For any TV stuff show on videotape, standard DVD is nearly as good as it will get. You can't get HD resolution from SD videotape. Any BD release would just be upscaled. It would allow for higher bitrates, so the video *might* look a tad better. It would theoretically allow for high-rez sound (and they have released some music BD's where the video source is SD but the audio is high-rez), but most TV material is going to have basic sound anyway.

I do recall that when Blu-ray (and HD-DVD for that matter) were first bandied about as new formats, there seemed to be a lot more talk of using it for even SD material. The idea being that you could fit an entire season of an SD TV show on one BD disc, etc. So you could have an entire series of, say, seven seasons, on maybe 4-7 BD discs. But that hasn't seemed to catch on.

There have been a few kind of in-between cases like the post-Season 12/pre-Season 20 seasons of "The Simpsons" that have been released on BD. They do indeed look better than simply upscaled DVDs, but they're not really HD either, though they are mastered to the discs in full 1080p HD. I still haven't read a firm explanation of what they're using as sources for those BD sets.

 

I think the biggest reason that we haven't seen complete seasons on one disc is that would destroy the perceived value of the set. People would see a single disc and expect to pay a single disc price. By spreading it out over several discs, people are willing to pay more.

 

I am very disappointed with their release of Route 66. This needs to be redone by someone that cares about quality.

When it was first announced that they were going to release it Shout make statements about it being one of their favorite shows of all time and that they were going to present it as it should be done due to the quality of the show. No, didn't happen.

Is there any reason why it couldn't be done as nicely as the Dick Van Dyke BR sets? Same time period, so wouldn't a major upgrade be possible. Except for the money problem of course. I guess I'll never see it in high quality.

 

BTW Amazon has US set today for $55...I have the 1st season and see the 2nd is on the way so I am on the fence..can anyone persuade me??

 

I say that about virtually everything Shout Factory releases. What you're seeing is what happens when people puke out film or video to DVD and don't spend the time and money necessary to actually master it well.

Home video producer Paul Brownstein, assisted by technical producer Dennis Rood, moved heaven and earth to find all the original 35mm negatives, have them inspected and cleaned, then scanned all the negs and corrected them precisely for home video. Ditto with the original mag tracks. This takes time and money -- I think more than 6 months was spent just on Dick Van Dyke alone, with multiple crews in different rooms cranking out several episodes a day.

 

So therefore generally we are helpless since the attention to detail and time is not forthcoming and fans of a certain show will have to make do. One can boycott and not own it but then again the frequency of viewing with it's price compromise to optimum care and quality remains a factor. Would be nice if these factory's care more but I just don't know.

 

I got two words for Shout Factory: Cheap Bastids.

 

I am more than happy with Shout's release of Maude. I am really enjoying the heck out of the set, and even if it isn't HD quality I am not going to prevent myself from enjoying the shows just because of that. Maybe Shout has had some poor releases but in this case I think they hit the ball out of the park with Maude.

 

As they say get your. Kicks on Route 66. Oww well. How is the collected Mr. Ed????

 

Imagine what it would look like if it had been properly mastered. Putting out tape shows like this is the equivalent of taking a vinyl record, slapping it on a DVD, and releasing it to the public.

 

We get it : http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/search/27415565/
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Didn't stop 'em from ponying up for the WKRP music clearances, though. Those were not cheap (reportedly around a million dollars).

 

I suspect this expense was split with 20 Century-Fox TV, who owns the show. $1 million sounds high to me; I suspect it was $5K per episode, maybe $100K per season, and the show was on for four years. No doubt, there were some songs that cost more than $5K, even a lot more, but all these things are negotiable. Still a big expense.

Good mastering would be less than $5000 per episode.

 

They do seem much more careless with their TV shows than some of their films (which are hit-n-miss themselves.)

 

Regardless of what they did or didn't do I am enjoying the heck out of it and that is all that matters to me. Someone may disagee with me but that's OK, I feel I got more than my money's worth. Besides, regardless of how they look today I am sure they still look better on DVD than 40 years ago over the air when anything could have affected the reception!

 

SHOUT! is a great company, and a real life saver for many horror, sci-fi, comedy (and more) titles that aren't as mainstream as others!

 

Some seasons of One Day At A Time would be great.

 

Isn't this (and your other posts here) a threadcrap? This is supposed to be an appreciation thread.

 

Criticism where criticism is due. People need to be aware that there's no excuse for crap mastering. It's particularly sad when this happens to a classic TV show or a great movie.

 

Legitimate criticism should be welcome in an appreciation thread from an industry insider like Vidiot, who knows the score at companies like Shout Factory...I have no problems with what he's been saying here...

 

I disagree. And you'll excuse me if--despite now being clued in to "the score"--I'll continue to praise Shout! for their Barney Miller, Larry Sanders, and WKRP boxes. And for all the other Shout! stuff I have.

 

Exactly what I said when I reported his up to that point, 10 posts so far, but as you can see, no action was taken. So we must have the definition of threadcrap wrong ?

From Steve : " Please do not thread-crap at our Forums. In other words, don't find a "Why I Love The Beatles" thread and post that you "hate the Beatles!" just to stir up trouble. This is thread crapping and will be erased. You ARE allowed to dislike the Beatles or any other band or artist, it's a free Forum. You have to start a new thread instead (if you must)."

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threa...n-music-forums-please-read-this-first.339372/
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Guys like Vidiot are trying to help make things better, optimal even. He's on your side. If it were up to him you'd be loving your shows at their very best not just good enough (next to not existing at all.)