I Love Lucy problem (1 Viewer)

[ScottR]

I have noticed this on every season set. For example, on Season 6 during the cartoon Lilt credits, every other frame is jittery. If you pause it, you can see two frames overlapping. You can even tell it when the episode is playing at normal speed. It is also evident during commercial transitions. What causes this, and might it be a player related issue?

 

[Ethan Riley]

It's probably because the cartoon openings and commercials were taken from weaker source material than most of the show itself. I don't think it's a dvd problem.

 

[Jay Pennington]

Sounds like the restored animation was from a video source. However, it isn't too hard to reverse telecine video footage (that was originally film) and restore it to 24p. Sounds like that wasn't done properly. (Is the remaining footage in the episodes progressive?)

 

[ScottR]

Yes, however, there is a similar glitch in Lucy Meets the Queen ( Season 5) as Lucy and Ethel are making their way through a crowd of autograph hounds. Two frames overlap.

 

[JeffCNY]

You've got it. Most (if not all) of the restored footage and the animated opening material originates from rather battered 16mm reference prints or kinescopes, and considering the probelms involved, I think they did a masterful job.

I can't think of ANY vintage television series (except perhaps Star Trek or The Dick Van Dyke Show) that has been released with the same amount of loving care, attention to detail, and abundant supplementary material.

Very much a DVD love letter to the fans of the show, which remain legion.

Jeff

 

[ScottR]

I agree Jeff.. I just wish they would fix the glitch on the episode I mentioned. TVSHOWSONDVD.COM said there was no word from Paramount on whether they would offer a replacement. If they would fix this glitch, every episode would look beautiful.

 

[JeffCNY]

All in all, compared to much of the bare-bones vintage TV that's hastily released with no thought in mind other than making a quick profit from the least expense, I can easily live with two frames overlapping in one episode!

Jeff

 

[David Von Pein]

I concur. Except I'm still bugged (just a little) by the non-perfect PQ state of a few Van Dyke episodes (mostly in S.1 and S.2). Otherwise, the Van Dyke Show sets are perfect in every way, IMO.

There's a definite "fluttering" problem with the video in portions of several V.Dyke eps. (more noticeable on large-screen TVs, no doubt...but it's bothersome once you know it's always there).

The close-up shots during those eps. look just fine though. It's only the 'long' or 'wide' shots where the "flutter" (blurriness) can be detected.

There are a few "white blotches" that appear on screen during a few S.5 shows too...but that's another type of PQ difficulty, unrelated to "the flutter".

In 2004, Image told me this re. the 'flutter/blurry' PQ problem:

"Dear David, The "blurriness" apparent during sections of these episodes is the result of damaged source material; more specifically this problem is caused by warped film. Image Entertainment has done all it can do to eliminate this problem using the technology on hand and hopefully new technological advances in editing will allow this problem to be corrected completely at some point in the future. Thank you."

Funny, though, that this "warped film" only makes the "wide" shots of some episodes look subpar, while the "warped" factor doesn't affect the perfect PQ of the close-up shots. Make any sense to anybody?

 

[Jay Pennington]

Kinescopes? Ah, that'd explain it. Pretty much impossible to get clean frames out of those.

 

[Will Krupp]

dupe post

 

[Will Krupp]

Did they use negatives as their source? The wide shots may have been filmed in one take with the closeups cut in from another negative. If the "wide shot" negative was less stable for some reason.....

just a guess, but it sounds possible

 

[ScottR]

Has anyone purchased I Love Lucy Season 5 in the past couple of months? Maybe Paramount is releasing fixed copies. I know that there was also a problem with the subtitles popping up in Lucy's Italian Movie and that they were offering replacement discs for that.