The Real McCoys (1 Viewer)

[cajunhillbilly]

Hope the MOD sets come out before the end of the year Plus not too pricy. MOD sets can be expensive

 

[ChrisALM]

If these are complete episodes, then replacing my S1-4 makes sense. If these are the same edited versions, then S5-6 would be all I'm interested in. I hate it when the only choice you are left with is edited episodes or nothing.

 

[Ron Lee Green]

The press release says they are re-mastered. I hope that means they were recently remastered, and not the old remastering they did for TNN over ten years ago which created 22-minute versions. Unfortunately, the press release doesn't say "un-cut". Also, while watching the show on Cozi, I noticed a hissing sound on several episodes. I hope they can eliminate that.

 

[LouA]

Likely they will still be butchered episodes. I believe I'll pass.

If they're butchered, I'll still buy 5 and 6 (I already have 1-4). If they are complete, I'll go for the whole series.

 

[Neil Brock]

Unless there's a cable sale involved, I seriously doubt that MOD would justify the expense of going back and retransferring 200+ episodes of the series.

 

[moviepas]

The mention of hissing on a soundtrack interest me. When I got the color Hazel episodes there was a click right thru the soundtracks, like a tick tick tick. I wrote about this problem on this Forum but I never did see a response from anyone. Surely it as not unique to my set?

 

[LeoA]

Sure seems like I can remember at least one other person telling you that they also noticed it.

 

[LouA]

Unless there's a cable sale involved, I seriously doubt that MOD would justify the expense of going back and retransferring 200+ episodes of the series.

I agree. But it will be nice to have seasons 5 and 6, and the reunion disc.

 

[John Morgan]

Just got this email notice from Classic Flix. Amazon has Season 5, but no listing for Season 6 that I could find. I am sure these will be from the old masters prepared for the TNN broadcast with about 3 minutes missing from each episode, but I have the 1-4 seasons, so I will likely get the last two, although Season 6 I have little use for.

Looks like the Reunion special is on the 6th season.

The Real McCoys Seasons 3 - 6 Now Available
SFM Entertainment has released seasons three through six of the popular 1950s TV series, The Real McCoys.
Seasons one through four have been previously released but have since gone out of print. This marks the first time the final two seasons have been available on DVD. There's no definitive date on reissues of seasons one and two, but they are expected.
The Real McCoys ran from 1957 to 1962 and sparked a frenzy for shows about rural life, generating imitations like The Beverly Hillbillies and Gomer Pyle.

 

[jetskier]

O.k., in the previous post (#49), the news release didn't even mention that they were MODs (DVD-Rs) so I'm confused.


Are the 2014 releases by SFM of Seasons 3 - 6 MODs (or) regular DVDs ?

 

[LouA]

O.k., in the previous post (#49), the news release didn't even mention that they were MODs (DVD-Rs) so I'm confused.


Are the 2014 releases by SFM of Seasons 3 - 6 MODs (or) regular DVDs ?

Hi jetskier,

I bought seasons 5 and 6 from Amazon, and I can confirm that they are purple MOD DVD- r's . Also , they are the edited syndicated prints that ran on the Nashville Network back in the late 1990's.


I would have preferred replicated discs, and complete episodes , but I like the show a lot so I bought what's "out there". I bought the replicated discs of seasons 1 -4 years ago that were originally sold in stores.


The episodes DO look good though, and I'm happy to have the complete series to enjoy even if it's in compromised form.

 

[jetskier]

.

Thanks Lou.


It may be that since Seasons 5 & 6 had never been released when SFM decided to release S.3 - S.6, they decided to release them as MODs incase they didn't sell very well. But, 'they' (someone) may have still had a lot of unsold replicated, regular DVDs of S.3 and S.4 that SFM may have made a deal with to sell those, like Shout Factory did with Paramount for S.1 of the Phil Silvers Show when Shout decided to release the complete series.


If anyone can answer my question about S.3 and S.4 like Lou did on S.5 and S.6, I'd appreciate it.

 

[LouA]

.

Thanks Lou.


It may be that since Seasons 5 & 6 had never been released when SFM decided to release S.3 - S.6, they decided to release them as MODs incase they didn't sell very well. But, 'they' (someone) may have still had a lot of unsold replicated, regular DVDs of S.3 and S.4 that SFM may have made a deal with to sell those, like Shout Factory did with Paramount for S.1 of the Phil Silvers Show when Shout decided to release the complete series.


If anyone can answer my question about S.3 and S.4 like Lou did on S.5 and S.6, I'd appreciate it.

And for the record , SFM's recent release of Wyatt Earp is also MOD /DVDr's

 

[Ron1973]

I suppose I'll catch flack for this but as much as I love the show, I refuse to buy it in butchered form. I contacted SFM (I think it was them) about why there wasn't unedited episodes released and was told that the masters no longer existed. Neil proved otherwise and I refuse to give business to a company who treats customers substandardly.

 

[jetskier]

I suppose I'll catch flack for this but as much as I love the show, I refuse to buy it in butchered form. I contacted SFM (I think it was them) about why there wasn't unedited episodes released and was told that the masters no longer existed. Neil proved otherwise and I refuse to give business to a company who treats customers substandardly.

No flack from me, Ron - I feel exactly the way you do! However, there is a way you can have your cake and eat it too, as I'm sure you already know. But for the benefit of maybe some others - just buy them USED.


That way, the manufacturer and whoever else decided to put the greed of making a quick buck over treating a series and it's customers with respect, will NOT make ANY money from it.....and, you can laugh all the way to your TV room!


In fact, we ALL should be doing this if we disagree with the way any manufacturer releases any DVD, for any reason.


And, NO, it won't discourage future releases because the jackass company who botched it will know immediately why it didn't sell, just like they knew before they released it that they shouldn't have done it that way. Any other company who is considering releasing it will realize that the previous company screwed up and that will increase the chances of them releasing it correctly.


However, if some of you think my above statement could only be speculation, well, my following statement isn't - if you keep buying these butchered, syndicated versions NEW, you are telling the manufacturer, with your dollar votes, that you totally approve of their release and want more just like it, even though in your home you may be cussing out loud that the episodes are edited. The manufacturer will never hear your voice, but they certainly will see your dollars and that's ALL they care about.....and this is NO speculation!

 

[smithbrad]

No flack from me, Ron - I feel exactly the way you do! However, there is a way you can have your cake and eat it too, as I'm sure you already know. But for the benefit of maybe some others - just buy them USED.


That way, the manufacturer and whoever else decided to put the greed of making a quick buck over treating a series and it's customers with respect, will NOT make ANY money from it.....and, you can laugh all the way to your TV room!


In fact, we ALL should be doing this if we disagree with the way any manufacturer releases any DVD, for any reason.


And, NO, it won't discourage future releases because the jackass company who botched it will know immediately why it didn't sell, just like they knew before they released it that they shouldn't have done it that way. Any other company who is considering releasing it will realize that the previous company screwed up and that will increase the chances of them releasing it correctly.


However, if some of you think my above statement could only be speculation, well, my following statement isn't - if you keep buying these butchered, syndicated versions NEW, you are telling the manufacturer, with your dollar votes, that you totally approve of their release and want more just like it, even though in your home you may be cussing out loud that the episodes are edited. The manufacturer will never hear your voice, but they certainly will see your dollars and that's ALL they care about.....and this is NO speculation!

Sorry but both views are equally speculation.

 

[Neil Brock]

99.9999% of the public have no clue as to edited vs unedited episodes. Shows like this are such a miniscule niche market and the DVD market in general is about a quarter of what it was a decade ago. There is no way that a company is going to go to the expense of re-transferring the film prints from the original 35mms. So a handful of people will refuse to buy the product, as if they is going to make one iota of difference. How long will it take for people to realize that unless it is a major show with big sales potential, no company is going to spend big money to make sure a release is done properly. They are in business to make money, not to please a handful of consumers who know the difference between cut and uncut, 35mm and 16mm, remastered today and old tape transfers.

 

[LouA]

99.9999% of the public have no clue as to edited vs unedited episodes. Shows like this are such a miniscule niche market and the DVD market in general is about a quarter of what it was a decade ago. There is no way that a company is going to go to the expense of re-transferring the film prints from the original 35mms. So a handful of people will refuse to buy the product, as if they is going to make one iota of difference. How long will it take for people to realize that unless it is a major show with big sales potential, no company is going to spend big money to make sure a release is done properly. They are in business to make money, not to please a handful of consumers who know the difference between cut and uncut, 35mm and 16mm, remastered today and old tape transfers.

The way the retail market is right now , we're lucky to have any forthcoming releases of these b&w shows. Other than the Rebel, and Lawman, I can't think of any that have been announced recently. If it's a show I like , I always buy it despite the flaws , and hope that will encourage the release of other gems .

 

[Ron1973]

99.9999% of the public have no clue as to edited vs unedited episodes. Shows like this are such a miniscule niche market and the DVD market in general is about a quarter of what it was a decade ago. There is no way that a company is going to go to the expense of re-transferring the film prints from the original 35mms. So a handful of people will refuse to buy the product, as if they is going to make one iota of difference. How long will it take for people to realize that unless it is a major show with big sales potential, no company is going to spend big money to make sure a release is done properly. They are in business to make money, not to please a handful of consumers who know the difference between cut and uncut, 35mm and 16mm, remastered today and old tape transfers.

Neil, you make a valid point and you are without a doubt a knowledgeable man with regards to TV on DVD/classic TV. The general public may or may not know the differences you point out. I remember my ex father-in-law, not a bright bulb by any stretch of the imagination, complaining to me out of the blue about how WGN and TBS were butchering The Beverly Hillbillies. Of course in reality they weren't the ones butchering as they were simply using prints supplied by Viacom that were already butchered.


It was you that pointed out to me that original masters existed for The Real McCoys. SFM claimed the masters were lost when I contacted them. I believe you on that, Neil, as I believe you pointed out there are two different sets of edited masters floating around; one for the TNN episodes and another of 1980's edited masters. Do I expect SFM to spend the dollars to digitally remaster these for hi-def? No, I don't. I do expect that something at least be presented in its original broadcast form and I expect not to be lied to by someone in the releasing company.


If you can live with edited episodes, so be it. I can't and I won't unless the originals don't exist any more. I know music is a different animal than TV on DVD, but there are companies out there such as Bear Family, ACE, Rounder and others who are committed to bringing music to the consumer in the best way possible. The same could be done for classic TV.

 

[smithbrad]

Hi Ron,


If I understand the process correctly there can be various types of masters involved, film vs. video, edited vs. non-edited. By Neil referencing original 35mm masters I take it that he is talking about film masters that may be in a studio vault somewhere. With respect to video masters there may only be edited video masters around at this point. So its is possible that SFM wasn't lying but just referencing video masters only, and that they were not able to locate video masters that were unedited.


There is a high cost to transferring from film masters, regardless if one is talking about making HD or SD transfers, and you have to go to the studios to get the 35mm film elements. Based on the revenue that could be generated from a release of Real McCoys, SFM probably figured that it would be too costly to go get the file masters from the studio. In fact, I would say most releases by the independents are probably done from either 16mm prints available through collectors and estates or video masters. The studios like CBS and WB are the one's that generally give us the best quality by accessing their own vaults.


Whether one can live with edited episodes is a personal choice. Like "Guns of Will Sonnett" I am a fan of Brennan and am willing to sacrifice quality in prints and editing to have something rather than nothing. Especially, considering that without unedited video masters being available the likelihood of anything better is practically non-existent