Universal Studios & Warner Brothers Reissued DVD Sets (1 Viewer)

[jcroy]

For the Fox released flipper disc season sets of "Time Tunnel" and "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea", the discs appear to be a combination of dvd-10 and dvd-14.

- Time Tunnel

http://enterline2.tripod.com/time_tunnel.html
http://enterline2.tripod.com/time_tunnel_vol2.html


- Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Voyage-Sea/4436
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Voyage-Sea/5471

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Voyage-Sea/6087
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Voyage-Sea/6563

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Voyage-Sea/7002
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Voyage-Sea/7705

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Voyage-Sea-Season-4-Volume-1/11011
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Voyage-Sea-Season-4-Volume-2/14506


Wonder why "Lost In Space" was released as single-sided discs, while subsequent vintage Fox released shows were done as double-sided flipper disks?

 

[Professor Echo]

LAND OF THE GIANTS was also done similar to VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA, 4 shows on one side, 2 shows on the flip side. So DVD-14's used there.

 

[jcroy]

but did have issues with the 18's Universal used for their monster Legacy sets. I tend to stay away from them. Lots of negative Amazon reviews for various titles on the 18's.

It seemed like Universal was the worst offender for crappy dvd-18 flippers. Warner also did quite a few dvd-18 flipper sets too.

A list of Warner flipper tv season sets (by year) which I'm aware of:


2003

August 26, 2003 - ER (season 1)

November 18, 2003 - The West Wing (season 1)


2004

February 3, 2004 - Gilligan's Island (season 1)

March 16, 2004 - Kung Fu (season 1)

April 27, 2004 - ER (season 2)

May 11, 2004 - The Waltons (season 1)

May 18, 2004 - The West Wing (season 2)

June 1, 2004 - Dukes of Hazzard (season 1)

June 29, 2004 - Wonder Woman (season 1)

July 27, 2004 - V (season 1)

August 24, 2004 - Dallas (season 1/2)

September 14, 2004 - Without a Trace: Season 1 (2004)

September 21, 2004 - MADtv - The Complete First Season (2004)

November 2, 2004 - The West Wing (season 3)


2005

January 11, 2005 - Gilligan's Island (season 2)

January 18, 2005 - Kung Fu (season 2)

January 25, 2005 - Dukes of Hazzard (seasons 2)

March 1, 2005 - Wonder Woman (season 2)

April 26, 2005 - The Waltons (season 2)

May 31, 2005 - Dukes of Hazzard (seasons 3)

June 7, 2005 - Wonder Woman (season 3)

July 26, 2005 - Gilligan's Island (season 3)

August 9, 2005 - Dallas (season 3)

August 23, 2005 - Kung Fu (season 3)


2006

January 24, 2006 - Dallas (season 4)

April 25, 2006 - The Waltons (season 3)

May 30, 2006 - Dukes of Hazzard (seasons 6)

August 1, 2006 - Dallas (season 5)


2007

January 23, 2007 - The Waltons (season 4)

January 30, 2007 - Dallas (season 6)

May 8, 2007 - The Waltons (season 5)

July 31, 2007 - Dallas (season 7)

November 6, 2007
- Gilligan's Island complete series collection
- Wonder Woman complete series collection
- Kung Fu complete series collection


2008

January 8, 2008 - The Waltons (season 6)

February 12, 2008 - Dallas (season 8)

April 29, 2008 - The Waltons (season 7)

June 3, 2008 - CHiPs (season 2)

July 15, 2008 - Dallas (season 9)


2009

January 6, 2009 - The Waltons (season 8)

January 13, 2009 - Dallas (season 10)

April 21, 2009 - Dallas (season 11)

April 28, 2009 - The Waltons (season 9)


2010

January 19, 2010 - Dallas (season 12)

April 13, 2010 - Dallas (season 13)



The most notorious Warner dvd-18 flipper series were the original Dallas and The Waltons season sets, which all appeared to be dvd-18's all the way through (except for the final season and/or tv movies).

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/list.php?orderBy=Date&reviewType=All&searchText=waltons
http://www.sitcomsonline.com/dvdreviews.html

(Scroll down to the Dallas season set reviews in the above ^ latter link).

No idea why Warner continued on with flipper discs for Dallas and The Waltons, long after the practice had largely fallen by the wayside. (Even Universal had largely given up on flipper disk tv season sets by mid-2006).

I have largely held off on buying any of the original Dallas season sets, until they are re-released as single-sided discs. (If it ever happens).



In terms of single-sided disc re-releases of previous flipper season sets, the only season sets I'm aware of so far are:

- Dukes of Hazzard (season 1)
- CHiPs (season 2)
- Gilligan's Island (seasons 1 to 3)
- Wonder Woman (season 1)

- ER (season 1 and 2 were re-released as single-sided discs on April 27, 2011)
- West Wing (seasons 1 to 3 were redone as single-sided discs in the "complete series" set)

 

[jcroy]

2009

September 15, 2009 - Fame: The Complete Seasons 1 & 2 (2009)

2010

- January 12, 2010

Fame: Season 1 (2009) (repackage)
Fame: Season 2 (2009) (single-sided discs version)

Hmmm ...

Reading more comments on amazon for these three dvd sets, it appears the discs were all single-sided from the start. It never had any double-sided flippers at all to begin with.

The season 1 & 2 set from 2009, had 9 single-sided disks.

The season 1 repackage has 4 single-sided disks, while the season 2 repackage has 5 single-sided disks.


http://www.amazon.com/review/R1Y5OSEO4L2T9L/ref=cm_cr_pr_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B002BYYAKO

 

[kingfish]

i would also like to see space: above and beyond on single sided discs.

 

[jcroy]

Overall for Fox and MGM, I get the impression Fox has not repressed any double-sided flipper disk sets into single-sided disc versions. At most, it appears Fox has only repackaged old inventory into generic dvd keepcases.

There was a huge "repackaging" phase that Fox went through back in 2009.

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/dvd-talk-covers-cases-inserts/555524-fox-tv-gets-smaller.html


Of the Fox and MGM flipper season sets, the ones I can recall seeing repackaged in generic keepcases are:

- The Addams Family (vol 1 to 3)
- the original Outer Limits (vol 1 to 3)

- Remington Steele (all)
- The Pretender (seasons 1 to 4)
- Bones (season 1)
- King of the Hill (seasons 3 to 6)
- the Mary Tyler Moore show - season 2 (disc 3 was a flipper, while discs 1 and 2 were single-sided)


For other Fox flipper disc season sets which have not been repackaged into generic dvd keepcases, I wouldn't be surprised if Fox is just letting them go out-of-print, and hoping that somebody else will take up the slack and re-release them under license.

For example, what Shout! Factory is doing with Hill Street Blues, NYPD Blue, The Big Valley, Mister Ed, The Bob Newhart Show, etc ... and what VEI is doing with Cagney & Lacey.

So far nobody has taken up the slack on "stalled" Fox / MGM flipper disc tv shows like: Green Acres, St Elsewhere, The White Shadow, Anything But Love, Dharma & Greg, etc ...

 

[jcroy]

i would also like to see space: above and beyond on single sided discs.

Same here.

The flipper disks is what has held me back on buying this season set.

 

[buddybluray]

Fox released all 6 "Reba" seasons on flipper discs. They started out as three disc sets, but all 22 episodes of Season 5 were issued on two double sided discs with the final 13 episodes released on a single flipper. They reissued the first four seasons in standard DVD packaging with clear cases, but the discs are apparently still double sided. I have all of the original releases but hope they don't reissue them as single-sided discs otherwise, I'll have to rebuy them for the labeling.

I have the Blu-ray/DVD flippers of "The Office: Season 8" and haven't even been able to watch them because they don't play on my Blu-ray player. They load briefly but stop. I hate flippers!

 

[jcroy]

Fox released all 6 "Reba" seasons on flipper discs. They started out as three disc sets, but all 22 episodes of Season 5 were issued on two double sided discs with the final 13 episodes released on a single flipper.

Are the Reba flippers dvd-10 type discs, for the first four seasons?

If I had to guess, 8 episodes on each flipper disc?

 

[jcroy]

They reissued the first four seasons in standard DVD packaging with clear cases, but the discs are apparently still double sided.

Sounds like the reissued dvd season sets of Remington Steele, The Pretender, and seasons 3-6 of King of The Hill, where everything was still flipper discs.

 

[jcroy]

I have the Blu-ray/DVD flippers of "The Office: Season 8" and haven't even been able to watch them because they don't play on my Blu-ray player. They load briefly but stop. I hate flippers!

I dread the idea of bluray/dvd flippers.

This is the main reason why I have not purchased any of the Jason Bourne trilogy blurays. (I may pick up the UK versions which are known to be single-sided bluray discs).

 

[jcroy]

Are the Reba flippers dvd-10 type discs, for the first four seasons?

If I had to guess, 8 episodes on each flipper disc?

Looking through some reviews on the Reba season sets:

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/dvdreviews.html

(Scroll down to the Reba section in the above ^ link).

It appears season 1 to 4 of Reba, the discs are primarily dvd-10 flipper discs. Season 5 appears to be dvd-14 flipper disks.

For season 6, it's not obvious whether it is a dvd-14 or dvd-18 flipper disk. (If I had to guess, probably a dvd-14 flipper).

 

[UniversalPhan]

The Bourne Trilogy was released as a trilogy boxed set that only contained the Blu-ray version of the movie. The boxed set was re-issued at a lower retail price and that the single sided Blu-rays were only made available through the trilogy boxed set. Trust me on this, I have the set. I was the same and I avoide the Bourne trilogy Blu-rays because of those flipper disks. You should be able to find a copy at Walmart, from time to tiem, for around $30.

I dread the idea of bluray/dvd flippers.

This is the main reason why I have not purchased any of the Jason Bourne trilogy blurays. (I may pick up the UK versions which are known to be single-sided bluray discs).

 

[jcroy]

Been noticing the first seven flipper disc season sets of The Waltons have been re-released as single-sided discs.

The entries on Barnes & Noble's web site, lists the content on each disc of a tv season set. Easy to compare the content between the original flipper and re-released single-sided disc sets.


season 1

flipper - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd-waltons-the-complete-first-season-richard-thomas/8449669
single - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd-waltons-the-complete-first-season/23830941


(The season 2 single-sided discs content information wasn't available).


season 3

flipper - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd-the-waltons-the-complete-third-season-richard-thomas/10889295
single - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd-waltons-the-complete-third-season/23831075


season 4

flipper - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd-the-waltons-the-complete-fourth-season-richard-thomas/11688738
single - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd-waltons-the-complete-fourth-season/23831074


season 5

flipper - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd-the-waltons-the-complete-fifth-season-richard-thomas/12085239
single - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd-waltons-the-complete-fifth-season/23831072


season 6

flipper - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd-waltons-season-6-richard-thomas/14615237
single - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd-waltons-the-complete-sixth-season/23831071


season 7

flipper - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd-the-waltons-season-7-ralph-waite/14947160
single - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd-waltons-the-complete-seventh-season/23831073


For all these single-sided season set re-releases of The Waltons, it appears the menus and episode content of the single-sided discs were re-authored and slightly different in content from the original flippers. (Even with the same episodes).

In the case of other Warner tv season sets with a significant number of flipper discs, perhaps Warner is making the decision to re-author the menus in order to make better use of the single-sided disc "data real estate". Perhaps this is one possible reason as to why we have not yet seen single-sided disks re-releases of flipper sets like:

- Dukes of Hazzard seasons 2, 3, and 6.
- Wonder Woman seasons 2 and 3
- the original V (season 1)
- Dallas

(ie. Warner may possibly be hard at work at re-authoring these flipper sets into single-side discs).

 

[buddybluray]

Looking through some reviews on the Reba season sets:

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/dvdreviews.html

(Scroll down to the Reba section in the above ^ link).

It appears season 1 to 4 of Reba, the discs are primarily dvd-10 flipper discs. Season 5 appears to be dvd-14 flipper disks.

For season 6, it's not obvious whether it is a dvd-14 or dvd-18 flipper disk. (If I had to guess, probably a dvd-14 flipper).

You know, I'm not sure what they are personally. How do you tell? I haven't looked at the packaging lately to see if it's mentioned. I just bought them because I like Reba. I hate that they're double sided. I really enjoy artwork on my discs, but to answer your question about the episodes per disc -- each side contained about four episodes and any bonus features (when available) such as deleted scenes that pertained to each episode.

Obviously, 5-6 episodes per side of Season 5 because no bonus features were included after Season 3, if I recall properly.

 

[buddybluray]

I dread the idea of bluray/dvd flippers.

This is the main reason why I have not purchased any of the Jason Bourne trilogy blurays. (I may pick up the UK versions which are known to be single-sided bluray discs).

I dread these, too, but I didn't know at the time of purchase that they were flippers, even though I had suspected they may be. Plus, as much as I hate flippers, if I'm a fan of the show, I'll purchase them either way. After all, I never expect the studios to re-issue titles, nor do I know when or if certain titles will get reissues -- still waiting on Seasons 1-4 of "The Office" on Blu.

 

[jcroy]

You know, I'm not sure what they are personally. How do you tell?

As a rough guideline. (Mileage may vary).

- A dvd-5 is a single-sided disc that can approximately fit two 45-50 minute tv episodes.
- A dvd-10 is a double-sided flipper disc where each side is a dvd-5.

- A dvd-9 is a single-sided disc that can approximately fit four 45-50 minute tv episodes.
- A dvd-18 is a double-sided flipper disc where each side is a dvd-9.

- A dvd-14 is a double-sided flipper disc, where one side is a dvd-9 and the other side is a dvd-5.

 

[buddybluray]

As a rough guideline. (Mileage may vary).

- A dvd-5 is a single-sided disc that can approximately fit two 45-50 minute tv episodes.
- A dvd-10 is a double-sided flipper disc where each side is a dvd-5.

- A dvd-9 is a single-sided disc that can approximately fit four 45-50 minute tv episodes.
- A dvd-18 is a double-sided flipper disc where each side is a dvd-9.

- A dvd-14 is a double-sided flipper disc, where one side is a dvd-9 and the other side is a dvd-5.

Ahh... thanks for the guide. I was always curious how one could tell and now I know.

 

[jcroy]

Looked more closely at the content on these single-sided disc re-releases of The Waltons.

For the earlier original Waltons season sets flipper disc versions, the discs have 6 episodes on each flipper disc with 3 episodes per disc side. Looking at other Warner flipper season sets, the Dukes of Hazzard flipper disc sets have a similar arrangement of 3 episodes per disc side.

I looked more closely at the Dukes of Hazzard flipper discs on the computer, and noticed they were dvd-18 type flippers. Each Dukes episode from these flippers, were approximately 2 gigs in size.

(A single-sided dvd-9 disc, or one side of a dvd-18 flipper disc, can hold approximately 8.54 gigs of data).


For the single-sided disc re-releases of The Waltons, each single-sided disc has 5 episodes. Assuming if each Waltons flipper disc episode is also approximately 2 gigs in size, then five episodes would take up around 10 gigs, which is larger than the 8.54 gigs capacity of a single-sided dvd-9 disc.

One has to conclude (with the above assumptions), that the episodes on these single-sided discs re-releases of The Waltons, might be compressed slightly from 2 gigs to approximately 1.6 gigs per episode. (If the original video quality was not that good to start off with, the visual difference might not be that noticable. These Waltons episodes were from the 1970's).


This might not sit well if one is a technical purist and picky about such things.

 

[jcroy]

Found some more old reviews of The Waltons flipper disc season sets.

http://www.digitallyobsessed.com/blogsearch.php?search_string=waltons&schoice=1

In some of these reviews, the author mentions in passing that the flipper discs might actually being "single layered". This raises the possiblity that some of the flippers might actually be dvd-10 discs (and not dvd-18).

(Since I don't own any of The Waltons dvd season sets, I cannot verify any of this information. At most this is just guesswork on my part).

Carrying out this notion further, it would mean six Waltons episodes on a dvd-10 flipper disk, with 3 episodes on each side of the disc.

On a dvd-10 flipper disc, each side can hold approximately 4.71 gigs of data. In my experience, most dvd discs are rarely ever "filled to the brim" with data. (For such 4.71 gigs sized dvd movie disks, in practice I see the discs being filled with around 4 to 4.5 gigs of data). So if 3 flipper episodes of the Waltons are occupying 4 to 4.71 gigs of space, then each flipper Waltons episode will be approximately 1.3 to 1.57 gigs in size.

So the question is whether it is possible to cram five Waltons flipper episodes onto a single-sided dvd-9 disk (8.54 gigs capacity), without sacrificing any further video quality. (The single-sided disc re-releases of The Waltons have five episodes per single-sided disk).

If each flipper Waltons episode is around 1.3 to 1.57 gigs in size, then five episodes will occupy approximately 6.5 to 7.85 gigs of space. This is within the 8.54 gigs capacity of a single-sided dvd-9 disk.

So yes, it is possible to cram five Waltons episodes onto a single-sided dvd-9 disk, without any direct tampering of the original video data files from the original flipper dvd-10 discs.


If all the assumptions in this post are true, then I can see why it was viable to redo all the menus and episode content for the repackaged single-sided discs season set re-releases of The Waltons.