Best of Route 66

Re: Best of Route 66

Kurt,

Welcome to the forum and many thanks for the R66 info that you provided! No doubt you know there's some R66 fannatics on this Bd

Some of the R66 fans here are in the more serious collectors class than myself so the "line" that we draw regarding acceptable xfrs to DVD will vary. Myself, I'm having a very hard time viewing the R66 S1 set. I didn't buy the "Best Of" set so I can't compare xfr Q with that set vs the later release. The thing that a lot of us here have wondered about is the point that you mentioned. If cleaner xfrs were available then why didn't Roxbury use them? Liscencing costs? Perhaps. But for myself this set is not an acceptable TV/DVD release due to the xfr issues.

When I compare this set to, say, the Image sets (Dick Van Dyke, Combat!), those sets are far better xfrs than R66. And the Image sets aren't pristine A+ xfrs like the Fugitive & Untouchables sets.

Re: Best of Route 66

Kurt,

Welcome to the forum and many thanks for the R66 info that you provided! No doubt you know there's some R66 fannatics on this Bd

Some of the R66 fans here are in the more serious collectors class than myself so the "line" that we draw regarding acceptable xfrs to DVD will vary. Myself, I'm having a very hard time viewing the R66 S1 set. I didn't buy the "Best Of" set so I can't compare xfr Q with that set vs the later release. The thing that a lot of us here have wondered about is the point that you mentioned. If cleaner xfrs were available then why didn't Roxbury use them? Liscencing costs? Perhaps. But for myself this set is not an acceptable TV/DVD release due to the xfr issues.

When I compare this set to, say, the Image sets (Dick Van Dyke, Combat!), those sets are far better xfrs than R66. And the Image sets aren't pristine A+ xfrs like the Fugitive & Untouchables sets.

Re: Best of Route 66

Welcome aboard Kurt. What I didn't understand is why Infinity didn't just go off the 1-inch masters that were transferred for the NAN airings. They were great quality and like you say, included the next week promos as well. It really seems like this release was thrown together very sloppily without a lot of thought or quality control and they really should have researched what the best source material was.

Re: Best of Route 66

Kurt,

Welcome to the forum and many thanks for the R66 info that you provided! No doubt you know there's some R66 fannatics on this Bd

Some of the R66 fans here are in the more serious collectors class than myself so the "line" that we draw regarding acceptable xfrs to DVD will vary. Myself, I'm having a very hard time viewing the R66 S1 set. I didn't buy the "Best Of" set so I can't compare xfr Q with that set vs the later release. The thing that a lot of us here have wondered about is the point that you mentioned. If cleaner xfrs were available then why didn't Roxbury use them? Liscencing costs? Perhaps. But for myself this set is not an acceptable TV/DVD release due to the xfr issues.

When I compare this set to, say, the Image sets (Dick Van Dyke, Combat!), those sets are far better xfrs than R66. And the Image sets aren't pristine A+ xfrs like the Fugitive & Untouchables sets.

Re: Best of Route 66

Yes, welcome aboard, my friend.

It's somewhat of a revelation to me that back in the day you could pay more to get better quality prints for syndicated reruns.

I suppose back then for film TV shows it was a choice of 16mm, 35mm and for some pre-transferred broadcast video. I remember the syndication promo on the Here's Lucy set which basically made a big deal about how the show was available pre-transferred to broadcast video from 35mm.

Re: Best of Route 66

My biggest complaint is if you are going to do a really cheap release of the series, the price should reflect it. This set looks so bad that they should have only charged 30 dollars for the COMPLETE season. They are many sets to different shows out there that are a lot cheaper and are of high quality.

Re: Best of Route 66

Thank you and I agree about the 1" copies, they were very clean. Viacom stores a good chunk of their programming (past and present) at a place called "Library 55" on West 55th street in NYC, but in the case of Route 66, it's unlikely those 1" masters are still in that particular library.

Re: Best of Route 66

Season 1, Volume 2 coming February 5, 2008

Amazon is showing a February 5th release date for season 1, volume 2:

http://www.amazon.com/Route-66-Seaso...7294321&sr=1-2

A previous online report suggested that we might see volume 2 by Christmas, but this isn't too far off. I have no idea what sales figures were for volume 1, but this is a pretty quick followup to volume 1, which was released in late October . . . . just a little over three months, so I'm assuming that sales were strong.

Re: Best of Route 66

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Re: Best of Route 66

Hi Everyone:

I'm new to the forum and I have some new information. Infinity is scheduled to release, Route 66: Season 1 V.2 (4pc) on February 5th, 2008. The information should be available on Amazon and other retailers today. It appears that they did pretty well on sales with the first one.

Re: Best of Route 66

Route 66 wasn't a Viacom property. It was distributed by Columbia.

Re: Best of Route 66

DeepDiscount.com now has season 1, volume 2 up for pre-order for $18.44 shipped (40 cents less than the current selling price of volume 1). Details here:

Movies Top Sellers - Route 66-1st Season V.02

Re: Best of Route 66

At that price, it's definitely worth it, I think, bad prints and all. I'd still rather pay $10 more for a beautiful, crisp B&W picture, but the low price makes it bearable.

Re: Best of Route 66

Infinity Entertainment finally has an online catalog and is showing artwork for season 1, volume 2 of "Route 66:"

Infinity Entertainment Group

To borrow a line from Herman's Hermits . . . . . "second verse, same as the first."

Re: Best of Route 66

Bob,

Mom mentioned R66 to me and we're going to view one of the V1 episodes later today (Friday's are our weekly DVD-viewing day )

She knew about R66 back then from its reputation so I owe it to Mom to try to "get past" the xfr issues.

Thanks to you guys, she "flipped" over the Fugitive. Also a "big" Big Valley fan. Great stuff from that "golden age" of broadcasting.

I'd most likely have not "discovered" these 50's-60's series without you so Thanks for a cool 2007

Jeff "hanging in there trying with R66" W.

Re: Best of Route 66

Here's a strange one for you. A week after releasing season 1, volume 2 of "Route 66" on February 5th, Infinity Entertainment Group is showing another release titled "Route 66 - The Television Series." This is a single disc release with "Six One Hour Episodes Digitally Transferred from Original Masters hand selected from all seasons" and a retail selling price of $14.98. DeepDiscount is showing a shipped price on this single disc for $10.09. Here's the limited information at Infinity Entertainment's site:

Infinity Entertainment Group

I wonder if Infinity is trying to get this single disc release into some of the big box stores like Walmart who would not likely handle the season releases. Last year, Walmart released an abbreviated, two-disc version of "Ironside" season 1, while the full season set was nowhere to be found there.

Re: Best of Route 66

I guess the image quality wasn't quite bad enough for Roxbury on their first set Season One Volume One. Now they want to cram six shows on to one disc. Sounds like a real winner.

Re: Best of Route 66

Why don't they just re-release the 11-episode best-of they (or Roxbury) previously released if they want to offer a sampler?

Amazon.com: Best of Route 66 - Eleven Original TV Series episodes: DVD: Robert Redford; Robert Duvall; James Caan; Alan Alda;Stephanie Powers; Suzanne Pleshette; Boris Karloff; Peter Lorie; Walter Matthau; Martin Sheen; Leslie Nielsen; Ronny Howard;

Re: Best of Route 66

And yet another strange "Route 66" release from Infinity/Roxbury . . . on March 18th they are showing a single-disc, three-episode release.

Infinity Entertainment Group

Here are the episodes included on each of the two single disc releases:

Six-episode release (Feb. 12): 'Eleven the Hard Way' (Walter Matthau), 'The Strengthening Angels' (Suzanne Pleshette), 'And the Cat Jumped Over the Moon' (James Caan and Martin Sheen), 'Poor Little Kangaroo Rat' (Ron Howard and Leslie Neilsen), 'Soda Pop and Paper Flags' (Alan Alda), 'A Cage in Search of a Bird'.

Three-episode release (March 18): 'Eleven the Hard Way' (Walter Matthau), 'And the Cat Jumped Over the Moon' (James Caan and Martin Sheen), and 'Lizard's Leg and Owlet's Wing' (Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, Lon Chaney).

I have to believe that these are being released for either impulse buyers or for brick & mortar retailers unwilling to stock the (split) season sets. Note that the description for the three-episode disc says "Perfect for supermarkets and drug store chains."

Re: Best of Route 66

"Supermarkets"? I don't envision this appearing at the one I shop at. This is all a bit befuddling to me and wonder if these sampler sets feature just the few sharper, cleaned up prints that Infinity/Roxbury has in its possession. As the "Best of" set featured Pleshette, Karloff, Ron Howard, Nielson and Matthau it's obvious that this is being recycled for these two additional sets. That indicates to me that episodes for which the transfers rate 8-10 for quality are possibly quite few in number--unfortunately.

Re: Best of Route 66

Some encouraging news for fans of "Route 66" on a couple of counts; an online interview with Roxbury Entertainment owner Kirk Hallam indicates that season 2, volume 1 will be coming in May, with George Maharis commentaries on select episodes. Regarding the audio visual quality of the season 1, volume 1 set and future sets, here's what Hallam had to say . . .

"Roxbury is trying to ensure more uniform episode quality with future “Route 66″ releases. Although a “very, very small percentage” of consumers complained about the first DVD compilation, “in order to make them happy with subsequent releases, we are in the process of transferring from fine-grain masters of film to high-definition digital so they all have the same quality … as with the best-of DVD we put out in 2005,” Hallam said. Fine-grain masters are duplicates of the original film when it was shot.

Hallam explained that Roxbury was forced to use videotape for a few episodes of the first DVD release. “There was some urgency,” he said. “We were trying to meet the street date and get them out before the holidays. We found we were not able to locate all the fine-grain masters in time to do that. They’re in vaults all up and down the East Coast. But we have them now.”

He said the original film stock of “Route 66″ is in a vault in Burbank, Calif., stored by Screen Gems / Sony. “But the archivists have begged me not to use that original film,” he said.

“Route 66″ eventually will be released in high-definition DVDs. However, Hallam is waiting for a clear victor to emerge in the battle between the HD DVD and Blu-ray formats before releasing it."

Full interview here:

A chat with Kirk Hallam « Route 66 News

I'm greatly encouraged by this news to say the least.

Re: Best of Route 66

Great news, Bob! Thanks for sharing that info with us. At least we now know what happened with some of those atrocious prints from the first volume, and we can look for better stuff from future releases.

Gary "I'm so glad this issue was resolved" O.

Re: Best of Route 66

Thanks for passing that link along, Bob. Very good news indeed. He doesn't say whether the fine grain masters were used for the second volume coming out in February, though. I guess we'll know soon enough.

I'm especially pleased that George Maharis was available for some commentaries. He was 59 when I ran into him and talked about the show back in 1988, so he's close to 79 now. And he had trouble remembering the actresses he worked with back then! But I'm sure his enthusiasm for the show will still show through and it's a great tribute to have him on there. Buz will live forever!

Re: Best of Route 66

That really is some very encouraging news. I may just have to purchase a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player just to get crisp looking prints of R66. I guess this may be one of those eventual "double-dip" affairs for me as who knows just how long the high def version will get released.


Well that's stretching the truth just a bit, though. Most of us in this thread were disappointed with the image quality and a good percentage of reviewers on Amazon felt much the same way as I recall.

Re: Best of Route 66

Hey guys, I think better transfers are coming our way already with the second half of S1!

Route 66 DVD news: Announcements for more DVDs | TVShowsOnDVD.com

Also, congratulations to Bob Hug (Keeping you and me informed on the status of classic tv releases over the span of 1,000 posts.) Here's to the next 1,000, Bob.

Re: Best of Route 66

Hopefully they'll now do this series right, with transfers of complete episodes from fine-grain masters.... If they do, they should at some point go back and re-do that first release...

Re: Best of Route 66

Or release a complete series run in one set. (HD)

Re: Best of Route 66

To anyone else who ordered Season 1, Volume 2 on Deep Discount DVD, I see it shipped yesterday (Jan. 29th).

Re: Best of Route 66

Mine shipped yesterday. I can't wait as this is a classic series that for the most part I have never seen. I really enjoyed the first 15 shows and went through them in no time.

Re: Best of Route 66

Got this set (Vol. 2) in the mail from DDD today and have spot-checked several episodes ("Fly Away Home," "Absence of Tears," etc.). Looks pretty good. Certainly better than my previous transferred videos. I don't think these are fine-grain re-masters, but they look pretty sharp - at least the daytime scenes.

I'll leave the more technical analysis up to the experts as they weigh in, but from a layman fan's POV, I'm pretty happy with these. Same awkward packaging as the first set, and those brittle flip disc holders have already chipped a notch (ugh), but it feels good to have the whole first season side by side finally. Keep 'em coming Infinity.