Best of Route 66

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I e-mailed Infinity to tell them how let down and hacked off I am by the faux-letterboxing of R66:S1v2, but I'm not holding my breath for a response, much less a remedy. Like some of the early posters on this issue, my sense is that the company is both clueless and fixated on the bottom line. It's a shame, especially considering how lovingly shows like The Fugitive and Hawaii Five-0 have been treated on DVD. Hell, I would've been happier with the crummy, VHS-quality transfers and hissy sound quality of volume 1 on this set if it'd been full-frame.

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Not only chopped heads, but there are instances where necks and even chins are missing at the bottom of the screen. I think that closeup/dialog scenes suffer the most from the cropping.

I came across an online review that, strangely, doesn't even mention the cropping; perhaps the screener copy was full frame?

Blogger News Network / DVD Review: Route 66: Season 1, Volume 2

David, I know that you're a major fan of "The Fugitive," and so one can fantasize as to what "Route 66" would have looked like had Paramount had ownership of it.

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Just received this email from IEG ..

Then why did they put the "cable teevee" version on DVD?
Looks like they want to sell it to us again at a later date..

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Why does making it HD quality involve making it cropped? I would imagine wider screen films will still maintain their aspect ratio on HD cable channels with black bars on top and bottom. This makes no sense. We must make contact with whatever TV station intends to air these this way and put a stop to this evil before it is too late.

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Well, my set came in with the familiar broken hinges on the plastic dvd tray, making 4-out-of-5 of my most recent dvd purchases having arrived in the mail either broken or banged-up. But, that's a fairly moot point, regarding this latest "Route 66" set.

I was rather hoping the cropping wasn't quite as bad as it sounded. Sometimes these things get blown up out of proportion, after all. Maybe it was just a little smidgen off the top and the bottom. Nope. It looks horrid. I watched about ten seconds of an episode, and turned it off. I'm sending the set back. Pretty exasperating. As I might have mentioned on an earlier post, this is my all-time favorite tv-series, so it really kills me to see what a farce the dvd's have become.

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[quote=Tory]Why does making it HD quality involve making it cropped? I would imagine wider screen films will still maintain their aspect ratio on HD cable channels with black bars on top and bottom. This makes no sense.[quote]

That response from Infinity was uninformed nonsense or deliberate obfuscation! It's not necessary to convert the image to 16:9 to make if HD. Otherwise, if an old film like Casablanca was released on Blu-Ray, it would have to be cropped, too. But it isn't. HD does not limit the image.

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I'm afraid that your average TV consumer would not think that it was in HD with the bars on the side. Obviously the material can be in HD and keep the original aspect ratio - Just look at two of the HD-DVD releases of Casablanca, and Robin Hood. They received HD treatment and they maintained their proper 4:3 aspect ratio. I really don't think that Roxbury knows what they are talking about.

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This is what I am afraid of, it starts off here in unfortunately little known Route 66 on TV and DVD next it spreads to films like Casablanca on TV, well Warner seems to know now that this is a mistake after Kung-Fu Season 1 but I could see things going down hill, like It's a Wonderful Life's NBC Christmas airings, adding in colorization as well.

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Couldn't they take a little more off the bottom and less off the top?

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I'm going to do the same thing after attempting to take a second look at the set today. And like Bert, I literally couldn't watch it. I mean I literally was becoming sick trying to watch this abomination and I couldn't do it - so it's going back. What a shame.

Gary "it's not just a little bit of cropping either - they lopped off way too much!" O.

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Perhaps there should have been a disclaimer on this set . . . .

This television show has been modified from its original version. It has been formatted to fit your widescreen TV.

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Perhaps they should NOT have issued a totally DISHONEST press release four days before release?

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I left a message for Kirk Halam's assistant a few days ago and I've not gotten a call back yet. Hmmmmm, I wonder why?

I was really hoping I wouldn't have to transfer over a hundred hours from Super Beta but I guess they've left me no choice. And we thought that after the first set they put out that they had to improve.

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I'm beginning to wonder if the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing--in other words, perhaps those in charge of the press release were not aware of the sins commited by those transferring the show to DVD.

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It's over - the damage was intentional - because hi-def REQUIRES 16/9.

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Yeah, I just got that email too from Thornblad explaining the decision to format for 16:9. But is this true that they basically have to tilt and scan vertically to avoid any distortion? Is the HD Casablanca version distorted? Or do they just allow there to be side bars on the HD version?

This could be a trend that needs to be nipped in the bud before it's applied to all classic old TV shows retooled for HD. Sure it's great to seek new markets and viewers, but the most critical market is always going to be the original fans of these classic shows. It's better to please them than to risk displeasing new viewers with side bars. Hell, if the show's good enough, would they really mind? Everyone's used to seeing bars somewhere.

Just ranting. What else can we do? I don't see an offer to exchange or correct this and offer replacements in the future.

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This is one reason I DETEST widescreen formatting. I want the picture to fill my entire screen, not just a portion of it. Not everyone has hi-def widescreen TVs. Why couldn't they just transfer the image the way it was originally intended to be broadcast?

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But such is the future of TV.

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But such is a load of bull, black bars are needed and idiots can zoom all they want to see it their way.

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There's no reasonable justification for this other than ignorance. All of the excuses are just that. I feel badly for Infinity as they are the ones who are left to try to explain away this nonsense.

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Nope (see attached . . . . )

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Wayne, I couldn't agree with you more. If Roxbury wants to modify the original format of "Route 66" for widescreen television broadcasts, fine, it's their property and they can do with it as they see fit (and, for the record, I don't agree with their decision to do so). But the decision to modify "Route 66" for SD DVD just doesn't make sense to me, especially when volume 1 was released in the correct full screen format. It seems to me that Roxbury/Infinity should have released the series full screen for standard definition DVDs and then, when the HD/Blu Ray war is over, offer the series in the modified format. The whole of the message of the press release seems to be looking at the future and ignoring the present.

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Here's a must read/view on the subject from Stephen Bowie who has previously posted his comments in this thread . . . .

86 This 66: The TV Classic Route 66 Hits a Dead End on the Hi-Def Highway « The Classic TV History Blog

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And I couldn't agree more with THAT assessment, Bob. I wrote a letter to Mr. Thornblad after receiving a reply from IEG yesterday.

By the way, there's a line in the attached document I received with a textbook non-sequitur: "Since the restoration process utilized the original 35mm film assets, the goal was to do a high definition transfer, updating the aspect ratio for broadcast on new HD TVs". Logical fallacy if ever there was one.

The fact that no other studio is currently altering the AR of 4:3 formatted tv shows to 16:9 (at least that I'm aware of), demonstrates what a misguided, rogue concept this is. WB realized their mistake following the release of "Kung Fu" S1 and never repeated it since.

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Indispensible commentary on this blatant snafu, to say the least--thanks for that link, Bob.

Best part is summed up in one line by Mr. Bowie: "It seems to me that Inifinity is trying to have it both ways: 'Oops, we messed up' and 'Forced widescreen is good for you - learn to like it'".

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They would sell more units and win back favor if they remove this now, destroy the DVDs, show video footage of their destruction and instead of approaching Season 2 next, release an OAR fully restored Complete Route 66 Season 1 instead or better yet, the Complete series OAR and restored.

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While we're at it, no colorization, no DVD-18s...have I left out anything?

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That would be nice but it ain't gonna happen. Although I could see them abandoning this stupid idea for the next set. The more I think about it, the more I think it's just complete cluelessness on the part of Roxbury and them having absolutely no quality control. I can just picture them handing the elements to a transfer facility - going, here, take these - and then not checking what is being done. They are not a professional outfit, nor are they amateurs with a great love for the material. The only company they remind me of is Questar, the people who butchered the Joey Bishop Show and season 5 Make Room for Daddy sets. This is what happens when you trust valuable properties to hacks.

Wanna get a pool going as to what they do to f*** up the next set? Colorization? Bad picture? Audio commentary replacing the soundtrack? Inverted image? Syndication masters?

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According to this interview with Kirk Hallam, season 2, volume 1 is tentatively projected for a May release with George Maharis commentary on selected episodes.

A chat with Kirk Hallam « Route 66 News

I can hear Mr. Maharis now . . . . . "Hey, what happened to the top of my head?"

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LOL...I can read the press release now: "Route 66, compete with extra bonus footage of us destroying our mistake..."