Paul_Scott

Just how bad are the Little House On The Prarie sets?

was never a fan of the show, but i caught the first series ep over the holidays on TVLand and really enjoyed it and realized how much i've been craving entertainment that is more spiritually nutritous or uplifting.
of course i hated the show as a kid so i have no previous experience with it in depth.

i say that because i was reading reviews over on Amazon that mention the episodes on the dvd sets are butchered.
for fans of the show is it worth picking these up at all now?
how much material is generally cut per ep-if you don't know whats missing are you going to miss it? and how is the A/V quality aside from that?
also is the first season a strong one?

Allison

I haven't even bothered to pick up the LHOTP sets because the first...I think two season sets aren't captioned. I am hearing impaired, by the way, and I depend on captioning to enjoy a TV program. The later seasons are captioned, but it's not very fair to me that the first few aren't captioned.

Jeremy Stockwell

We have the 9 seasons that are available on DVD.

My main beef with them is the packaging. 6 discs per season in thin-paks that you have to fold all the way out to access them.

Other than that, I haven't had any problems with these sets. To me, episode for episode, Season 1 is probably one of the strongest seasons for the series.

I honestly didn't know that any of them were captioned.

I am also unaware if the episodes are edited in anyway.

JKS

You brought two too many.

Greg_S_H

I sort of forgive them the mistakes of the first two seasons, as I believe that was Imavision's first major DVD release. They were quick to address most of the issues. The two specific problems were:

No title sequence on most episodes
No captioning

They fixed both problems from season 3 onward. Unfortunately, the episodes are cut. They are syndication prints, and there is a lot missing. Also, the image quality is not great. Sometimes, it looks much better than it does on TV in syndication. Other times, it looks like a VHS dupe.

You used to be able to find a list of cut scenes here:

http://www.imavision.com/lhop/eStore...meNoFlash.html

It was in the Community section. It may still be there if you sift through one of the sections. Since I last read around the time S3 came out--and since it has the most posts--I'm guessing the lists are at the back of the "LHOP in General" section.

By the way, I stopped buying after S3. Part of it was the quality, part of it was the fact that I had seen the complete Little House twice shortly before the discs came out, and I wasn't in the mood to watch what I had. I may pick the rest up at some point, but I do wish they would be revisited with remastered, uncut prints.

Edit: Here's a pretty good thread that will run down some of the problems for you, along with Imavision's response.

http://www.imavision.com/lhop/eStore...oMessageID=269

Paul_Scott

thanks for that link Greg, it was ...i guess kind of helpful.

at the least i think i have a better idea of what to expect.
reading the first poster there (the only one, imo, who sounds like they know and understand a/v issues with the format) convinced me to forget about these until they get remastered somewhere down the line.
but then i read all the followups and what the other posters may have lacked in knowledge they made up for in enthusiasm and i'm left still kind of eager to pick the first season up.
(i have a Borders gift card buring a hole in my pocket)


the lack of the opening credit for all but the first show on the disc is going to be pretty annoying though.






prairie prairie prairie
(i need a spell checker permanently nailed to the side of my head)

Rob T

I've been buying the sets for my sister. She seems to be enjoying them and they're easy gifts to get.

My DVD collection

Chris Minogue

They're pretty bad. But I still collect them. I doubt the sets will ever be redone. I try not to think of it like I have LHOP on DVD - but like I am accessing TBS on demand or something.

DwayneH

I bought the first season for my wife. We have only watched 1 episode. I did not know that this series is also the syndicated version. I was going to buy the rest of the dvd sets but will pass. Thanks for the information. I won't buy "cut" sets.

Paul_Scott

see, this is why i hesitate. i would be watching these on an FP, and it doesn't sound like its going to be pleasant at a large size.
$50 is a lot of money to drop on a set if the quality isn't there (i know it is in the content of the show but...)

Gary OS