Best of Route 66 - Page 10

Gary OS · 02-02-2008, 06:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hollywoodaholic

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.

I knew someone would be posting tonight about getting the set early. I just knew it. You lucky dog, you.

Very good news about the transfers. This makes me feel a lot better about the overall series being released.

Gary "did you pay for expedited shipping, Wayne?" O.

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Hollywoodaholic · 02-03-2008, 11:53 AM

No on expedited shipping, Gary, but it was shipped on 29th and I got it Feb. 2, which is pretty good for DDD. I'm also in Florida, and I don't know what warehouse it ships from.

There are about 20 minutes of classic commercials on Disc 4, alternating between Chevrolet, Bayer and Milk of Magnesia. But having all those Corvair ads on a show featuring a Corvette is an ironic (and historical) hoot. Where's Ralph Nader? The Impala ad featuring the family car zipping along the beaches near Cape Canaveral and the Saturn rockets is also a great nostalgia trip.

Spot checking more episodes; "Welcome to Amity" with Susan Oliver is remarkably pristine clear. But most episodes just look very good. And there's the recently late Lois Nettleton in "The Opponent" on Disc 4. I'm sure there will be quibbles on the sound, though, but there would probably have to be some serious restoration to bring the sound up to today's standards.

All in all, I think everyone will be pleasantly surprised.

Bob Hug · 02-06-2008, 06:03 AM

Well I received my set yesterday and, frankly, I don't know whether to laugh or cry. First, the good news; I watched the first two episodes (a good two-parter titled "Fly Away Home" with the great Michael Rennie) and can confirm Wayne's earlier comments that the episodes look better than what was presented in volume 1 (that's based only on watching the first two episodes and spot checking the other two episodes on disc 1). The visuals aren't in the same category as the "The Untouchables" or "The Fugitive," but they still look pretty good to my eyes and represent an improvement.

Now for the bad news, Roxbury and/or Infinity have matted the top and bottom of the episodes to give it a FAKE WIDESCREEN look. So in certain scenes, the tops of the actors heads are missing. This might not be readily apparent to people who have never seen the show, but after releasing the first 15 episodes in volume 1 in the correct, full-screen aspect ratio, it becomes glaringly apparent.

I really wish there was some way to get to Kirk Hallam at Roxbury or the folks at Infinity to provide some constructive feedback to them. I feel like they have taken three steps forward with the improved visuals but two steps backward with the matting. This is a frustrating release and reminds me of the old tune "Look what they've done to my song, Ma"!!!

michael_ks · 02-06-2008, 08:09 AM

Quote:

Now for the bad news, Roxbury and/or Infinity have matted the top and bottom of the episodes to give it a FAKE WIDESCREEN look. So in certain scenes, the tops of the actors heads are missing. This might not be readily apparent to people who have never seen the show, but after releasing the first 15 episodes in volume 1 in the correct, full-screen aspect ratio, it becomes glaringly apparent.

Well that is most unfortunate, Bob and I'm just stymied by such an egregious alteration as this. So the image gives the appearance of looking like a 16:9 AR but is still really 4:3 with a portion of the top and bottom masked? Just great.

I admire Mr. Hallam and Roxbury/Infinity for getting the show released and for fast tracking it as well, but boy between this and the poor image quality in set 1, they really are quite the neophyte in this tv on dvd thing. They really have no idea when it comes to meeting 'classic tv' consumer expectations.

Bob Hug · 02-06-2008, 08:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michael_ks

So the image gives the appearance of looking like a 16:9 AR but is still really 4:3 with a portion of the top and bottom masked?

Unfortunately, yes.

Mike*HTF · 02-06-2008, 08:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michael_ks

I admire Mr. Hallam and Roxbury/Infinity for getting the show released and for fast tracking it as well, but boy between this and the poor image quality in set 1, they really are quite the neophyte in this tv on dvd thing. They really have no idea when it comes to meeting 'classic tv' consumer expectations.

I agree and it amazes me why they would go to such lengths to bring out a title that obviously depends on "niche" market sales and then turn around and ignore the preferences of that market so completely.

ky658 · 02-06-2008, 08:24 AM

I received mine yesterday (2/5) and spot checked them as well, a marked improvement over S1, Vol 1. I'm going to guess that we'll eventually see a Box set release at some point after the initial releases.

Gary OS · 02-06-2008, 08:53 AM

That's horrible news, Bob. My copy is in the mail but I'm not looking forward to it as much now. I just can't believe they would do that. Talk about messing a release up - ugh.

Gary "what are those guys thinking?" O.

jdee28 · 02-06-2008, 08:54 AM

They gave the episodes a widescreen look? Are they kidding? Why?

Guy Foulard · 02-06-2008, 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michael_ks

Well that is most unfortunate, Bob and I'm just stymied by such an egregious alteration as this. So the image gives the appearance of looking like a 16:9 AR but is still really 4:3 with a portion of the top and bottom masked? Just great.

This seems really odd to me. I hesitate to suggest it, Bob, but are you sure your tv or dvd player isn't zooming the image to fit the screen? I can do that with 4:3 images on my tv. Maybe there's some authoring on the discs that's making your hardware zoom in.

Roxbury's press release is very specific: "Enjoy this treasured television classic (episodes 16-30) in a special four-disc, collector's set. Presented in full frame, with an aspect ratio of 4:3, special features include cast biographies." I guess it's possible they could still screw it up, since the prints looked so murky the first time...

I'll check my discs as soon as I receive them. Has anyone else noticed this?

Bob Hug · 02-06-2008, 09:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guy Foulard

This seems really odd to me. I hesitate to suggest it, Bob, but are you sure your tv or dvd player isn't zooming the image to fit the screen? I can do that with 4:3 images on my tv. Maybe there's some authoring on the discs that's making your hardware zoom in.

Jason, there were no changes from my TV and DVD set-up from watching the volume 1 discs and volume 2. I suppose that it could be some authoring changes on volume 2 that are different from volume 1, but I don't think so . . . . . it really looks like an artificial matte to me. I don't have state of the art equipment nor am I a technical person, so who knows. All I can say is that when I watch volume 1 episodes, they're projected correctly in the full screen format and the volume 2 episodes are projected widescreen. I'll watch another episode this evening on a different TV and DVD set-up that I have in my bedroom to see if there's any difference and report back tomorrow. I'm sure others will weigh in on this issue as they begin to receive their copies.

Hollywoodaholic · 02-06-2008, 09:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guy Foulard

This seems really odd to me. Has anyone else noticed this?

I didn't notice it when spot-checking my set, but then why would I even be looking for such a thing? Still, if it's masked and the image basically expanded to anamorphically fit the screen, wouldn't that also affect the sharpness? And these are much better than the first set. I'll look again.