Re: "Leave It To Beaver: Season 2" -- A Personal Review
A FOOTNOTE CONCERNING THE LITB VIDEO QUALITY ISSUE:
I contacted USHE (Universal Studios Home Entertainment) by e-mail and asked them why the indoor scenes of LITB on DVD had so much more "grain" content in them as opposed to the outdoor shots (which absolutely sparkle in every respect, without any film grain to be seen in the out-of-doors scenes on both Season 1 and Season 2).
Here's the verbatim reply I received from USHE (a very quick e-mail reply, too, I might add):
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Subj: RE: Leave It To Beaver Seasons 1 & 2 - Inquiry # 57648
Date: 7/6/2006 5:18:05 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: USHE.ConsumerRelations@worldmarkinc.com
To: davevonpein@aol.com
"Dear Mr. Von Pein,
Thank you for contacting Universal Studios Home Entertainment. We strive to provide the highest standard in product quality and customer care. We have examined a copy of the 'Leave it to Beaver: the Complete Second Season' DVD, and find that it reflects the original film elements as supplied by the Studio.
Mid-1950's black-and-white television series such as 'Leave it to Beaver' were created on film of much lower resolution than today's color television sets, video monitors and DVD players are designed to reproduce. Therefore, image characteristics can appear quite different from more recent productions. We appreciate your patronage and hope that you will continue to enjoy our products. Sincerely, Universal Studios Home Entertainment."
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While I definitely appreciated getting the quick reply from Universal, it didn't fully address the question I posed to them. Because I also was very curious to know why in the heck the scenes filmed out-of-doors look totally grain-free on the DVDs vs. the grainier indoor portions of the episodes.
If, in fact,
"Mid-1950's black-and-white television series such as 'Leave it to Beaver' were created on film of much lower resolution than today's color television sets, video monitors and DVD players are designed to reproduce", as USHE told me, then HOW can the OUTDOOR scenes (filmed at the exact same time in the mid-'50s and on B&W film) look so perfect and grain-free? Shouldn't the ENTIRE episode look pretty much the same, either grainy or non-grainy?
That explanation from USHE is also not very convincing when you go and look at the DVD video quality of TV series like
"I Love Lucy" and
"The Andy Griffith Show" (both put out by Paramount), which both look excellent on the Digital Disc format, exhibiting minimal grain content (even during "indoor" scenes). And both of those TV shows are in B&W and were made at about the same approximate time as LITB (with "Lucy's" premiere even preceding "Beaver" by six years).
I guess the "resolution" of the LITB video is somehow bumped up when the crew filmed stuff out-of-doors. Ya think?? Beats me. It's still a mystery to this writer. But, anyway, at least I got a courteous reply from Universal, which pleased me.
Overall, however (as mentioned previously), I'm still pretty happy with the PQ on both the Season-One and Season-Two LITB DVD sets (despite the presence of the excessive film grain).
Anyway, just thought I'd pass along that USHE e-mail I received. I was surprised to get anything more than just a standard form letter of some kind. Somebody actually took time at USHE to write out a nice response to my inquiry (even though the main question I asked was not really addressed).
So, what do the HTF Experts think re. that explanation by Universal concerning this matter?
Does that person who wrote me have any idea what he/she is talking about? Or is Universal full of BS re. this topic? I really wouldn't know how to answer that. But I tend to lean toward the latter option, for reasons already stated above.
