Best of Route 66 - Page 14

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If the S1V1 set is remastered, I'm "in like Flynn" for this release.

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We think alike, Jeff. That's the determining factor as to whether or not I'll double-dip.

Gary "I really do hope they go the extra mile and use the better transfers that they said they had access to" O.

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Right now DVD Planet is having their 20% off sale and they've mistakenly listed Route 66 - Season 1 as being both in-stock and $29.99 (that's $23.99 after the discount: 20offsale).

This has got to be some kind of cock up but the UPC is the same as the complete season 1 set as is the picture. I placed an order and it went through - we'll see.

Anyway, FYI to whoever is interested.

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Thanks Bob -

This kind of mistake on preorders is pretty common for them - several other upcoming titles (eg. the restored High Noon, Mishima, etc.) are similarly mis-listed but since their system recognizes them as being eligible for the sale, others have been snapping them up in this sale.

The good thing about DVD Planet is that if it is their mistake, they'll honor it. My order will most likely stay open until August when the set actually gets released - but since the UPC is for the complete first season, (split season sets are listed separately) that's what they are obligated to supply.

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Perhaps this should be a new thread, but TVShowsOnDVD is reporting that there might be some kind of reparation offered by Infinity for purchasers of the first two sets of Route 66 Season 1 releases ....

Route 66 DVD news: Upgrade Path for Route 66 Season 1 half-season set owners | TVShowsOnDVD.com

I called the number and spoke with Jeremy who said the normal DVD guy Chris Clayton was unavailable, but that people could go on Infinity's website and use the contact us link to make inquiries. He did suggest that:

Route 66 Season 1 Volume 2 has been remastered in 4:3 aspect without the cropping for the August 5 release.

He did not confirm whether the first volume image was cleaned up or not, nor did he confirm when the Second Season release date would be.

Anyway, it's worth a shot to contact them about some kind of reparation for us first-dippers.

Infinity Entertainment Group

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Thanks Wayne for the link. I just sent a polite email to them asking for replacements for S1V1,S1V2, based on the existing rumours. I sure hope this all results in good news for the fans who purchased the problematic sets.

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A marketing rep from Infinity took the time to email me back the following response to my inquiry about a possible trade-in policy for the first two problematic volumes of Route 66 for the full season set coming in August:

"Unfortunately I can not confirm any procedure in place. The new release is not available yet. I would suggest consumers contact the number in the article.

I also do not know about the image source, but I can confirm the cropping and aspect ratio have been corrected."

This suggests to me that we probably won't get a better image for Season 1, Volume 1. Still, at least they addressed the cropping image, and I sent a polite reponse back to, hopefully, encourage more season sets, and the best quality possible ....

"Thanks for your response. I know it's got to seem a little weird to have all these baby boomer TV fans getting so picky about releases and presentations of B&W shows 40 years old. Part of it is comfort food, recaptured childhood memories, etc., but part of it is also lack of anything worthwhile or well written on now. It's just a vast wasteland of cheaply-produced reality shows, or recycled ideas and hack scripts. There is a growing movement for viewers to program their own viewing schedule and these releases are now a big part of that movement, which, from a marketing standpoint, I think has the potential to reach beyond just the boomers who were originally fans of these shows. Especially for a series like Route 66, which was character-story-location based and holds up incredibly well after all these years. Like the road itself, it's a classic and timeless piece of Americana. That's why we became so vocal and picky about treating it well.

Thanks again for your attention on this."

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Of course, mere hours after the marketing guy emails me back and is cagey with revealing more details about the set .... an official press release:

Route 66 DVD news: Press Release for Route 66 - The Complete 1st Season | TVShowsOnDVD.com

I guess they have to go through official channels, or established contacts. But there's nothing in the release about the compromised former sets or the luckless people who purchased them and will now have to purchase this one (if there's no trade in policy).

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If these were restored prints, wouldn't they be bragging left and right about it?

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David,

This one's a sure buy for me but I'm waiting until we get some feedback here that the S1V1 set was remastered. I'm one of those that bought the first S1V1 set and will wait for reviews here before double-dipping. I do think that Infinity is making a "class" move with some sort of refund or possible "credit" arrangement for those that bought the first releases. That's a refreshing thing to see as a TV/DVD buyer these days.

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I am in the exact same boat you are with S1V1...by the way, what in your opinion is the best episode on S1V1--have not seen them all yet.

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Hi David! The season 1, vol. 1 release was my first exposure to ROUTE 66 and I was blown away by the content if not always the video quality. As for the episodes, they're all good to varying degrees in my opinion, but for my money the best is probably "Man on a Monkey Board" (in nice shape video-wise as well), with "Layout at Glen Canyon" a runner-up mainly for the jaw-dropping finale where the actors are running pell mell through a series of explosions. Never seen an action scene quite like it before, and was very impressed, to say the least.

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Thanks for your post...I'll take a look at them.

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"Play It Glissando" also looks pretty good.

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I received the Complete Season One release Thursday. The packaging is almost identical- the same two digipacks in a larger slipcase. There is a sticker on the shrinkwarp crowing about the aspect ratio correction, and indeed this has been fixed. All of the episodes are now in the OAR. The bad news is that nothing has been done to the first 15 episodes. "A Fury Slinging Flame" is still the syndication, edited version, and none of the poor quality prints have been replaced. Sadly, this is as good as we're going to get (legitimately) for one of the greatest shows in US TV history.

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Good news about the aspect ratio but not-so-good to hear about the first 15 episodes.

Was this a review copy? Other orders still don't seem to have shipped.

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Todd,

Thanks for the early info on the S1 set. Since the S1V1 xfrs haven't been re-done, I won't be getting the set. To each their own but for me, the S1V1 video Q was such that I can't enjoy viewing the show. I still have the original S1V1 set but it's on the shelf mostly un-viewed.

I guess the question I wonder about is, why didn't Infinity remaster these episodes? Only they know the answer, I guess. Possibly due to budget constraints or lack of availabilty of master elements? Wasn't the S1V2 xfrs far better video Q (excluding the matted issue)?

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I can't tell everyone how bummed I am about Infinity not fixing the first 15 episodes. I really, really had a good feeling that they would and now that word has come that they didn't, I don't believe I'll be buying this set. That's how upset I am at this news. Seems to me I distinctly remember Infinity coming out with a statement about the first set transfers, saying something to the effect that the poor prints were a simple mistake and that they did have access to the cleaner copies. This is why I was convinced they would do this show justice and redo that first half portion of the dvds.

Gary "not a happy camper" O.

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Gary, I agree 100%. I would have bet Tod's 'Vette that the S1V1's would have been cleaned up for the full-season release.

Here's another theory as a possibility on why they might have had the means but perhaps decided to re-release the S1V1's unchanged: My memory may be faulty here (sure wouldn't be a first ), but didn't I read something back when the original S1V1 set was released about Infinity stating that "We had almost no complaints about the video quality itself (S1V1) but that the main customer feedback issues were regarding the S1V2 cropped issue".....or something to that effect.

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I missed it if that was mentioned by a spokesman for Infinity, but it wouldn't surprise me that much. Frankly, I think both issues were well documented as frustrating fans of the show.

Gary "Jeff, if you find that quote please share it" O.

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10-4, Gary. I might have remembered it from a news post at TSoD where Gord or Dave received that info from Infinity back at the time when the S1V1 xfr Q was being discussed here and perhaps at another forum...does Infinity have a Cust Feedback Forum of their own?

Anyway, I do remember a sense here at HTF that I wasn't in the majority opinion regarding the S1V1 print Q. As I posted back then, the video Q parameter is always going to be a subjective "call" for the individual.

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I think I've found the source of both your memory on this subject and my memory too, Jeff. Bob Hug quoted someone from Roxbury concerning the poor quality of the first set, and within the quote are elements of what you mentioned and what I've mentioned:




As you can see, the person being quoted does indeed mention that a "small percentage" of people complained about the quality - a comment that was clearly designed as damage control, attempting to minimize the problem.

But also, you can see that they are admitting they could have cleaned up the prints they had but instead wanted to meet some self-imposed deadline, and/or they could have gotten better prints to begin with. In any case, it's clear they could have given us clean prints for those first 15 episodes but decided not to. That's a real shame. And it was the gentleman's last sentence in the second paragraph that I was remembering, and that's why I thought they'd redo the first set. He says "we have them now", meaning they do have the better prints. So why didn't they redo that first set for this release of a full Season 1? Seems a shame.


Gary "after re-reading these quotes, I'm more disappointed than ever at Infinity and Roxbury" O.

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Yeah, I was not optimistic about the image issue for the first volume after speaking to a rep at Infinity and also getting this email. If they had used better sources and improved that first volume, they would not have been reluctant to confirm or crow about it.

And still no word on any exchange program for the second season. And to replace it, we have to purchase this entire package. Not cool. But thanks for the update and confirmation, Todd.

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Yet they apparently had the prints on hand to do so had they wanted to. Thus my disappointment with the company.

Gary "thanks for that quote Wayne - I had missed that the first time around because I stopped following the thread for a while - had I known you spoke to someone I wouldn't have been optimistic to begin with" O.

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Well, this is highly discouraging to say the least, just what I needed to read following the major disappointment I suffered with "The Fugitive". Two of the greatest dramas of all time and both botched...

Gary, Jeff, my sentiments parallel yours where the frustration over Roxbury/Infinity having access to the masters are concerned. Teasing fans and raising false hopes and at the last minute resorting to the mantra of "why take the chance on spending more and releasing clean, unedited episodes? After all, sales were (probably) lackluster the first time around".

God, the old "catch-22" is all over this classic tv-on-dvd business, isn't it? Fall way short of meeting customer expectations and then come to a false conclusion over consumer interest. I'm predicting that R/I most likely won't release all 4 seasons of "Route 66". I'm definitely not purchasing S1 either and like Jeff, I can't really stomach putting on an episode of the half season set when I have older shows like "Wild Wild West" that put the audio/visual quality of R66 to shame in such a big way.

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I really believe it is a catch-22, just as you say Michael. And there's not a thing we can do about it. The worst part, which you mentioned initially, is that two of greatest, elite, vintage TV shows have been treated shabbily.

Gary "this whole business can really take me on a roller coaster of emotions" O.

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And what makes it all the more befuddling is that one would expect that over time, things should at least continue at a steady clip a la "Rawhide" or "Mannix" by now. How can a company at this juncture not be cognizant of classic-tv fans perfectionistic slant and eye for detail by this time? I mean, how many stray reviews does a company need to glance at before they realize "hey, these nostalgia guys don't miss a thing." And then to pull a ridiculous stunt like swapping out an original music score, cropping the picture, offering up substandard, obviously edited prints, etc. My wife can figure it out, for crying out loud. Meet customer expectations and everyone's happy. Simple. I know I'm treading dangerously close to the old "but the unit sales potential for a bunch of old baby boomers just isn't there" idea--but you know what, I just don't buy it.

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Mike,

If I understand you with the 'Boomer #'s angle, you're wondering why these older shows don't blow out the more current show sets by a wide margin. If that's what you were getting at, it's something that I've wondered about since I started TVD/DVD collecting around '02-03. We all know that there are a large # of 'Boomers out there, including myself. I'm assuming that they aren't buying these releases in large #"s or we'd see a lot more of these shows out there and fast-tracked. That has always puzzled me about the TV/DVD segment of the industry. Perhaps most of the 'Boomers aren't interested in revisiting these shows that they watched during their original airings.

Getting back to R66 & other older show releases, imo, the main issue regarding the glitches with the older show's DVD's is something that Gary posted either in this or another thread about the need for someone working at these studios being in a position to "champion" the older show's releases. I'd expect that, in the case of R66 as an example. the studio personnel that make the decisions and are responsible for getting the sets mfg'ed & marketed aren't familiar with the product. I wonder how many have seen R66.

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I wasn't explicit enough, but what I feel is that if a company would provide a little more TLC with these older releases and basically do what Paramount does (before the "Fugitive" S2 gaff, of course), they should be amply rewarded. I know we can be a critical lot, but IMO we also are quick to deliver heaps of praise and spread the word if the release meets the satisfaction of fans. I think that R/I really blew it big time with R66 with the poor transfers and image cropping. This show had the potential to grab many, many people who both saw the show and also know of it by way of their interest in Route 66, the old highway, as witnessed by the many sites devoted to it. In fact, as a helpful crossover to reach those fans, R/I should have included a documentary/gallery/facts about the highway itself as a special feature.

And yes, agree fully with you, Jeff--not having someone in a company that is "in the know" where fan interests and concerns are, is just about the greatest mistake a company like Roxbury can make. Even Paramount seems to have forgotten this. All they had to do ask just one bona fide "Fugitive" fan about a wholesale swap of the music score vs. product delay and how he'd feel about new composers names glibly inserted into the original closing credits as though they were part of the original production team. Now what expert, be it an Ed Robertson or Mel Proctor, for example (writers of "Fugitive" books) isn't going to turn white as a sheet at the thought?