Alfred Hitchcock Presents Coming To Dvd In 2005...i Hope!!!!!! (1 Viewer)

[JeffT.]

In response to Travis' message post a retail store will let a customer return a defective product just so many times and in my case I have to reship this item which was ordered online...something that could get on the expensive side.

This problem is obviously consistent and widespread and I'm very surprised that no one has (as yet) taken Universal Studios Home Entertainment to court over this issue since the company had been (for sometime now) marketing shoddy merchandise...surely a direct violation of the existing manufacturing practices and standards.

Where's Ralph Nader when he's needed?

At this (late) stage I really don't care whether I'm deprived of a good tv series or not. What possible use is it to anyone when the DVDs are not properly manufactured?

If someone here orders the upcoming DVD releases of LEAVE IT TO BEAVER (CBS 1957-58, ABC 1958-63) or THE MUNSTERS (CBS 1964-66) then you do so at your own risk...and will probably regret it!

It (now) seems apparent that the source elements used were taken from the current tv syndication video transfers and they get (much) worse in quality as one progresses further into the season.

I noticed that one segment actually using a second season (1956-57) opening title!

Jeff T.

 

[Jeff#]

Aside from your overuse of boldface in your posts, can you explain this? The opening theme heard in the 2nd season is no different than the first! Which episode are you referring to? In syndication over the years, they screwed up and had later season themes replacing some of the the first season of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. However, all of the first season in this video release are first season. Over at CBS Video, they did the same thing with The Twilight Zone's opening and end themes. So for re-release they corrected that, which is a good thing.

I have to disagree on Universal releases overall though. Columbo and Kojak are very much complete except for the minor point of the Universal 1970s logos being replaced by the 21st century graphic logos that now appear at the beginning of each show rather than the end.

 

[JeffT.]

The episode is "The Orderly World of Mr. Appleby" (15/04/1956).

The opening title features a (radically) different lettering style in the ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS main logo seen in the (majority of) other first season (1955-56) segments.

Speaking for myself I am NOT going to order any more 3-disc, doublesided sets from UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAINMENT ever again!

It's like the profound old adage says, "Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me!"

For whatever reason my DVD machine (and a good many others it would seem) just won't play this particular software so I have no use for it.

Jeff T.

 

[Jeff#]

OK, I only watched up to Disc 2, Side B so far, but I put in Disc 3, Side A to check that. "The Orderly World of Mr. Appleby" is one of a number of episodes produced in the early part of the first season when thin black lettering for the series title was used before the thicker white block / stencil outline title replaced it. What this indicates to me is that the Appleby episode was actually filmed in 1955. The copyright date is 1956 because Hitchcock's staff probably figured it would air later in the season...which it did (March). Broadcast networks at that time were notorious for running episodes in any order they want, and CBS with the Hitchcock show was no exception. Since this is an anthology series, however, that's not important.

If that's your reason for not buying additional Universal sets, then you may want to reconsider. By the way, have you see the DVD releases of KOJAK Season One and the first 3 seasons of COLUMBO? They're all uncut. I wouldn't be surprised if McCloud and McMillan & Wife are the same way.

 

[Dan McW]

The McMillan eps seem to be OK. McCloud, however...

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hlight=mccloud

 

[Jeff#]

The biggest mistake that was made in the duplication of Hitchcock episodes was the Thelma Ritter episode "The Babysitter". Hitchcock's closing monolog is intact, but the opening comments are missing completely!! What's up with that??

 

[michael_ks]

As much as it pains me to do so, I'm boycotting this set after reading both the comments here and on Amazon. I really despise Universal's utter lack of attention to customer satisfaction. They muffed it badly on the "Night Gallery" release I own and now AHP appears to have been accorded the same shoddy treatment. Sorry, Universal, you don't get any more of my money until your staff listen to customer needs.

There are nearly 2000 signatures now on the nightgallery.net petition, people pleading with Universal to please show more care for the 2nd season release--it will all go unheeded, I can guarantee. All I can say is, thank God they've got nothing to do with the "Naked City" or "Have Gun Will Travel" releases.

 

[CherylWI]

I wonder why they hate their customer base so much? It seems like they're going out of their way to piss off the loyal Hitchcock fans and I would like to know why. All they had to do was to leave the show intact, as it was originally shown, with bumpers, ending credits etc. Other studios have done so but Universal always seems to have a problem making the customer happy.

 

[Louis C]

I may just suck it up and buy in the store, so I can return it when I find a defect. It will cost more money and time....but it is AHP after all.

 

[Jeff#]

The Hitchcock end credits were all complete in this collection. SOME of the episodes with Hitchcock's remarks that were not, because you could tell that they were abruptly cut off to start the show.

I noticed that one of them actually included something we haven't seen in syndicated reruns in one of the earliest episodes: the Bristol-Meyers sponsor logo at the end of the opening theme!

 

[Steve Meil]

I had the same problem with the Joseph Cotton episode. it would freeze up at a certain point in all my DVD players and the computer. I returned it to Amazon and they shipped me a new one within 2 days. I hope this set is ok. I'd rather pay a little extra for single DVD's because the problems are happening alot more often.

 

[Jeff Swearingen]

I also experienced freezeups with the Joseph Cotton episode.

 

[Nick Eden]

Disc 2 side 2 freezes up on the "There was an Old Woman" episode.
Having had similar problems recently on both discs in the Hammer set, I cannot believe that Universal cannot sit up very soon and take note. With so many faulty discs being returned somebody somewhere must be asking why. Surely?
I have tried the disc on both a Pioneer and a Panasonic.

 

[Jeff#]

Well, Nick....I have a Panasonic DVD recorder that I've been using for 3 years and all 39 of these Hitchcocks discs play without a "hitch" (pardon the pun).

Although I have to admit that some of these old shows from the mid 1950s are so badly dated in terms of bad acting & dialog, that I had to fast-forward scan through them -- just checking to see that the copies are pristine, which they all are.

 

[Chris S]

I'm really glad I held off on buying this release. Universal is the only studio that I continually try not to buy from because of these type issues. I just can't believe they really do release discs this poor. Year after year I vote them the worst studio for just these reasons. And I really wanted this to be a good release too. :frowning:

 

[Craig Beam]

Those of you who are boycotting because you MIGHT get a defective copy (which, by the way, you can exchange for a good one) are really missing out. The episodes look pretty good considering the vintage and apparent lack of restoration. And Christ, it's Hitchcock!

And also... it's cheap. $25.99 at CostCo.

 

[David Von Pein]

I agree completely.

There's not a thing wrong with this AHP Season 1 set. It's very good, IMO.

The handful of episodes I've watched thus far have looked very nice for a 50-year-old program. "Breakdown" has some major "vertical line" and dirt blemishes in portions (mainly the titles and prologue which look fairly bad), but even that episode clears up nicely for the bulk of the story. Great ep. too.

Other eps. I've watched are even better in overall PQ. The sound is a bit harsh, esp. the opening music. But that's not a big deal, IMO.

These shows are terrific. I highly recommend this set.

Classy packaging too.

I haven't experienced a single "freeze up" on the DVDs either (as yet).

 

[David Von Pein]

Jonathan....

I totally agree with you re. the "spoilers" on the DVD Menus. Not a good idea.

But at least the Menu cursor defaults to "Play" -- so you can merely turn your head for a second and click "Enter" or "Play" and get the darn spoiler off the screen fast.

Another AHP-1 debit -- No Chapter Stops. Which is not a good thing, IMO. (But, then too, not worthy of slashing the wrists over either.)

BTW -- I just took a look at "The Case Of Mr. Pelham", my fave ep. from S.1 -- it looks simply beautiful here. A fabulous transfer. Great epilogue too. Of course, the second part of the epilogue is cut out. :frowning:

 

[Nick Eden]

Just to clarify- I think this series is great. I have hardly seen many of the titles before. Great cast, good stories and Hitchcock.
However, this is now the 3rd Universal DVD I have bought where the picture freezes. The others being Lugosi, Hammer (twice) and Hitchcock. Fortunately the Lugosi set froze over the new Universal logo at the start of the film and so I could skip it and it played fine. I had to return Hammer and have now got all 8 films that play (having had to watch most of them twice in a month!!!!!!!) and now I have to return Hitchcock. Something somewhere must be wrong. Yes I am sure there are people out there with sets which play fine throughout ( one person mentioned he had seen a few episodes and they played fine-great, but might I suggest you watch the lot - all 17 hours first- and then see if you are one of the lucky ones who has a blemish-free set?), but all I wish is that I could lay my hands on such an error free copy first time, to avoid having to watch the material all over again.

 

[TravisR]

Everyone that has a bad copy (or those who are not buying a copy due to that fear) should call Universal's customer service and let them know about the problem or that they aren't buying because their releases constantly have problems. I'm sure they get defective copies back from Amazon, Best Buy, etc and know that a problem exists. However, getting calls from consumers is going to get them to correct whatever the problem is or dump DVD-18s all together alot faster than talking about it on a message board will.