I give up with the abandoned shows on dvd. (1 Viewer)

[Michael Rogers]

I'd rather get an incomplete set of shows that I love than no shows at all.

As for the bootleg issue... I've considered it for shows like Batman and The Six Million Dollar Man. But I'd have to be assured of them being at least decent and something more then edited versions taped from TVLand. It's hard to get assurances like that when it's bootleg. Also someone else mentioned it's possible funding of nefarious activities which I would not want to contribute to (but I don't think that sort of thing is as widespread as say, funding from illegal drugs).

If I get shows or complete a set of shows through bootleg, I still would want to get the official release when the studio get their head out of their posterior and get these shows out.

One has to wonder if studios see the big picture when they can't come to an agreement for stuff that has conflicting rights like Batman and Six Million Dollar Man. Those shows aren't making money for either party because of the deadlock.

I can understand the reluctance to complete series because of low sales. 1960's or 70's shows that kids looked sell better on DVD because those kids are adults swooning with nostalgia(shows like Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island and so on).

Shows Like Bob Newhart and Mary Tyler Moore were aimed at adults of the time and the 1970's kids-adults of today are not as nostalgic for them (I think I am an one of the exceptions, I used to watch MTM and to a lessor extent Bob Newhart with the parents).

So there is that dynamic. But maybe those shows could be farmed out or dealt with in some sort of mail order structure where numbers of sets could be contained to those that have already paid for them.

 

[Hank Dearborn]

Can you be a little more melodramatic? Sheesh I'm sure those 12 episodes of Pete and Gladys I bought are going to pay for a lot of plutonium for nuclear warheads.

 

[Hank Dearborn]

Collecting TV shows has been a hobby for over 30 years, going back to the 3/4 inch, EAIJ reel to reel and 16mm days. People, like many here, who just got the idea to collect shows a few years ago when they started coming out on DVD, well that's kind of like being in school and skipping the first 9 months of the year. When you show up with a month left in the year, you're kind of hard pressed to get up to speed and it doesn't leave you a lot of great options. I know I get yelled at from the people who didn't start collecting until this decade but still, anyone who wanted to could have. I'm just glad I started when I did.

 

[bmasters9]

I agree about "M*A*S*H," "Seinfeld," and "Friends," and also "Raymond"-- I mean, all of these series are available in individual season sets and completed series packages, yet they still continue to run on cable and satellite. I can understand that though, because not everyone has the money to purchase the DVD releases.

 

[Jeff Willis]

Michael,

I'd stay clear of the "bionic" show ____legs. I've sampled a few in my early days on the 'net before I knew better Nearly all, if not all, of them are sourced from those SciFi Channel runs from the 90's....heavily edited, grainy, etc.

If you're "region-free", the R2/4 (legal) Universal S1 & 2 releases are the best we'll see until, if that day comes, R1 releases. The R2/4's of the Bionic Woman show are much better transfers than the 6M$M sets. But even with the 6M$M xfrs, they're better in quality and the scenes intact except for one or 2 in the 6M$M sets, than anything else out on the 'net.

 

[Hank Dearborn]

Getting "region-free" takes about 30 seconds. All you have to do is find the hack code for your player and punch in a few numbers. I don't understand why anyone wouldn't do this.

 

[RobinO]

Personally I wouldn't know how to figure out the hack code for their player. It never would have crossed my mind that you could even do that.

I would love to get other region dvd's - especially if other seasons of St. Elsewhere have been released.

 

[Alan Tully]

One think to remember; there's just about zero chance of any of these abandoned shows being released on Blu Ray (sales won't be any better on Hi-Def). So keep hold of the shows you do have.

 

[Hank Dearborn]

You do a google search typing in your brand of DVD player, model number and hack code.

 

[Jeff Willis]

Here's a link that may help some here regarding the R-Free codes that can be entereed via the Remote (and some models, a series of button-sequences at the main unit):

DVD Player, Blu-ray and HD DVD Player region codes

Some things that may not be widely known about using the "hack" codes: Not all units can be converted to R-Free capacity in this way. Some models are "hack-free" and, if you are interested in a particular mfgr, you'd need to purchase a "chipped" player (this is wat I did for a couple of other reasons as well, one which is the lifetime guarantee covering the hardware mods).

Also, some (I believe nearly all) of the Sony's do not have the internal PAL/NTSC Converter included inside the unit. They can be hacked to R-Free mode, but will output PAL as PAL & NTSC as NTSC.

Nearly all Phillips brands are easily hacked and are available at local Wal-Mart stores.

There are a few cases where hacked players (made R-Free from remote keystrokes) may not play RCE Region-Code Enhancement) DVD's. That's one reason I went the hardware-mod direction when I bought my R-Free player (Pioneer model). Some of the movie DVD's (ie Spiderman) are RCE-Encoded. Columbia Tristar is one studio that uses RCE for some of their movie DVD's. I've not heard of any Std TV/DVD sets that have been RCE-encoded.

THere have been a few cases where "workarounds" were required (with hacked players) to play an RCE DVD. I've never had any issues playing any (including RCE DVD's) DVD's with my Pioneer player. I've had the player for a couple of years.

Code-Free Blu-Ray players are available from overseas stores. I've not checked into stateside stores for the Blu-Ray (R-Free) players.

 

[Ockeghem]

Goodness, that post brings back memories. If I'm thinking of the right show, I watched this one when I was around two or three years old! That would be one of my earliest memories.... Then again, it may have run beyond the years of its initial run, although I don't know.

 

[Jay_B!]

IMO, I think it's more of a case of shows not hitting their stride until later on. Yes, there are a few shows such as The Cosby Show, Charlie's Angels, Ally McBeal, Desperate Housewives and Lost to name a few that fans and critics generally are in agreement that their first season was the best, but for every Cosby or Lost, there are ten Gimme A Break's, Diff'rent Strokes' and Knots Landing's which have generally unpopular first seasons amongst their fans (okay, we did get season 2 of DS as well, most fans consider seasons 3-5 the peak), so it makes sense that someone who loves those shows in their prime would feel disappointed being stuck with a lackluster first season that doesn't necessarily represent the series they love.

 

[MatthewA]

The Simpsons is another such show, yet the first season set sold more than almost any other TV set in history. Still, it is technically a "current" series, and constantly in reruns, and its fans can identify minutiae of every episode, thus it is a special case.

 

[Katherine_K]

Melodramatic perhaps, but he's also not incorrect. You can do a search about bootlegged dvds and terrorism and find the information pretty easily. The NYPD and Interpol have been particularly involved in drawing those links.

 

[Robert13]

Check out a private collector. I got the rest of Jem and the quality was very good...not perfect...but you can watch the missing episodes that complete the series. Who knows if it will ever see the light of day on dvd again. The set I got even had nicely printed discs with artwork too.

 

[Robert13]

Hey, the moral thing to do has gone out the window as far as I'm concerned when it comes to tv-on-dvd. I totally agree with you on being able to enjoy all seasons of your show-of-choice. I did the same with Gimme a Break! which I just finished watching. If I waited for the studio to release the rest of the series, I may never have seen the final season.

 

[Bryan^H]

The final straw was checking tvshowsondvd.com week after week. About 90% of the news pertains to fairly recent show releases on dvd, most of which are never abandoned. I like new shows on dvd, but when it comes down to it, I guess I like older shows better. I know that the new stuff sells, and the older stuff doesn't, but this is a crying shame. In a perfect world I guess:frowning:

 

[TravisR]

That doesn't really mean much though because this is the time of year that alot of current shows get an announcement so the DVD release syncs up with the airing of the new season.

 

[70sTVlover]

I wouldnt say give up on the TV shows, I'd give up on the studio. In my opinion FOX is the biggest culprit full stop, I really really despise the way they treat older shows like the MTM, BN show and Hill Street Blues, WKRP, St. Elsewhere etc etc
They reallyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy anger me, FOX clean up your act!!!!

 

[RobinO]

Hank and Jeff,

Thank you for the information on converting a DVD player to all region play. I will have to check out my DVD and see which way I need to go because now I'm determined to get some region 2 DVD's.

Of course this won't help me in my quest for my favorite show - Homefront. It's not on any region DVD that I know of. I may have to try a different route that has been discussed in this thread.

Robin