Is the b&w era of TV on DVD slowly coming to an end? (1 Viewer)

[TravisR]

I agree that the studios would love for people to pay for things over and over but I don't see any way that they can actually achieve that goal. How are studios going to make anywhere near the amount of money that they currently make from selling a Blu-ray or DVD? People won't pay over and over to see the same movie (pay per view has been around for decades and it hasn't come anywhere close to eclipsing physical media sales). As much as they'd love to, studios can't each have their own individual streaming service because the average consumer isn't going to pay for streaming from studio X, studio Y and studio Z. It's one thing when it's Netflix and there's basically one bill and one place where people get to watch movies but they aren't going pay for half a dozen streaming services every month. Does anyone remember when Netflix raised their prices a few dollars and people reacted as if Netflix had killed their children? People are cheap and they want everything in one place. Those two things alone mean that studios can't- as much as they'd love to- go to only streaming.

 

[Neil Brock]

At one point I had subscriptions to 3 different services, Netflix, Blockbuster and one that dealt with foreign releases whose name I don't recall. Once they stopped getting in DVDs of new product, I cancelled all of them. Streaming holds no interest for me whatsoever.

 

[Vic Pardo]

Does anyone here own any sets of "26 Men" starring Tris Coffin? I just watched the first two episodes last night for the first time as found on the Mill Creek Ultimate Westerns set (where their titles are listed properly in the booklet, but mislabeled on the menu) and was so impressed with how good the show is that I want to see more.

I found three different box sets on Amazon, but Amazon doesn't give you accurate or complete info about quantity or quality and the reviews are carried over from one edition to the next so you don't know which set they're actually reviewing. There is a 20-episode set supposedly from Shout Factory/Timeless that's only $4.16, which sounds like a good deal to me, but I'm wondering if any of the other sets offer better quality or larger number of episodes even if they're more expensive. All three sets are listed on this Amazon page:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dmovies-tv&field-keywords=26%20men&sprefix=26+me%2Cmovies-tv&rh=i%3Amovies-tv%2Ck%3A26%20men

Thanks.

I should point out that one of the reasons I like it so much is that I'm so used to seeing the star, Tris Coffin, as a villain in countless westerns, serials and TV shows that I was surprised to see how strong and forceful a hero he is, playing the no-nonsense leader of the Arizona Rangers. A truly underrated actor.

 

[BobO'Link]

^ I find most Amazon "reviews" to be pretty worthless and it's acerbated by Amazon's practice of combining disparate products. I go looking for technical information (probably like you and most others here) and don't care if someone I've never heard of likes a film or not. I already know if I like something and am wanting to make a purchase based on the technical merits of a release.

Anyway...

I don't own the sets but based on the link you provided I'd go for the 3 disc set from Timeless. My experience with them is the 2 disc set will be a truncated version of that 3 disk set... And a quick look at the Timeless site proves that to be the case: 2 Disc - 3 Disc

While I have several discs from Alpha their quailty is all over the place - some stuff is very good while others are almost unwatchable. If they were the only reputable vendor with DVDs I'd go with them but as they are not I'd probably give them a pass, especially considering the other DVDs are from Timeless. I've yet to be disappointed with a set from Timeless. That's not to say theirs will be "perfect" but they tend to have fairly good transfers.

 

[Professor Echo]

I picked up the three disc sett of 26 MEN for $5, but haven't had a chance to watch or monitor any of it yet. Still, for the price, even if it's just barely watchable, you can't go wrong. My guess is that the Alpha copies are the exact same transfers and may, in fact, been copied from the Timeless release, something Alpha and Mill Creek do regularly.

 

[LouA]

Does anyone here own any sets of "26 Men" starring Tris Coffin? I just watched the first two episodes last night for the first time as found on the Mill Creek Ultimate Westerns set (where their titles are listed properly in the booklet, but mislabeled on the menu) and was so impressed with how good the show is that I want to see more.

I found three different box sets on Amazon, but Amazon doesn't give you accurate or complete info about quantity or quality and the reviews are carried over from one edition to the next so you don't know which set they're actually reviewing. There is a 20-episode set supposedly from Shout Factory/Timeless that's only $4.16, which sounds like a good deal to me, but I'm wondering if any of the other sets offer better quality or larger number of episodes even if they're more expensive. All three sets are listed on this Amazon page:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dmovies-tv&field-keywords=26%20men&sprefix=26+me%2Cmovies-tv&rh=i%3Amovies-tv%2Ck%3A26%20men

Thanks.

I should point out that one of the reasons I like it so much is that I'm so used to seeing the star, Tris Coffin, as a villain in countless westerns, serials and TV shows that I was surprised to see how strong and forceful a hero he is, playing the no-nonsense leader of the Arizona Rangers. A truly underrated actor.

I have the Timeless set and it's not bad at all. but watching it will make you wish more episodes were available.

 

[Vic Pardo]

I ordered the 20-episode set of 26 Men for $4.16 from Timeless, so we'll see what it looks like when it arrives. In the meantime, I was in Book Off last night checking out their Classic TV section to see if anything desired had been added since I was last there. I picked up a box set of Season 4 of Sea Hunt for $12. It's a legit set from MGM offering five discs containing 38 episodes. That comes out to better than 3 episodes for a dollar. I haven't seen Sea Hunt in over 50 years, so I'm taking a chance, but I remember liking it a lot as a kid. I have no idea how Season 4 compares in quality to earlier seasons, but a brief scan of episode titles and synopses on IMDB has got me excited, as well as the overwhelming positive reviews on Amazon.

 

[Neil Brock]

To show that the era of B&W TV on DVD isn't totally dead, a company called Film chest is releaseing the completen 1950's children show "Adventures Of Champion " series later this month.

Not sure where they get off calling it complete. There's 26 episodes and their set has 23.

 

[Neil Brock]

I picked up the three disc sett of 26 MEN for $5, but haven't had a chance to watch or monitor any of it yet. Still, for the price, even if it's just barely watchable, you can't go wrong. My guess is that the Alpha copies are the exact same transfers and may, in fact, been copied from the Timeless release, something Alpha and Mill Creek do regularly.

26 Men is public domain and this shows the problems of dealing with PD shows. I find it quite funny how you see posts in this forum about how they wish more shows would fall into PD so that they would be easier to obtain. Really? From where? Not familiar with the history of this particular series but I would imagine it never had a large syndicator and the one it did have likely went out of business thus scattering the print to the four winds. Good luck ever finding a complete set on a show like this, if one even exists any more. Judge Roy Bean seems to be in the same category. Racket Squad and Code Three were Hal Roach shows and were never renewed either, since the company folded in 1958. Luckily, Republic was the syndicator and all of the elements, including the negatives, weren't tossed out but were sent over to UCLA. Now, we'll still likely never see them again due to costs involved and lack of interest, but at least they're preserved anyway.

 

[LouA]

26 Men is public domain and this shows the problems of dealing with PD shows. I find it quite funny how you see posts in this forum about how they wish more shows would fall into PD so that they would be easier to obtain. Really? From where? Not familiar with the history of this particular series but I would imagine it never had a large syndicator and the one it did have likely went out of business thus scattering the print to the four winds. Good luck ever finding a complete set on a show like this, if one even exists any more. Judge Roy Bean seems to be in the same category. Racket Squad and Code Three were Hal Roach shows and were never renewed either, since the company folded in 1958. Luckily, Republic was the syndicator and all of the elements, including the negatives, weren't tossed out but were sent over to UCLA. Now, we'll still likely never see them again due to costs involved and lack of interest, but at least they're preserved anyway.

A shame , since many of the syndicated shows from the B&W era were among the best of the period . I wish a company would come along that would specialize in this type of show. (Well I can dream - right?)

 

[LeoA]

Sea Hunt was extremely consistent throughout. So season 4 is just as good a place as any to start out at.

Great show.

 

[Vic Pardo]

On a whim, I stopped in at my local FYE last night just to see if they had any new used sets on their TV on DVD racks. Sure enough, there was the complete set of "Wanted: Dead or Alive"--94 eps. for $13.99! I already had Season 2, which I'd picked up at another local store for $4.99 over a year ago. Still, getting 62 additional episodes for that price seemed like a good deal, so I got it. (The same set costs $19.99 on Amazon.) This branch of FYE has lots of other used sets, but the prices generally seem kind of high. Nothing I felt compelled to pick up. There was a Mod Squad set (one season) for $25.99, for instance.

 

[Tooncy]

Hey Neil,Does Republic own all the Hal Roach stuff?

 

[Neil Brock]

Hey Neil, Does Republic own all the Hal Roach stuff?

Most of it fell into public domain, save for a few shows that wound up in the hands of Hallmark Entertainment, which itself has gone through some transformations. The Gale Storm for instance, since it was still in production, got taken over by ITC so that should be owned by Granada Television now.

 

[LouA]

The last season of RAWHIDE was just announced for release this Spring by CBS.

 

[jdee28]

Here's hoping CBS's next step will be Rawhide: The Complete Series, with a remastered seasons 1 and 4!

 

[Randy Korstick]

I'd really like to see a Have Gun Will Travel: The Complete Series with Seasons 1-3 remastered. That show has been finished for awhile now but no announcement

 

[Gary OS]

Here's hoping CBS's next step will be Rawhide: The Complete Series, with a remastered seasons 1 and 4!

I'd really like to see a Have Gun Will Travel: The Complete Series with Seasons 1-3 remastered. That show has been finished for awhile now but no announcement

I want both of these! Seasons One and Four of Rawhide & Seasons One, Two and Three of Have Gun, Will Travel remastered. While I wouldn't be happy about having to double-dip on massive Complete sets, these two series are holy grails for me so I'd begrudgingly do it to get the better picture quality that would come with remastering. It would be nice of CBS to go back and remaster those seasons and offer them to consumers as standalone releases.


Gary "I'm fairly certain the only way I'll ever get those seasons remastered will be via 'Complete Series' sets though" O.

 

[maskedmala]

I'd prefer to see uncompleted TV series being completed (Sgt Bilko, Burke's Law, Mister Ed,...) or unreleased TV series being released (Richard Diamond, Boston Blackie, The Thin Man,...) than having releases of things already released.

 

[Ron1973]

I'd really like to see a Have Gun Will Travel: The Complete Series with Seasons 1-3 remastered. That show has been finished for awhile now but no announcement

I watched it yesterday on Encore Western and thought surely they were working from old prints. At the end, however, was the new Paramount logo, not the old V of Doom I was expecting. It's not on my holy grail list but it's a show that's good enough it should be remastered imho!