VEI planning on Diagnosis: Murder release (1 Viewer)

[Ron1973]

http://tvshowsondvd.com/n/17913
Diagnosis Murder - How Would You Like 'The Complete Series' with Dr. Mark Sloane in 2013?
We've found out that VEI of Toronto is working on such a package for the new year!
Posted by David Lambert
12/31/2012
Visual Entertainment Inc. (VEI) of Canada has been behind some of the most-wanted TV shows put on DVD in recent years, with releases of Cagney & Lacey, In Search Of..., McMillan & Wife, Hell's Kitchen, The Invisible Man, Kate & Allie, Hardcastle and McCormick, Riptide, Gimme a Break! and more. We've learned that in 2013 the studio is continuing with their plans for classic TV-DVD titles, and that one of their hoped-for offerings will be none other than Diagnosis Murder - The Complete Series!
In 2006-2007, CBS/Paramount put out the first, second and third seasons of the 1968 series (starring Dick Van Dyke, Barry Van Dyke, Victoria Rowell, Scott Baio and Michael Tucci), but they never finished. And this past June VEI themselves put out the Television Movie Collection, with the show's 3 pilot telefilms and 2 post-series reunion telefilms. But now VEI plans to bring all 8 seasons of the classic show out in one big package (presumably along with the telefilms, but no word on if they'll be there for sure...OR the episode of Jake and the Fatman where Dr. Sloan first appeared). This is a New Years' Eve heads-up exclusively for our readers; details, cost, date and packaging are all still to be decided upon...and that's assuming that no snags are hit, of course! As far as we know, VEI is still going through the masters, seeing what all the needed legal clearances will be, etc.; nothing is for-certain just yet. Stay tuned and we will fill you in as further developments occur.
Taken from: http://tvshowsondvd.com/n/17913#ixzz2GfFU9pwC

 

[The Obsolete Man]

Diagnosis Murder and The Mod Squad are great announcements, and since there seems to be some kind of CBS/Paramount - VEI thing going on, it gives hope for two other stalled but wanted Sitcoms... you know the ones... the ones set in Hooterville.

 

[Ron1973]

Diagnosis Murder and The Mod Squad are great announcements, and since there seems to be some kind of CBS/Paramount - VEI thing going on, it gives hope for two other stalled but wanted Sitcoms... you know the ones... the ones set in Hooterville.

It would be wonderful! Maybe they can get with MGM about the third part of the Paul Henning rural triumvirate, Green Acres!

 

[Kasey]

This is great news: I definitely will be pre-ordering the Mod Squad set. I hope they don't run into any hurdles. And hopefully, more CBS properties will be coming from VEI like the Henning shows.

 

[GMBurns]

I'm definitely looking forward to VEI's release of Diagnosis Murder. They've done a great job with other releases (McMillan and Wife, the Diagnosis Murder movies) that I've bought, so I'm anticipating they'll do just as well with this set. It also bodes well that CBS is willing to license some of their stalled properties to VEI. It would be nice if that connection continues and some other series that CBS has hung out to dry could be released by VEI.

 

[Bryan^H]

I have been wanting the complete series for a long time but never bought it. Now with the complete series coming to Blu-Ray, I'm glad I waited. Day one purchase.

 

[jcroy]

Most likely this complete series bluray set will be sd->hd upscales of the old sd transfers. According to the CBS syndication bible, this show doesn't have any hd transfers for seasons 1 to 6.

http://syndicationbible.cbstvd.com/series/diagnosis_murder/diagnosis_murder.htm

If this bluray set is indeed 27 discs (according to the tvshowsondvd article), then it will probably be 3 discs per season. Each disc will probably have 7 or 8 episodes.

 

[The Obsolete Man]

I have been wanting the complete series for a long time but never bought it. Now with the complete series coming to Blu-Ray, I'm glad I waited. Day one purchase.

You'd be better off buying the DVDs.

They'll be cheaper for the exact same transfers. If Nash Bridges is any indication, there will be nothing HD about these Blu Rays, they'll only be upscaled... in picture and price.

 

[jcroy]

You'd be better off buying the DVDs.

They'll be cheaper for the exact same transfers. If Nash Bridges is any indication, there will be nothing HD about these Blu Rays, they'll only be upscaled... in picture and price.

I agree.

With that being said, hopefully VEI has hired a professional to do these sd->hd upscales of old sd transfers.

It would be really annoying and a complete scam if all they're doing is running the old sd transfers through a "static" program like Handbrake.

 

[Bryan^H]

Well that isn't good at all. I really respect VEI for releasing some of my favorite shows on DVD, but upscale being passed off as true HD is downright shady.
What's gotten into them?

 

[jcroy]

Well that isn't good at all. I really respect VEI for releasing some of my favorite shows on DVD, but upscale being passed off as true HD is downright shady.
What's gotten into them?

My uninformed outsider speculation on this, is that VEI might have signed a "sweatheart" deal with their dvd/bluray disc manufacturer.

https://www.hometheaterforum.com/co...k-courtesy-of-vei.340549/page-33#post-4472691


VEI doesn't appear to be a large operation.

So most likely the sd->hd upscaling + bluray disc authoring and manufacturing were all done on the cheap.

 

[jcroy]

I have been wanting the complete series for a long time but never bought it.

I haven't purchased the complete series set either. Though I was tempted to buy it, when all the VEI released Diagnosis Murder season sets were being dumped at a nearby Costco several years ago for around 10 bucks a pop. As tempting as it was at the time, I declined largely due to my previous experience with the VEI released Mod Squad season sets.

The Mod Squad dvd sets released by VEI had numerous problems. The discs were not manufactured very well.

Since Mod Squad and Diagnosis Murder were both released by VEI at around the same time in late 2013, I suspected the discs were manufactured at the same plant. I didn't want to go through further headaches, in dealing with such lousy quality discs.

 

[Bryan^H]

I hope there are no issues with many of the shows I plan on getting.
I have a laundry list of titles I plan on purchasing from VEI including:

-Grace Under Fire
-Sister Sister
-The Equalizer
-Mcmillan and Wife
-Matt Houston

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

No offense, but Diagnosis Murder is coming out on blu-ray, and we can't even get the same for The Outer Limits? Talk about a crime.

 

[The Obsolete Man]

No offense, but Diagnosis Murder is coming out on blu-ray, and we can't even get the same for The Outer Limits? Talk about a crime.

Well, would you rather have a crappy looking, unrestored, upscaled SD videotape master of Outer Limits on Blu-Ray? Because that's all this is. It's going to look like crap, cost more, and won't be HD. The DVDs will be a better buy.

I'm sure if Outer Limits ever comes to Blu, it will be done right, not hacked out by a fly by night company using decades old SD masters and tricking people into thinking they're HD any putting them on Blu Ray.

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

Yeah, no, I want them to go back to the 35 mm prints, and re-master them for blu-ray like they did The Twilight Zone. And yeah, I've seen some upscaled videotape shows that were BS and sorry to hear that's how this company works. But any chance I get to put in another plug for my holy grail BD release, I'm gonna shamelessly grab.

 

[Flashgear]

Wayne, I think that MGM/UA and Kino Lorber will come to our Fandom rescue with a remastered from original 35 mm elements Blu-ray release of the original Outer Limits...pretty strong evidence they are working on it...and with some newly produced extras... at least, that's how I "diagnose" the clues...

 

[jcroy]

I would be quite surprised if CBS/Paramount went to the trouble and expense of re-scanning the original 35mm film and re-editing all the seasons 1-6 Diagnosis Murder episodes in hd resolution (or 4K).

For something like the original Outer Limits, I would guess doing a new hd (or 4K) transfer from re-scanning the original 35mm film footage, might be more likely. Though this is assuming MGM (or Fox) is willing to pay for it.

(MGM has been a "zombie" borderline bankrupt company for a long time. Though one might argue Paramount might be veering into "zombie" territory, with Viacom neglecting it after the old Viacom/CBS split up).

 

[jcroy]

Well, would you rather have a crappy looking, unrestored, upscaled SD videotape master of Outer Limits on Blu-Ray? Because that's all this is. It's going to look like crap, cost more, and won't be HD. The DVDs will be a better buy.

In regard to the DVD versions of Diagnosis Murder, there are two different VEI released complete series sets.

The first version is a 51 discs set, with 4 episodes per disc.

The second version is a low-budget disc-reduced set, which has 32 discs with 6 or 7 episodes per disc.


At this point, I have no idea which version is a better buy.

The first 51 disc version will most likely have a lot of cantankerous discs with skipping, freezing, pixelation, etc ... type issues. (ie. Most likely it was discs manufactured at IFPI facility 9B**, which seems to have a poor reputation for quality control).

 

[jcroy]

In terms of current prices for the 51-disc Diagnosis Murder complete series set, the lowest prices appear to be in the $90 range. (From official + legitimate online retailers).

At this point, I'm not willing to pay Shout!Factory prices for MillCreek quality or worse (in both picture quality AND physical disc quality). Not even CBS/Paramount prices.