TCM/Columbia Film Noir Classics IV-Improperly Authored Discs (1 Viewer)

Just received the new noir set from TCM and unfortunately all of the pressed discs in the set, SO DARK THE NIGHT, JOHNNY O'CLOCK, WALK A CROOKED MILE, BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND DAWN and WALK EAST ON BEACON suffer from an extreme case of jaggies and motion judder. These defects have been present in certain Sony MOD discs of late, so it appears that it's carried over to pressed discs as well.

Projected onto a 10' screen, these discs look pretty awful. The transfers are quite nice contrast and sharpness wise, but whoever is responsible for the authoring of the discs has thrown a major monkey wrench into the works.

And no, it's not my equipment either. Double checked the discs on different players, monitors, two different projectors at different facilities. On really small screens it's not so bad, but you go much larger than a 40" screen, forget it.

Going back for a refund.

Thank you for the warning. I was about to place my on-line order! You've saved me hassle and money. Many thanks.

I am of course annoyed and disappointed. Sony: why have your standards suddenly collapsed?

Eastmancolor said:

These defects have been present in certain Sony MOD discs of late, so it appears that it's carried over to pressed discs as well.

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I haven't heard about this. Where else has it happened?

I guess I better wait on the John Ford set.

Mine is arriving in the mail today. Guess Ill have to watch them and see. I ordered mine through TCM. Hopefully getting a refund is easy if I have the same judder and jaggies

My set arrived yesterday, and had the same problem. Horrible and unwatchable. I thought my issue was an isolated one, and would just get a defective set exchanged for a proper one....After reading this, I'm tending to think the whole thing has been botched and I might as well get a refund.

...and yes, they are pressed discs. For whatever that is worth

I just emailed TCM Shop and want to know their return policy is on this. Im wondering if I should just leave it sealed and mail it back to them if there are enough people posting that they have the same problem....
I hope they will get back to me sooner than later
I dont want to open it play it , see that it is faulty and then I cant return it - I wouldnt think this would be the case but still - I dont if I should keep it sealed or at least check to see if they play properly

Eastmancolor said:

Just received the new noir set from TCM and unfortunately all of the pressed discs in the set, SO DARK THE NIGHT, JOHNNY O'CLOCK, WALK A CROOKED MILE, BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND DAWN and WALK EAST ON BEACON suffer from an extreme case of jaggies and motion judder.

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I'm experiencing the same thing.

I've been very pleased with Sony/TCM's colloboration on the recent precode hollywood, frank capra, barbara stanwyck, carole lombard, and boris karloff sets. I hope they haven't abandoned their commitment to quality. Hopefully, this is a fluke, and they'll return back to their normal standard.

I called TCM and they told me to watch the movies first and see if the same problem is happening...and if so I can return it for a refund. I feel better.

I received mine today and threw So Dark in, watched it for awhile, and it seems to be ok. I ordered mine from TCM.

davidHartzog said:

I received mine today and threw So Dark in, watched it for awhile, and it seems to be ok. I ordered mine from TCM.

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Check out the tracking shot starting at 6:26; I really see the jerkiness there, but also to one degree or another in most other panning shots.

No, still ok, nice clear picture, i'll watch the rest of this tonite and see.

Watched So Dark the Night in its entirety, no problems, good transfer, picture and sound are fine.

davidHartzog said:

Watched So Dark the Night in its entirety, no problems, good transfer, picture and sound are fine.

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David, how big of a screen do you have and are you going out via HDMI cables?

The defects I noted in my original post would effect all discs made from the DVD master. I suppose it's possible for TCM to have caught the mastering problem and corrected it, which would require starting over with the delivered elements from Sony. If that's the case, they let some of the bad discs get out to the public because I now know of 6 individuals with defective discs.

Panasonic 22 inch flat screen, Panasonic Bluray. Don't know offhand about the cables, its been a while and i didn't set the thing up. In any event the first disk looks great, so i am assuming the rest are ok.

Screen size would probably have an effect on how apparent it is. Like Jim, I'm watching via projector, in my case giving an image about 8.5 feet wide.

I've watched all of these and did not experience these problems. However, the Walk a Crooked Trail extra feature for production stills had Johnny O'Clock's stills by mistake.

I got mine over a week ago. Maybe I got a different issued set? TCM Shop does free replacements for defective discs using 2nd day airmail, so I recommend those experiencing the defects to look into that.

I've watched both Johnny O'Clock and Between Midnight and Dawn . Both look great . Will watch So Dark the Night next . I watched the first two movies on a 42" Sony flatscreen with a Sony Bluray player . Not sure on the cables offhand .

I'm going to let the dust settle before ordering this set. I'm hoping that this is just a case of some people getting a bad pressing.

For the next Noir collection I'm hoping that Sony will include The Burglar and Joseph Losey's American remake of M.

Richard Gallagher said:

For the next Noir collection I'm hoping that Sony will include The Burglar and Joseph Losey's American remake of M.

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Wasn't The Burglar in Volume III?
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