Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Season One (Reissue 6 disc) (1 Viewer)

[dana martin]

has anyone picked this up yet, since i have the original flippers, i was wondering if they may have had new scans, and a little better presentation, if any body would know it this forum.

 

[Jack P]

No, the transfers on all these single side reissues are the same. Same episode summary screens from 2005 that I might add FREQUENTLY give away the endings.

 

[bmasters9]

No, the transfers on all these single side reissues are the same. Same episode summary screens from 2005 that I might add FREQUENTLY give away the endings.

Why did Universal feel the need to give away the endings in the first place on these Alfred Hitchcock releases?

 

[dana martin]

No, the transfers on all these single side reissues are the same. Same episode summary screens from 2005 that I might add FREQUENTLY give away the endings.

Why did Universal feel the need to give away the endings in the first place on these Alfred Hitchcock releases?

because "they at Universal" are not "The Master of Suspense", those episode summary's are the same as you would get in TV guide way back when, so it is understandable. would have been nice to get some more current scans considering they re-released it.

 

[jcroy]

No, the transfers on all these single side reissues are the same. Same episode summary screens from 2005 that I might add FREQUENTLY give away the endings.

because "they at Universal" are not "The Master of Suspense", those episode summary's are the same as you would get in TV guide way back when, so it is understandable. would have been nice to get some more current scans considering they re-released it.

The guys running the home video division at Universal seem to be really lazy.

This also happened for the re-releases of Emergency! seasons sets and complete series set, where they didn't even bother using the newer hd transfers for the later seasons. It was just the old discs repressed.

 

[Jack P]

The thing is I don't think Universal has paid for any remastering of S1 or any other seasons of shows that got reissued as single-side over the last few years (you can add S1 of Dragnet, Kojak and also Night Stalker). So on this I'm not surprised it's the same but on "Emergency!" we know a remastering took place and so there was no excuse not to use those transfers when they did a complete series release.

 

[bmasters9]

This also happened for the re-releases of Emergency! seasons sets and complete series set, where they didn't even bother using the newer hd transfers for the later seasons. It was just the old discs repressed.

So, outside of easier-to-handle discs, it was pretty much the same as before, I take it?

 

[jcroy]

So, outside of easier-to-handle discs, it was pretty much the same as before, I take it?

As far as I can tell, the problematic seasons were single-sided discs from the start. (They were never double-sided flipper discs). The picture quality didn't look very good.

 

[Jack P]

They were not single-sided discs. S1 of AHP like all the other early Universal releases (the one exception in this period was S1 of "Night Gallery") were all DVD-18s and they suffered from so many freeze-up problems they caused endless aggravation at the time (though my copy was one of the few DVD-18 sets that didn't do that. That said, I was glad to get rid of it and have a single-sided set)

 

[jcroy]

They were not single-sided discs. S1 of AHP like all the other early Universal releases (the one exception in this period was S1 of "Night Gallery") were all DVD-18s and they suffered from so many freeze-up problems they caused endless aggravation at the time (though my copy was one of the few DVD-18 sets that didn't do that. That said, I was glad to get rid of it and have a single-sided set)

I was referring to bmaster9's comment about Emergency! (Not AHP specifically).

The first two seasons of Emergency! were originally double-sided flipper discs. Though as far as I could figure out, the transfers for Emergency seasons 1 and 2 looked like they were likely HD or a very good 90s era transfer. In contrast, the transfers for seasons 3 to 5 of Emergency looked really lousy in comparison. (Almost just as bad looking as the Cannon set from VEI). Season 6 of Emergency looked like a more recent HD transfer.

 

[Mr. Handley]

Outside of Dragnet, my Season 1 flippers of AHP were the absolute worst as far as freezing went. Some episodes were nearly unwatchable because of it. I'm so very glad to have the new single-sided discs. Most of you know how much I hate those f****** flippers, even when they don't give me problems!

 

[Jack P]

I was referring to bmaster9's comment about Emergency! (Not AHP specifically).

The first two seasons of Emergency! were originally double-sided flipper discs. Though as far as I could figure out, the transfers for Emergency seasons 1 and 2 looked like they were likely HD or a very good 90s era transfer. In contrast, the transfers for seasons 3 to 5 of Emergency looked really lousy in comparison. (Almost just as bad looking as the Cannon set from VEI). Season 6 of Emergency looked like a more recent HD transfer.

Sorry for the error on my part. But to clarify one point, S1 of "Emergency" and a chunk of S2 had episodes that were remastered in the early 90s for VHS release through the Columbia House video club. Those are the ones that have the original opening titles restored. The ones that have the S6 opening are from the early 80s transfers which by the time of the DVD releases *really* looked terrible. That affected some S2 episodes and everything through S5 pretty much. S6 had not yet been released when the fire happened, and as a consequence that's why we got S6 and the post-series movies from the new post-2008 transfers.

 

[Lecagr]

I have the DVD's of Alfred Hitchcock Presents seasons 1 thru 5, the region 1 sets released by Universal, and I've noticed that the run times of the episodes vary, the majority of episodes run about 26 minutes but there are several that are shorter and some run as short as under 25 minutes. I'm not an expert on these episodes but I'm assuming that the 26 minute shows are the original telecast versions and the shorter episodes are not originals and have alternate/shorter versions of Hitchcock's opening and closing comments.

An episode from season 1, titled The Baby Sitter, has no opening comments from Hitchcock so something is definitely missing there.

 

[bmasters9]

Outside of Dragnet, my Season 1 flippers of AHP were the absolute worst as far as freezing went. Some episodes were nearly unwatchable because of it. I'm so very glad to have the new single-sided discs. Most of you know how much I hate those f****** flippers, even when they don't give me problems!

And worse, they were set up as "skip and done," where you had to see the opening of the show, at the risk of being out of the episode if you tried to skip the opening (what I wonder is why would some be like that, where skipping the opening [or trying to] ends the show [because some just want to get to the show, and so they do the natural thing, only to find out the hard way about how skipping ends it]).

 

[Lecagr]

Last night, MeTV aired The Baby Sitter episode from season 1, I recorded and saved it on my DVR and I'm glad I did because the airing from MeTV included Alfred Hitchcock's opening intro for the episode. On the DVD, the opening intro for this episode is missing, shame on Universal for deleting it.

I've been watching episodes on the DVD's and while the story parts of the episodes seem complete and unedited, in some episodes Hitchcock's opening and closing comments appear to be shortened or edited, and in The Baby Sitter episode the opening intro is completely missing.

 

[Jack P]

Some of the Hitch openings/endings used on the Season 1 set were actually alternate ones done for the non-US market which deleted the references to sponsors etc.

 

[Lecagr]

Some of the Hitch openings/endings used on the Season 1 set were actually alternate ones done for the non-US market which deleted the references to sponsors etc.

Thanks for mentioning this, I have noticed it and figure that alternate versions of the openings and closings were used for some episodes on the DVD's. Not a good thing but it is what it is.

 

[Sa5150]

Does anyone have the French dvds ? Not sure if its accurate but looks like they all used en extra dvd in the sets . Did they spread them out better over the discs with better compression ? Or is it bonus stuff ? Also wondering about season 6 & 7 what's the best way to get these , The Universal UK dvd's ,Or the Aussie Madman season 5-7 dvd set ? I read somewhere that the UK discs worked on region 1 players .

 

[Flashgear]

I read somewhere that the UK discs worked on region 1 players .

Steve, I have the Fabulous Films DVD sets for Alfred Hitchcock Presents season 7, and all three seasons of Alfred Hitchcock Hour, and they are Region 2 LOCKED. You would need a region-free player to access these excellent sets. The old Madman AHP and AHH sets were R4 locked...but apparently, with the ViaVision merger, the NEW complete series release (all 3 seasons) of AHH is reportedly NTSC region-free...thus, no PAL speed-up to contend with (not an issue for me, as I'm not bothered by it).

Did they spread them out better over the discs with better compression ?

The Fabulous and Madman (now ViaVision) sets are sourced from the same excellent transfers licensed to them by Universal, there's no difference in the picture quality. I'll attach a few screen caps that I took from my R2 sets for season 7 of AHP and seasons 1 to 3 of AHH below...

Also wondering about season 6 & 7 what's the best way to get these , The Universal UK dvd's ,Or the Aussie Madman season 5-7 dvd set ?

I would think that price and/or availability and your player capability would be the only thing to consider, as there are no qualitative differences between the Fabulous UK sets and the Madman/ViaVision sets.

My screen caps from the Fabulous R2 sets of various episodes of AHP season 7 and AHH seasons 1 to 3...they look as great as the Universal sets that I have for AHP seasons 1 to 6...

 

[Sa5150]

Steve, I have the Fabulous Films DVD sets for Alfred Hitchcock Presents season 7, and all three seasons of Alfred Hitchcock Hour, and they are Region 2 LOCKED. You would need a region-free player to access these excellent sets. The old Madman AHP and AHH sets were R4 locked...but apparently, with the ViaVision merger, the NEW complete series release (all 3 seasons) of AHH is reportedly NTSC region-free...thus, no PAL speed-up to contend with (not an issue for me, as I'm not bothered by it).

The Fabulous and Madman (now ViaVision) sets are sourced from the same excellent transfers licensed to them by Universal, there's no difference in the picture quality. I'll attach a few screen caps that I took from my R2 sets for season 7 of AHP and seasons 1 to 3 of AHH below...

I would think that price and/or availability and your player capability would be the only thing to consider, as there are no qualitative differences between the Fabulous UK sets and the Madman/ViaVision sets.

My screen caps from the Fabulous R2 sets of various episodes of AHP season 7 and AHH seasons 1 to 3...they look as great as the Universal sets that I have for AHP seasons 1 to 6...
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Hi randall , Thank you so much for posting all that and the great pictures , They do look awesome I do have a region free player so getting the best deal is what I will try and do for season 6 & 7 . Still curious about those french dvds , they all look like they have 1 extra disc per set . Any idea what that might be ? Thanks again .