Cannon And Others Coming Back Courtesy Of VEI (1 Viewer)

[HenryDuBrow]

According to VEI's president, Jeff Sprigg, in connection with the 12 titles already known there are "Many More Releases Coming! " to quote him so we are hopefully in for some cool surprises down the line...

 

[HenryDuBrow]

i wonder if we wll see t.j. hooker down the road. my favorite seasons of matt huston were 2 and 3.

T.J. Hooker would be a Sony/Columbia (Shout?) release, but very much a welcomed one indeed when.

 

[bronson]

The only question is: "Matt Houston"-Season 1 and "Barnaby Jones" Season 1 were remastered in HD by CBS/Paramount and have botha great picture quality.


I expect not such a great picture quality by VEI because I presume those episodes were not remastered in HD.


But great the series will be continued.....

 

[MCCLOUD]

CBS released the first two seasons of The mod Squad remastered. VEI released the last Three Seasons of the Mod Squad and they were not remastered. I would expect Barnaby Jones and the other shows to not be remastered and to look similar to the final 3 Seasons of The Mod Squad. Can anyone here comment on the quality of the final 3 seasons of the Mod Squad released by VEI? Thanks!

Robert

 

[Guy Foulard]

The only question is: "Matt Houston"-Season 1 and "Barnaby Jones" Season 1 were remastered in HD by CBS/Paramount and have botha great picture quality.


I expect not such a great picture quality by VEI because I presume those episodes were not remastered in HD.


But great the series will be continued.....

I thought the Mod Squad unremastered Season 3 (and I assume 4 & 5, but haven't watched them yet) looked just fine--not as good as CBS HD, but not at all bad. I wonder if the grottiness of Cannon was just an anomaly?

 

[Kasey]

I agree that THE MOD SQUAD looked fine; I had no complaints even though they weren't as bright or sharp as the CBS releases of Seasons 1&2. I was just grateful to own the rest of the series in one fell swoop and for such a great price.

 

[Professor Echo]

But great the series will be continued.....

This pretty much sums it up for me.


Given that no one else besides bootleggers are willing to complete these series on a physical media format at this time, it seems a little much to start complaining over potential quality issues. My only hope is that VEI releases the shows in acceptable, watchable quality and that the episodes be complete and uncut. If a release is really deficient with regards to technical considerations, we will know about it soon enough, but to worry because the quality may not match what we've all come to expect from previous releases isn't fair. It's time for those of us who may be a little too spoiled or fussy to wake up and realize this isn't 10 years ago when major studios were willing to invest considerable sums of money and time and effort to produce the best possible product. It doesn't mean we shouldn't want that, but to expect it now in the current state of the industry, is foolish.


For me, just the fact that new releases of vintage material is in the pipeline once again and from a company that thus far has proven they are not putting out utter garbage is cause for celebration, which has rightly been expressed by the majority of posters in this thread. For others who are so inordinately hesitant to join the party because these may not be as pristine as we think they should be, well, wait for another company to do them to your exact specifications and let me know how that plan works out.


In other words, relax. So far, this is GREAT NEWS!

 

[LeoA]

Some have mentioned hoping to see things like My Three Sons or possibly even Our Miss Brooks coming from VEI after this latest announcement. I'd love to see those, as well as other CBS titles they've stopped releasing (PJ & BH to name two), but my question is do we have any evidence that they'd be inclined to release older fare like this?

Even if they're not, I still see this as further good news for fans of popular classics like My Three Sons, since it clearly shows that they're more than willing to license properties out that they're not interested in releasing on DVD themselves.


So hopefully if it's not VEI, it's somebody else like Shout Factory, MPI, or whatever other independents that there are out there today.

 

[hypnohighball]

CBS released the first two seasons of The mod Squad remastered. VEI released the last Three Seasons of the Mod Squad and they were not remastered. I would expect Barnaby Jones and the other shows to not be remastered and to look similar to the final 3 Seasons of The Mod Squad. Can anyone here comment on the quality of the final 3 seasons of the Mod Squad released by VEI? Thanks!

Robert

Were season 1 and 2 in the VCI "Complete Series" box in the same remastered condition as the CBS releases?

 

[MCCLOUD]

Some have mentioned hoping to see things like My Three Sons or possibly even Our Miss Brooks coming from VEI after this latest announcement. I'd love to see those, as well as other CBS titles they've stopped releasing (PJ & BH to name two), but my question is do we have any evidence that they'd be inclined to release older fare like this? Have they released b/w series in the past? While I'd be in for Barnaby Jones and possibly Cannon, it seems like they are focused more on color shows from the 70's on up. So can we reasonably hope they'd actually rent out older series from CBS, or is that more of a pipe dream? Just wondering, because I really have no idea personally.


Gary "glad to see a studio taking up the

slack similar to what other smaller outfits have done in the past few years" O.

 

[MCCLOUD]

Some have mentioned hoping to see things like My Three Sons or possibly even Our Miss Brooks coming from VEI after this latest announcement. I'd love to see those, as well as other CBS titles they've stopped releasing (PJ & BH to name two), but my question is do we have any evidence that they'd be inclined to release older fare like this? Have they released b/w series in the past? While I'd be in for Barnaby Jones and possibly Cannon, it seems like they are focused more on color shows from the 70's on up. So can we reasonably hope they'd actually rent out older series from CBS, or is that more of a pipe dream? Just wondering, because I really have no idea personally.
Hey Gary! If you like Barnaby Jones then I think you will also like Cannon. Cannon is a great show with the first 3 Seasons being the best! I love both shows and highly recommend Cannon and Barnaby Jones!

Take Care!

Robert

Gary "glad to see a studio taking up the
slack similar to what other smaller outfits have done in the past few years" O.

 

[GeorgeJA]

I wonder if the shorter-lived series on the list will be complete sets.


I would consider getting Martial Law because I enjoy watching Sammo Hung, but I remember the 2nd season being pretty bad. Also, I remember liking Petrocelli, but I haven't seen it since it was on-the-air and would wonder if it still holds up.

 

[Jack P]

Were season 1 and 2 in the VCI "Complete Series" box in the same remastered condition as the CBS releases?

Yes, they were the same transfers and had the same extras.

 

[Powell&Pressburger]

Yes, they were the same transfers and had the same extras.

Did they look as good as teh CBS releases compression disc space wise?


I know Cagney & Lacey would kind of hover from 1.7 mbps to maybe 4 ish and it looks blocky and poorly compressed at times. The quality could have been better. Where as higher quality DVDs like Spenser for Hire Season 2 (Warner Archive Pressed disc) is 6 mbps upwards to 7! They maxed it out.

 

[bmasters9]

T.J. Hooker would be a Sony/Columbia (Shout?) release, but very much a welcomed one indeed when.

I'll tell you the truth, those third and fourth releases of Hart to Hart were very much welcomed, just as the fifth one will be when I get it.

 

[smithbrad]

Did they look as good as teh CBS releases compression disc space wise?


I know Cagney & Lacey would kind of hover from 1.7 mbps to maybe 4 ish and it looks blocky and poorly compressed at times. The quality could have been better. Where as higher quality DVDs like Spenser for Hire Season 2 (Warner Archive Pressed disc) is 6 mbps upwards to 7! They maxed it out.

How are you getting this information? Because from what I can tell it isn't very accurate.


Using your examples, I pulled out the disks and extracted the episodes. "Cagney & Lacey" was averaging a bitrate of 5044 per episode on a 7.3 GB sized disk, and "Spenser for Hire" a bitrate of 5340 per episode on a 7.5 GB sized disk. We are talking about a 5% difference, which is nothing like what you are describing.


I will say it again, I think you are confusing compression and bitrate for what is in reality nothing more than a lesser quality source. It could be based on the print supplied, or may even be based on how it was originally filmed or the film stock used (when comparing across shows). Neither of which can be blamed on VEI.


The majority of CBS releases are generated from newly scanned film elements in HD that have been downgraded for DVD, the best of scenarios. My guess is that WB's releases are at least based on the best video elements available but most likely new scans as well. Releases from independents like VEI are based on what prints are made available to them from the studio's, which are most likely lesser. Otherwise, the studio would have released it themselves.


A perfect example is the Mod Squad release mentioned above, the first two seasons were remastered by CBS. The re-release by VEI is using the same elements provided by CBS, remastered season 1 and older video prints for the remaining seasons. The quality differences are apparent but not from a bitrate or compression standpoint, but due to the quality differences in the source elements provided/used.

 

[Powell&Pressburger]

I know what my OPPO player tells me as a sequence plays. Yes the bit rate bounces around as it will for any DVD release but the #'s are really weak for Cagney & Lacey However let's act like the bit rates aren't the issue because I know that doesn't equate poor transfers on many release. Still the bit rates are sometimes shockingly low even during scenes with motion, and action, as opposed to held shot. It would look better had the file had more room to breath. So with the #'s you provided it just proves they are lesser quality based on the video I see than a release like Spenser For Hire.


I know what my eyes see and that is poor compression on many epssodes. I've watched the whole box set and I love the set, but I felt like the quality could have been better. Lots of the blockiness in dark scenes and that isn't a good thing. That comes down to compression not the master they were given. Source element issues are different then compression.

 

[smithbrad]

I made a visual comparison between the two. And I agree about the differences between the video quality of the two shows but there is more going on here, IMO. Based on working with video captures and making my own disks, a 5% difference in bitrate is nothing and would not manifest itself in these types of differences when the quality of the source is similar. And variable compression encoding is too good these days to not make the best use of partial and full frames when differentiating between action and still scenes.


This almost appears to me to be a case of a lower bitrate source being re-encode at a higher bitrate, which provides no benefit to the end product, but just increases the file size. Source elements can actually contain compression artifacts when they are provided in a digital form. Whether this is a VEI issue or a source issue is hard to say without more information.

 

[younger1968]

Great show!! I have S1-S3 on dvd.

 

[Rick Thompson]

In for Cannon, maybe Matt Houston. Barnaby Jones was always time-passer for me, so the S1 release already out is all I need. Evan at that, I was surprised at how poorly it held up for me, as I thought it was a better show than that. Memory can fool you. As for the rest, meh. But if they float your boat, enjoy!