Combat - Season One - Campaigns One and Two DVD Collections!!!!! (1 Viewer)

[JeffT.]

The Image Entertainment produced Combat - Season One, Campaigns One and Two DVD Collections are scheduled to be released July 20th in the U.S. and on July 27th in Canada but I've heard from one (supposedly informed) source that Image is utilizing the (abortive) time-compressed tv syndication video copies for these particular releases and as no online review of these two Combat DVD sets has been made available just how is one able to confirm this information ahead of time to take advantage of the pre-order discounts offered by retailers like Amazon.com?

Can anyone in this discussion forum confirm this unfortunate news?

Jeff T.

 

[Randy A Salas]

There's no way to tell until we have the discs, which I'm awaiting. According to the information Image has listed, the episodes on the DVDs average about 47 minutes each, which is indeed the duration of the time-compressed--albeit uncut--episodes, which ran closer to 50 minutes originally. But that's assuming that the pre-release info is correct--not always a given.

 

[Mark To]

According to people on the Combat Yahoo group, the show is being remastered from the original ABC 35mm master prints. I will post this question to the group to get verification that they are complete, uncut and not time-compressed.

 

[Chas_Michael]

If they are not done right the FIRST time, Don't Worry, Image will release them again and maybe if your good enough, AGAIN! I'm sure there will be many with disposable deep pockets of cash waiting to be banged. Image has the grease and your address!

 

[Jim-M]

How does that work if they are time-compressed, but uncut? Would they be speeded up slightly? How noticeable is that?

 

[Randy A Salas]

Yes, Jim, they are sped up. To some people, especially those familiar with the original voices, it's noticeable; to others, it's not.

 

[Jim-M]

Thanks Randy. I saw a few episodes of Combat! on Goodlife network several months ago and didn't notice anything, so I guess I'm one of those that can't tell the difference.

 

[Randy A Salas]

Several COMBAT! episodes are available commercially from WorldVision, with six tapes in all:.

Bridge at Chalons (Lee Marvin)

Heritage (Charles Bronson)

Masquerade (James Coburn)

Vendetta (Telly Savalas)

Doughboy (Eddie Albert)

S.I.W (John Cassavetes)

WorldVision seems to have chosen these particular episodes for the name-recognition value of their guest stars, whose pictures are prominently displayed on the tape jackets. The episodes on these tapes are the same prints that WorldVision distributes in syndication. As far as we've been able to determine, these are uncut but time-compressed by about 5%. They run approximately 47 minutes instead of the expected 50. Some (if not all) of these tapes are recorded in LP, so the quality isn't particularly good.

I've only checked the DVDs on my PC so far, but the prints generally look good from my quick survey, although the image strikes me as being really soft.

 

[Mark To]

Thanks so much Randy. I had started to DVDR the episodes from Encore but then stopped when the announcement was made about a commercial release, hoping to get them in their original form. Just goes to show you can't trust everything you read as there was someone on the Combat yahoo group boasting about the show being remastered from the original ABC 35mm fine grains. He was either misinformed or a BS artist, not sure which. But considering how Image released I Spy, taking them off of already transferred tapes running anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes short, this doesn't surprise me. It does disappoint me, however. So, its back to recording Encore for me!

 

[CherylWI]

I was all set to buy these. I've been anticipating this release since the announcement. Now I can't buy them due to poor picture quality. Why can't they do a decent job on the transfer to heck with the extras. A great transfer should come first.

 

[Randy A Salas]

Regarding any issues with the image quality (it's not *that* bad) and time-compression of the Combat! DVDs...

You know how when people complain about, say, MGM releasing non-anamorphic movies on DVD and then people in the know reply with: "Don't blame MGM; blame Buena Vista (Disney), which provided the materials"?

Well, to paraphrase:

Don't blame Image for any issues with the Combat! DVDs. Blame Buena Vista.

Image licensed the show from Buena Vista Television, which owns it. BVT provided the masters. Image says that while it was not responsible for the time-compression or other issues, it is releasing the best prints available on DVD.

So we must make do with what we have. I guess it's time for me to experiment with the variable-speed playback mode on my main DVD player to see if it can compensate for the time compression.

 

[Mark To]

Please understand that with the time compression process it is virtually impossible to gain the amount of time needed to go from 51+ minutes down to 46. The music and dialogue would seem very fast. From what I have seen of the Combats (as well as other re-mastered Worldvision shows like Fugitive and Ben Casey) they are not sped that much so that in order to get to the time they did, little cuts had to be made. I am going out of town tomorrow but when I get back I will take an episode I have that is off an original film print and A/B it with the compressed version to see exactly what was done to it.

As to Image releasing what they got, that argument holds no water. Obviously someone there knows how long the show is supposed to run. It doesn't come anywhere close to the correct running time. Image is a cheap company and I am only guessing here but most likely this was not viewed as an important property for them, certainly not important enough for them to pay to re-transfer the shows from the 35mm prints. So, yes, that is maybe with BV provided with them but they sure didn't go to any lengths to do anything about it. I called them a couple of years ago when I bought their I Spy series and saw cut episodes. They were more concerned with how I got an inside phone number than they were with the fact they put out an inferior product. So, basically, this is how Image operates. They get what they get and that's what they put out, regardless of running time, compression, whatever. Let the buyer beware.

 

[JeffWld]

This is an important point. Compression techniques on content which originally ran 51 minutes are not able to reduce running time down to 46 minutes. There is almost always small content edits required as well.

Image's decision to release the series in this form is pure amateur hour. Although many "Combat" fans will be happy to buy the series anyway, their purchase essentially constitutes agreement that they will never see the show restored to its original condition. The original 35 mm prints will forever rot in the vault.

 

[Randy A Salas]

Although many "Combat" fans will be happy to buy the series anyway, their purchase essentially constitutes agreement that they will never see the show restored to its original condition.

And if they don't buy them, they will still never see the show restored to its original condition because no company will re-release something that didn't sell initially--especially what is essentially a niche product. It's a no-win situation.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Randy,

Since viewing the first volume of the discs, I agree with you regarding the quality of the dvds. As somebody that watched every show back in the early-mid 1960s, I'm very happy to finally have the first season on dvd.

Crawdaddy

 

[Mark To]

For the people who say, "we should just buy it as it is and be happy for the extras" I point to the Star Trek VHS releases from the 80s. They originally tried to pull the same stunt, releasing the cut for syndication 46:30 episodes on tape. The Star Trek fans went ballistic and Paramount had to go back and put out the original, COMPLETE shows and pulled the cut ones off the market. People should stop being such wimps and taking whatever scraps the studios dish out. I don't really give a damn about extras, give me the shows complete and unedited or else don't bother, especially since I can record it every day from ENCORE and get the same exact quality and running time. The more people are willing to accept substandard releases, the more the companies will cheap out and give them substandard releases.

 

[Gordon St Pierre]

^^ Except that the "studio" didn't put this out & probably never would have..Image did
I don't find this release substandard at all ..I'm am glad to have this as is, to replace the 160 eps I have on VHS (was missing 2)
Bring on season 2-5 ,can't come soon enough for me

 

[JeffT.]

In another discussion thread pertaining to Image Entertainment's impending re-release of THE TWILIGHT ZONE (CBS 1959-64) with digitally remastered and fully restored video transfers from the original source elements the general consensus was that this was an unfair practice for those who've already purchased the previous DVD collections and just why wasn't this done in the first place?
Now history has repeated itself once again and contrary to reports that these episodes were to be taken from the original 35mm negatives Image has instead made available time-compressed copies of the COMBAT! (ABC 1962-67) tv series from the tv syndication package.
Because of this disappointing turn-of-events I opted-out of purchasing these particular sets with absolutely no regrets and should Image decide to make COMBAT! available in subsequent improved DVD collections a la THE TWILIGHT ZONE with complete and fully-restored video transfers as promised then at least I'll be ready to purchase them...and definitely not until then!
Has anyone noticed that there are no online DVD reviews as yet for these two COMBAT! sets? I'm really not that surprised about this. Let's not do this product any harm!
Jeff T.

 

[Randy A Salas]

Has anyone noticed that there are no online DVD reviews as yet for these two COMBAT! sets? I'm really not that surprised about this.

You shouldn't be surprised, because you will find few reviews of anything from Image online. The company doesn't really send out review copies for online and is generally pretty selective about who it does send them to, generally just publications. Even its bigger releases, such as I Spy and Twilight Zone, have only a handful of online reviews for scattered volumes--and many of those appear to have been purchased by the reviewers, not sent by Image. So pointing to the Combat! releases as some kind of anomaly in this regard is misleading.

 

[Mark To]

A few months ago, Mark, you boasted in a thread you started ("Recording shows off Encore - Studios snooze, they lose!") that if studios wouldn't release your favorite shows on DVD, you would just record them off of Encore and not buy the DVDs, even if they ever came out. You specifically mentioned that you had recorded Combat!--noting that it was time-compressed but complete, which was fine with you. Given all that, why do you even care about the DVDs? You sound outraged and keep saying that you refuse to buy them, but you already said that before they came out.

That is actually true! But as it got closer and closer to the release date I began to waver and the thought of being able to get the show complete finally got to me and I changed my mind and was going to go for it. Then the news that they were not the original prints got out and I changed my mind again.

As I stated a few weeks ago, I have a complete network episode and tonight I will A/B it to see exactly what has been cut and post it.