Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1 Viewer)

[Carlos Garcia]

I bought DVD bootlegs of this show about 4 yrs ago. The picture was mastered off the official Japanese released laserdisc from many years ago. Well, to me the picture quality looks awesome. The show had bright scenes, and the laserdisc reproduced the quality very well. I was looking forward to dumping my laserdisc copied DVDs and buying this new release. However, after reading many reviews from people who have already screened the new DVDs, and all the complaints about how dark and grainy the picture looks, I don't plan on buying this set at all! I think I'll keep my bootlegs, since I'm pretty sure they look alot better than this new set. Perhaps Universal wanted to market this set to X-Files fans, and they decided to darken the show to make it more acceptible for today's audience. Well, that may be fine for today's audience, however, for people like me, who grew up watching the show during its initial run, I think it stinks. Sorry Universal, you lost me on this one...Now let's see how you plan to lose me with Leave it to Beaver, Alfred Hitchcock Presents or The Best of Abbott & Costello Volume 4...With Universal's track record of technical problems with most of their double-sided discs, they may lose my business completely with those sets as well.

 

[GuruAskew]

There's a review up at DVDbeaver.com and the reviewer seems to be satisfied with the transfer:

http://dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReviews...dvd_review.htm


Admittedly, I have never seen the series, nor am I an eagle-eyed videophile, but their screencaps look fine to me.

 

[MichaelScott]

Mines been shipped, so looking forward to this. Love this show and it's the only "official" release on DVD so it's not like I have options. For my less picky eyes it will be fine I'm sure ,as long as it's not cut in any way. After seeing how bad the new show is I had to get this..lol

 

[TravisR]

Granted I'm judging from screenshots but it looks fine to my eyes as well. I think Universal's 'darkening' of the picture is just a fantasy of some crank on Amazon.

 

[Gord Lacey]

Here are my thoughts:

There's a lot of dust and debris in the picture. While there may be some places that don't have dust, it's only a few seconds at a time.

The picture is dark. I would say there's a lot of contrast in it; the blacks absorb darker areas, while the brights are still bright. There was a scene in EP two with a turkey and a dark background. The turkey was completely lost in the picture; you could only see the head and feet.

I'd give it 6/10, and the MGM movies 8/10.

Gord

 

[TravisR]

Thanks for the input, Gord. Would you say the picture is comparable to other Universal TV stuff from the same era?

EDIT: The reason I ask is because the one of the Amazon reviews makes it sound like the screen is pitch black the entire episode. A little dark is one thing, the way the Amazon review makes it sound is another.

 

[Gord Lacey]

It's not pitch black, but there's not a lot of detail in the shadows at all. Wait...virtuall NO detail in the shadows. The MGM release was great, but this one...not so great. I'd say Columbo looks better than this does.

Gord

 

[Dave Scarpa]

Well my Ch.com account comes thru again, reg price $23.99 shipped I had Funcash bringing it down to $15.99 shipped, looking forward to getting the set

 

[Mark Cappelletty]

Has anyone found out if this is available at Costco?

 

[Dave Mack]

Anybody get this yet? Any problems playing?

d

 

[Kevin M]

Damn it Dave, when are you gonna shave?

(This joke made much more sense when Dave had replaced his pic with one of his dog.)

 

[John Stell]

I'll be checking it tonight and will post tomorrow re: any problems. Maybe since only 2 of the 3 discs are DVD 18s I'll get lucky. (Had no problems with Law & Order: SVU Season 2 and Alfred Hitchcock Presents: First Season.)

 

[Dave Mack]

Thanks, John!

Looking forward to your review as well!

d

 

[TravisR]

Since it's a Universal DVD-18, there's gonna be problems. Just like every Universal DVD-18, some are going to play perfectly and some are going to be messed up. I'm not trying to be a prick but it seems kinda obvious

 

[Gord Lacey]

My set played fine.

Gord

 

[RickER]

Just finished side 1. No problems with playing...yet. As far as it being to dark. Well, it is a tad dark. It looked OK on my 36" Sony XBR. I wouldn't try to throw it up on a 10 foot screen in the brightest room of your house or anything. It is what it is, as long as it will play i will be happy. This was a fun show, and worth $30. Now onto side 2 of disc 1.

 

[Greg_S_H]

My Disc One was off the hub, so maybe I'll be joining the Universal Exchange Club this time around. Though I'm burning to know if it's going to be a problem, I won't know for a few days. I believe if anything has been affected, it'll be Side B, and I refuse to rush through the episodes just to see if there's a problem.

 

[MattHR]

Just finished checking all five sides. No DVD-18 problems for me. The transfers are definitely as dark as reported. However, I don't believe anyone intentionally
darkened them to appear more "X-Files-ish". Universal probably just used the best elements they had ready, without any remastering or restoration. I adjusted the brightness and contrast a bit, and was able to make them a little better. These are certainly not comparable to Universal's other reference transfers from the same era. I agree with Gord: they rate about 6/10. Since I don't remember how they're supposed to look from their original broadcasts, and I've been watching them since on my EP VHS dubs from reruns, they'll have to do. Universal probably just rushed this set to coincide with the premiere of the remake. Too bad, since this show deserves better.

 

[John Stell]

I'm happy to report I had no problems with this set!

 

[FrancisP]

Getting this title is like pulling teeth. Apparently it's on backorder at Best Buy and my Amazon order is taking 8
days before it even ships. Hopefully Amazon will answer my
e-mail and tell me what is going on.