Route 66 Question (1 Viewer)

[Neil Brock]

Were the problems with the bad 16mm transfers in season one that Infinity released ever corrected in any subsequent release by Shout Factory?

 

[Flashgear]

Unfortunately, no. Same old transfers for the problematic episodes in the first half of season one. On both labels, episodes like Layout at Glen Canyon, A Fury slinging Flame, and Sheba still look inferior to the prevailing standard in both sets. Other early episodes like Man On The Monkey Board, Play it Glissando and The Clover Throne have always looked good on both label's releases. A/R is correct throughout the Shout! sets. My old Infinity season one volume 2 was the one where they bungled the A/R, presenting the newly transferred latter 16 episodes in 16:9... If you value Route 66 as highly as I do, you also need to keep the Roxbury/Infinity sets for seasons one to three, as a few various episodes look better on the older sets because Shout! chose to squeeze 6 episodes on two discs of the six in both season two and three, impacting PQ for a few episodes...when I watch the series in broadcast order, I always check first to compare so I'll watch the better copy. Sometimes the Shout! version of a particular episode looks superior. But generally, with a problem episode, the Infinity transfer was better because they used 8 discs instead of 6 as in the Shout! sets.

Sometimes the difference is dramatic...here's some comparative screen caps I took from disc 1 of season three for the quintessential episode Ever Ride The Waves in Oklahoma?...this is what the dreaded data "compression" does when you stick just one more episode on a disc!

Shout! Factory...

Roxbury/Infinity...

Shout! Factory...

Roxbury/Infinity...

Shout!

Infinity...

Shout!

Infinity...

Ever Ride the Waves in Oklahoma? represents the starkest difference with any one Route 66 episode that I have yet discovered in comparing the two label's releases...but as I say, just to really complicate things to a cosmic shit level, there are a few episodes that look marginally better on the Shout sets!

For me, this is one of the all-time great episodes...so, I'm glad I still have the old Infinity sets to go along with my Shout complete series set...

By the way, a very young and somewhat pudgy Harrison Ford appears uncredited in this episode...likely his first on-screen appearance...

 

[Tom.W]

Thanks for that information, Randall! I have added it to my notes regarding substitutions of the Roxbury set for season 2, discs 1 and 6 and season 3 disc 1. I believe you mentioned that some time ago.

 

[bmasters9]

Unfortunately, no. Same old transfers for the problematic episodes in the first half of season one. On both labels, episodes like Layout at Glen Canyon, A Fury slinging Flame, and Sheba still look inferior to the prevailing standard in both sets. Other early episodes like Man On The Monkey Board, Play it Glissando and The Clover Throne have always looked good on both label's releases. A/R is correct throughout the Shout! sets. My old Infinity season one volume 2 was the one where they bungled the A/R, presenting the newly transferred latter 16 episodes in 16:9... If you value Route 66 as highly as I do, you also need to keep the Roxbury/Infinity sets for seasons one to three, as a few various episodes look better on the older sets because Shout! chose to squeeze 6 episodes on two discs of the six in both season two and three, impacting PQ for a few episodes...when I watch the series in broadcast order, I always check first to compare so I'll watch the better copy. Sometimes the Shout! version of a particular episode looks superior. But generally, with a problem episode, the Infinity transfer was better because they used 8 discs instead of 6 as in the Shout! sets.

Sometimes the difference is dramatic...here's some comparative screen caps I took from disc 1 of season three for the quintessential episode Ever Ride The Waves in Oklahoma?...this is what the dreaded data "compression" does when you stick just one more episode on a disc!

Shout! Factory...
View attachment 91279

Roxbury/Infinity...
View attachment 91280

Shout! Factory...
View attachment 91281

Roxbury/Infinity...
View attachment 91282

Shout!
View attachment 91283

Infinity...
View attachment 91284

Shout!
View attachment 91285

Infinity...
View attachment 91286

Ever Ride the Waves in Oklahoma? represents the starkest difference with any one Route 66 episode that I have yet discovered in comparing the two label's releases...but as I say, just to really complicate things to a cosmic shit level, there are a few episodes that look marginally better on the Shout sets!

For me, this is one of the all-time great episodes...so, I'm glad I still have the old Infinity sets to go along with my Shout complete series set...

By the way, a very young and somewhat pudgy Harrison Ford appears uncredited in this episode...likely his first on-screen appearance...
View attachment 91288

Those Roxbury releases look miles better than Shout!'s all-in-one-- the faces look so much clearer, among everything else.

 

[PianoPlayer]

Is my memory playing tricks on me, or were the Route 66 prints that Nick At Nite used years ago a better quality than any of these subsequent video releases? I seem to recall that Nick At Nite's prints looked very good.

If so -- why weren't those prints used for the DVD releases?

 

[Neil Brock]

Is my memory playing tricks on me, or were the Route 66 prints that Nick At Nite used years ago a better quality than any of these subsequent video releases? I seem to recall that Nick At Nite's prints looked very good.

If so -- why weren't those prints used for the DVD releases?

Yes, the Nick at Nite run used remastered 35mm prints, even including the bumpers, and they were complete and beautiful. Far better than anything used for the DVDs. Those came from Sony and unfortunately the rights to the series got complicated and Sony lost them so what was available afterwards was nowhere near as good as what Nick at Nite had. I used to know someone who recorded the whole series from Nick on Super Beta and I'll bet his copies look better than what's on the DVDs.

 

[ChrisALM]

I have the Roxbury S1-3 sets and the Shout S4 set. There must be at least some level of profitability/interest in the series for Shout to release essentially a second less than stellar set for the series. At this point in time, is there any chance of a bluray release?

 

[Harry-N]

ROUTE 66 appears to be the DECADES BINGE this weekend, starting now with S1 E1

 

[ChrisALM]

ROUTE 66 appears to be the DECADES BINGE this weekend, starting now with S1 E1

Unfortunately, Decades is unavailable here. Are you able to watch it and can you determine if they are using the 35mm prints?

 

[Harry-N]

I only saw a little of one episode last night. The print looked dark and a bit soft, but that could just be DECADES compression.

 

[ChrisALM]

I only saw a little of one episode last night. The print looked dark and a bit soft, but that could just be DECADES compression.

I understand, thanks.