TCM/Columbia Film Noir Classics IV-Improperly Authored Discs (2 Viewers)

[MLamarre]

thanks. Was the other set the Glenn Ford set actually released earlier?

John Ford, not Glenn Ford. It's a collection of his films made at Columbia and the release date is October 14th.

http://shop.tcm.com/john-ford-the-columbia-films-collection-dvd/detail.php?p=465963

 

[shoeshineboy]

D'oh! I preordered them two days earlier...

 

[Richard Gallagher]

thanks. Was the other set the Glenn Ford set actually released earlier?

Btw, one day, sitewide TCM 20% sale (promo code: cyber20) which can be used on this NOIR set. Might be worth buying now, and exchanging later for the corrected bonus feature.
Looks like the sale code works for that Randolph Scott pre-order, too.

That promo code didn't work for me. When I enter cyber20 at checkout I get this message:

Sorry, but coupon "cyber20" is not available for this order.

I e-mailed customer service to get an explanation.

 

[Sadsack]

That promo code didn't work for me. When I enter cyber20 at checkout I get this message:

Sorry, but coupon "cyber20" is not available for this order.

I e-mailed customer service to get an explanation.

I had selected the NOIR as I was thinking of re-ordering it to get the discount. I added the SCOTT set just out of curiosity. Both showed the discount would be applied (red text below each title, and price cut). The SCOTT set had a caveat about being a credit card order only - were you signed into your account so your CC was linked to the order?
One explanation is the applied discount was a glitch, and would have been cancelled if I actually placed the order.

 

[Sadsack]

Just received the new noir set from TCM and unfortunately all of the pressed discs in the set, SO DARK THE NIGHT, JOHNNY O'CLOCK, WALK A CROOKED MILE, BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND DAWN and WALK EAST ON BEACON suffer from an extreme case of jaggies and motion judder. These defects have been present in certain Sony MOD discs of late, so it appears that it's carried over to pressed discs as well.

Projected onto a 10' screen, these discs look pretty awful. The transfers are quite nice contrast and sharpness wise, but whoever is responsible for the authoring of the discs has thrown a major monkey wrench into the works.

And no, it's not my equipment either. Double checked the discs on different players, monitors, two different projectors at different facilities. On really small screens it's not so bad, but you go much larger than a 40" screen, forget it.

Going back for a refund.

telecine patterns (converting 24 frames per sec film to 30 frames per sec video) can be done in a 2:3 pattern, which looks pretty good, or 2:2:2:4 pattern, which has the judder when the 4th frame is duplicated. The NOIR dvds use the latter pattern. A software site below indicates the judder will display on progressive monitor. Perhaps that's why the problem doesnt always show up for everyone?
http://managedlinearsupport.helpserve.com/Knowledgebase/Article/View/32/0/using-2224-pull-down-can-look-like-stutter-in-a-progressive-monitor

 

[Richard Gallagher]

I had selected the NOIR as I was thinking of re-ordering it to get the discount. I added the SCOTT set just out of curiosity. Both showed the discount would be applied (red text below each title, and price cut). The SCOTT set had a caveat about being a credit card order only - were you signed into your account so your CC was linked to the order?
One explanation is the applied discount was a glitch, and would have been cancelled if I actually placed the order.

I'm not sure. I sent them an e-mail, but as usual they misunderstood and thought that I had actually placed the order and hadn't gotten the discount. I never placed the order when I got the message that the code wasn't being accepted. I was signed into my account.

I haven't checked to see if they have gotten back to me today.

 

[Sadsack]

their customer service is weird. It seems to be based on expressing platitudes of good intentions while not knowing or understanding anything about the problem or solution.

Anyway, since it was a one-day sale, I would have used their toll-free number that day to get a non-descript, smiley-face answer.

 

[Richard Gallagher]

their customer service is weird. It seems to be based on expressing platitudes of good intentions while not knowing or understanding anything about the problem or solution.

Anyway, since it was a one-day sale, I would have used their toll-free number that day to get a non-descript, smiley-face answer.

Today they e-mailed me and said that I can call in the order and they will give me the 20% discount. We'll see.

 

[Sadsack]

here's hoping they can handle the discount, Richard.
I posted a review of the Noir set, but dunno if it'll survive their edits....or "redacts," as everyone says nowadays.

 

[Paul Penna]

Out of the blue, I just received an email from TCM Shop saying they're shipping a "replacement" copy of the Film Noir IV set - this despite the fact that I didn't return my original via the pre-paid label they provided. That was in response to my initial communication to them pointing out the stuttering problem that I and some others observed. I'll report if the replacement addresses the issue.

 

[Dave B Ferris]

Me too. Except, I am not quite sure it was out of the blue, because - like you - I had already been communicating by email.

Oh, also my notice said they are *going to* ship, and that I will receive another notice when the *actual* shipping takes place.

 

[Paul Penna]

Out of the blue, I just received an email from TCM Shop saying they're shipping a "replacement" copy of the Film Noir IV set - this despite the fact that I didn't return my original via the pre-paid label they provided. That was in response to my initial communication to them pointing out the stuttering problem that I and some others observed. I'll report if the replacement addresses the issue.

My replacement set has arrived. So far I've only compared the "new" So Dark the Night, and it plays the same as the "old" one.

 

[Bill:N]

I purchased mine from Movie Unlimited a week ago, and have noticed no issues (apart from the wrong gallery on one disk), having watched 4 of the 5 movies on a 55" TV.

 

[Brent S]

... suffer from an extreme case of jaggies and motion judder. These defects have been present in certain Sony MOD discs of late, so it appears that it's carried over to pressed discs as well.

The "John Ford Columbia Films Collection" set also suffers from this. Numerous moments in THE WHOLE TOWN'S TALKING where it's almost like several frames of film were dropped out. THE LONG GRAY LINE is the worst, with the problem appearing throughout... very noticeable every time Tyrone Power puffs on his pipe... almost funny to see the smoke billow out in stuttering, jerky motions.

Have not watched the other films in the set yet, but I will be contacting ShopTCM for a return/refund.

 

[Richard Gallagher]

I received an e-mail offering a 30% discount, so I ordered the noir set today. I'll check it for problems when it arrived.

 

[JoeDoakes]

I received an e-mail offering a 30% discount, so I ordered the noir set today. I'll check it for problems when it arrived.

Was it with a unique code?

 

[JoHud]

The "John Ford Columbia Films Collection" set also suffers from this. Numerous moments in THE WHOLE TOWN'S TALKING where it's almost like several frames of film were dropped out. THE LONG GRAY LINE is the worst, with the problem appearing throughout... very noticeable every time Tyrone Power puffs on his pipe... almost funny to see the smoke billow out in stuttering, jerky motions.

Have not watched the other films in the set yet, but I will be contacting ShopTCM for a return/refund.

Perhaps this problem presents itself in certain players? I've watched mine projected through a PC noticed no such jerkiness, same with the Columbia Noir set.

 

[Charles Smith]

The aggravating thing about problems like this is that it's almost impossible to reach someone who's equipped to grasp the "level" of the problem -- i.e., that it isn't a defective disc in the sense of a scratch or whatnot, but most likely an authoring problem that happened way upstream.

(I was about to say it's easier to get someone to understand when you're talking to an actual studio -- and then I remembered the studio's "fix" for West Side Story...)

 

[Dave B Ferris]

I ordered the John Ford set on Monday (11/18). I also ordered (or pre-ordered, I thought) the Randolph Scott set (I think there was a warning that the Scott set would ship on December 3).

Yesterday (11/19), I received a shipping notice that said both sets had been shipped.

I'm still thinking the shipping notice might have been wrong about the Scott set; I'll know for sure once I receive the package.

 

[Sadsack]

The aggravating thing about problems like this is that it's almost impossible to reach someone who's equipped to grasp the "level" of the problem -- i.e., that it isn't a defective disc in the sense of a scratch or whatnot, but most likely an authoring problem that happened way upstream.

(I was about to say it's easier to get someone to understand when you're talking to an actual studio -- and then I remembered the studio's "fix" for West Side Story...)

"authoring" only means making the menu. The playback problem is caused when either converting film to digital video, or encoding after that step. In this case, I think it happened during the conversion - they duplicated every 4th frame in order to get the necessary 30 fps from 24 fps film. What some viewers think is a dropped frame is the opposite - a brief pause from an extra frame.
The usual pattern of telecine adds half a frame every two frames, so you dont notice as much. I think that's usually done after the film is converted only to 24 fps digital.
I've heard that people accustomed to progressive video (ie no duplicates or blended frames, as is most PAL dvds) often notice "our" telecine since it's not as smooth.