The Bionic Woman: Season 2 audio defect (1 Viewer)

[derosa]

Originally Posted by MattHR


A friend who moderates the Yahoo bionicfans group is doing just that. It'll probably just be an A/B comparison covering the minute or two leading up to the point where the normal audio kicks in (at 9:33 on the R1 version). I'll post a link when he has it ready. I think most people will find it to be worse than they expected, assuming some of us were being too critical.

What i'm interested in is to get an audio replacement of those messed up minutes,

so l can still buy the R1 copy.
I'd rather compromise that, than have Pal speed up. Mostly i'd just want

to be able to follow the episode, the quality issue is secondary to wanting

to just be able to enjoy watching the show in it's original form.

 

[MattHR]

Originally Posted by derosa




What i'm interested in is to get an audio replacement of those messed up minutes,

so l can still buy the R1 copy.
I'd rather compromise that, than have Pal speed up. Mostly i'd just want

to be able to follow the episode, the quality issue is secondary to wanting

to just be able to enjoy watching the show in it's original form.

Well, you could always do what Universal has already suggested: turn on the subtitles for those first 10 minutes so you'll know the dialogue being spoken. (sarcasm intended)

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Originally Posted by Brian Himes

before I could remove Bionic Woman Season 2 from my listings, it sold. I had to cancel the order. I feel bad for the person who wanted to buy the set.

Well, don't feel too bad, since the R2 sets can still be bought at retail in R2 and R4 (i.e. they're not OOP/going for silly money).

 

[Hank E]

Originally Posted by JohnMor In fact, I live less than a mile from the studio and I'm willing to hand deliver them if they're willing to fix this problem.

 

[DaveHof]

Has anyone emailed Kenneth Johnson at his website? He has such enthusiasm for the show and unless Universal has put a gag order on him, I'd be surprised if he didn't have something to say about this defect.

 

[MattHR]

Yes, and his response:


Thanks, Matt...Sorry to hear about the problem, but lotsa luck trying to get Uni to do anything about it. Kenny

 

[MBrousseau]

I would like to remind everyone that not only disk 4 is having problem. I want to make sure Universal don't think that's the only disk to fix. I haven't check all the episodes from that set but I have listed several episodes having a similar audio alteration on disks 2, 3 and 5. So for me, it is clear that the entire 5 disk set should be recalled. Period.


And by the way, there is a very smart software that reduce PAL 25 fps speed sound to NTSC 29,97 speed. I use "eac3to" and it's done in a very few minutes. Untill Universal gives us satisfaction, I will process all of my discs from season 2 PAL for every episodes having problem on the region 1.

 

[Bryan^H]

Originally Posted by MattHR




Well, you could always do what Universal has already suggested: turn on the subtitles for those first 10 minutes so you'll know the dialogue being spoken. (sarcasm intended)

I did just that. After I heard Universals' official response, I bit the bullet and ordered this. It's clear it won't be remedied, so I'm taking what I can get. I love this show. It is now one of my favorite shows from the 70's. I want season 3 to proceed(hopefully by the end of this year) on dvd. SO I bought this set. Am I unhappy...? No. I'm upset that some of the audio will be inaudible, But 99 percent of viewing will be fine. I understand fully the outcry on this, but I'm no longer in that boat. I'm just hoping season 3 will be much better.

 

[Sam Favate]

I just checked it out, and... It's the worst thing I have ever heard from a DVD. No amount of increased volume helps.

I don't buy Universal's explanation. Sounds like laziness to me.

 

[Kevin L McCorry]

The thing is, "Deadly Ringer" is the most egregious example, but the audio is poor on many episodes. "The Night Demon" has muffled dialogue up to the point that Jamie is talking with the photo lab technician, and then suddenly it's clear as a bell. "Doomsday is Tomorrow Part II" from Jamie's improvised bionic repair work to the end of the episode has a muffled effect on dialogue and some sound effects. The explosions of Alex at the end soumd positively feeble. "Kill Oscar: Part 1" up until when Rudy does some work on Jaime's hearing has muffled dialogue. Other examples have already been cited on this thread.


You have to have bionic hearing to be able to hear every trace of audio on these DVDs. Maybe that should be Universal's disclaimer. It would sure be a novel one.

 

[derosa]

Originally Posted by Kevin L McCorry


You have to have bionic hearing to be able to hear every trace of audio on these DVDs.

That's funny Kevin!!

 

[Gary OS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin L McCorry

The thing is, "Deadly Ringer" is the most egregious example, but the audio is poor on many episodes.

Wow, things are going from bad to worse with each new review.



Gary "glad I went region free years ago and had the chance to order the R2 release for such a great price" O.

 

[DaveHof]

Wow - for someone who speaks 200 words a minute in his episode commentaries, that was an unexpectedly pithy response.


This is the set I've looked forward to purchasing more than any other thus far this year, but the comments here have greatly dimmed my enthusiasm. But I bought it today anyway, and will hope that the continued outcry will eventually prod Universal into doing the right thing. Even if there is no exchange program offered, I will do the double-dip for Jaime.

 

[DeWilson]

WORST ERROR HANDLING EVER by UNIVERSAL!

 

[Ethan Riley]

Originally Posted by Joseph Burns

So much for putting the good thought on it. Universal's reputation is intact.


The elements do exist for an acceptable release, even if PAL elements have to be slowed back down to patch these parts. They do have an NTSC master of "The Return of Bigfoot, Part II" in it's SMDM incarnation, with better audio there (they tried to give that version to Time-Life back when that set was being developed, but fans wanted the original). Between tapes held by fans and the PAL releases, it's clear that the existence of elements is not the problem.


The fact is, Universal has decided to cut off the project at this point. Whether it was the money, the time or the hassle, they didn't want to do another pass to fix this. Only they could say, but instead they want to claim that the elements don't exist. Now who can argue with that?

We can. And we are. And I think this fiasco is making Season Three's chances a lot slimmer at this point. Why is Universal so sloppy with the product that kept it in business all these years??

 

[MattHR]

Originally Posted by Ethan Riley
We can. And we are. And I think this fiasco is making Season Three's chances a lot slimmer at this point. Why is Universal so sloppy with the product that kept it in business all these years??

I'm sure we'll see a S3 release, regardless of what happens with S2 (unless Uni discovers the transfers for S3 suffer the same problems as S2, in which case they may scrap it—or better, delay the release to make the necessary fixes to avoid the current situtation). I know all the eps were prepped at the same time, and the interviews that were done covered topics for all three seasons (and were mostly culled from Time Life's SMDM sessions). That was a wise decision, so that each season would have consistent bonus materials. The packaging and menus are quite simple (boring) and S3 will undoubtedly use the same templates. I'd bet the only commentary on the S3 set would be from Lindsay on the final ep, "On The Run".

 

[Jack P]

Originally Posted by DaveHof

Wow - for someone who speaks 200 words a minute in his episode commentaries, that was an unexpectedly pithy response.

I agree. I really expected to hear something more than just that from him. That doesn't speak well of him at all.

 

[MattHR]

Originally Posted by Jack P

I agree. I really expected to hear something more than just that from him. That doesn't speak well of him at all.

I wouldn't let that one response cloud your opinion of him. KJ is one of the few people in the industry who makes himself accessible to the fans, and always responds to every email. I'm sure he has received several emails about the BW:S2 fiasco already. Unfortunately, KJ has zero "pull" with the people at Universal, so there is nothing he could say or do that would help our situation. I've had many conversations with him over the years, and whenever the subject of Uni upper management comes up, I sense him choosing his words very carefully (but they still come out laced with his trademark wit and sarcasm). KJ is a class act and we are fortunate that he participated in both the SMDM and BW releases.

 

[Hank E]

And the plot thickens... I went back and watched the beginning of the region 2 "Deadly Ringers" and there is a distinct audio shift at the exact same place as the jump from inaudible-to-normal on the region 1 set. The audio on the region 2 episode gets louder at that point. So it looks like there really is an actual deterioration of the original audio elements on that episode, except that the UK guys actually went to the trouble of fixing it.

 

[Kevin EK]

Kenneth Johnson is a class act. His point in his response was the same thing we've been noting. Yes, there is a problem. But the chances that Universal will do a recall on a 35 year-old series due to this is unfortunately quite slim. There's really nothing he could do that would change that. The only reason they've had him involved in S1 and S2 is the obvious one - that he created and ran the series. Once you hit the 3rd season, you're past the time of his involvement. By that point, he was busy creating and filming the first pilot of The Incredible Hulk, also for Universal.