the Rebel (1 Viewer)

[Dave Scarpa]

I picked up the complete set 3from TMG and shout. The episodes are sourced from 16mm prints and contain the original
Johnny Cash themesong. I know the ones showing on MeTV don't have the original song but look a lot better than these. They almost looked like they were HD sourced. Why wouldn't shout use these prints for the dvd release. I'm getting tire of owning the second rate versions but I guess that's the way it will be now.

 

[Randy Korstick]

I picked up the complete set 3from TMG and shout. The episodes are sourced from 16mm prints and contain the original
Johnny Cash themesong. I know the ones showing on MeTV don't have the original song but look a lot better than these. They almost looked like they were HD sourced. Why wouldn't shout use these prints for the dvd release. I'm getting tire of owning the second rate versions but I guess that's the way it will be now.

Amazon Prime has this in pretty good looking prints too. Or at least they did a year ago. I only watched a couple episodes and then forgot about it.

 

[BobO'Link]

I picked up the complete set 3from TMG and shout. The episodes are sourced from 16mm prints and contain the original
Johnny Cash themesong. I know the ones showing on MeTV don't have the original song but look a lot better than these. They almost looked like they were HD sourced. Why wouldn't shout use these prints for the dvd release. I'm getting tire of owning the second rate versions but I guess that's the way it will be now.

Because those prints are from 2015 - when it was originally released. Amazon shows 2020, but that's incorrect.

 

[smithbrad]

Because those prints are from 2015 - when it was originally released. Amazon shows 2020, but that's incorrect.

I think many go back quite a bit earlier than that. The Rebel was first released by Timeless as a three disk set, likely focused on what they had at the time. Later they went looking for the missing episodes to create a complete set. By the time they put out the complete set it was a mishmash of quality. It isn't hard to determine which were prepared earlier vs. later. The earlier ones are stored 4:3, while the later ones 16:9 with black bars added to the sides to create a 4:3 presentation. It's a shame they aren't better.

 

[Neil Brock]

Because the 35mm prints and negatives are in the CBS vault, via their purchase of Spelling/Worldvision, the show's syndicator. They were the ones who created the great looking versions for broadcasting. Timeless went through the producers and got the copies from them, and all they had were 16mm versions. Its the same reason why the DVD releases of Route 66 and Naked City were a mess while Sony had gorgeous one-inch transfers that they did on both shows in the mid-80s from the negatives.

 

[Bartman]

So which streaming source has the best picture quality for The Rebel?