Universal Studios & Warner Brothers Reissued DVD Sets (1 Viewer)

Professor Echo · Apr 2, 2014

Jcroy, you've made this thread an essential reference for flipper discs and how to avoid them, when possible. Thank you.

jcroy · Apr 2, 2014

Professor Echo said:
Jcroy, you've made this thread an essential reference for flipper discs and how to avoid them, when possible. Thank you.

Thanks.

Most of this info was from memory and some recent googling.

I suppose it's mostly been a data brain dump for me, which I previously haven't got around to doing.

I have a list of Universal flipper season sets, which I've been recently putting together. (Mostly another huge brain dump). I'll eventually get around to posting it on this thread.

jcroy · Apr 2, 2014

For starters, a list ot Universal flipper season sets which have not yet been re-released as single-sided disc sets, which I'm aware of:

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - seasons 2 and 5Law & Order Criminal Intent - season 3Las Vegas - seasons 1 and 2The Rockford Files - season 1Emergency! - seasons 1 and 2Alfred Hitchcock Presents - season 1Quincy, M.E. - seasons 1/2Adam-12 - season 1Kojak - season 1McCloud - seasons 1/2Kolchak - The Night Stalker
Dragnet 1967 - season 1
Baa Baa Black Sheep - volume 1
Airwolf - season 1Quantum Leap - seasons 2 to 5Seaquest DSV - season 1Sliders - season 3Cleopatra 2525 - Complete Series (2000)Earth 2 - The Complete Series
American Gothic - Complete Series

jcroy · Apr 2, 2014

jcroy · Apr 2, 2014

One Universal case which has an unknown status, is the season 1 set of Dragnet 1967.

It was originally released as a flipper disc set in 2005.

http://www.amazon.com/Dragnet-1967-Season-Jack-Webb/dp/B0007Z9RB6

It was later re-released in 2010, but it is not known whether it is single-sided discs.

http://www.amazon.com/Dragnet-1967-Season-Jack-Webb/dp/B00308B170

EDIT: This 2010 re-release is still flipper discs.

jcroy · Apr 2, 2014

kingfish · Apr 3, 2014

i remember v the series with marc singer from warner brothers being fliper discs. i hope we get a single sided dvd in the future.

phenri · Apr 3, 2014

jcroy said:
One Universal case which has an unknown status, is the season 1 set of Dragnet 1967.

It was originally released as a flipper disc set in 2005.

http://www.amazon.com/Dragnet-1967-Season-Jack-Webb/dp/B0007Z9RB6

It was later re-released in 2010, but it is not known whether it is single-sided discs.

http://www.amazon.com/Dragnet-1967-Season-Jack-Webb/dp/B00308B170

I have the 2010 re-release of Dragnet 1967, and it still contains flipper discs.

jcroy · Apr 3, 2014

phenri said:
I have the 2010 re-release of Dragnet 1967, and it still contains flipper discs.

Thanks for the update.

Is there a third disc in the 2010 re-release?

jcroy · Apr 3, 2014

Was googling yesterday and came across a thread (on another board) which mentions in passing that Netflix doesn't like double-sided flipper discs, and orders some single-sided discs versions of tv season sets which were originally released as flipper sets.

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/archive/index.php/t-216240.html

Going through Netflix's dvd search page, this appears to possibly be the case.

Warner

the original V - 8 discs

http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/V-1983/70281201

Without a Trace - 15 discs

http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Without-a-Trace/70157114

Kung Fu - 19 discs

http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Kung-Fu/70180062

Dukes of Hazzard - 50 discs

http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Dukes-of-Hazzard/70157442

Wonder Woman - 21 discs

http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Wonder-Woman/70180098

Dallas - 77 discs

http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Dallas/70143817

The Waltons - 51 discs

http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/The-Waltons/70157154

Fox

Remington Steele - 26 discs

http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Remington-Steele/70157284

The White Shadow - 12 discs

http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/The-White-Shadow/70157151

Hill Street Blues - 9 discs

http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Hill-Street-Blues/70157401

The Pretender - 22 discs

http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/The-Pretender/70157171

NYPD Blue - 30 discs

http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/NYPD-Blue/70157313

If one counts the number of physical discs of a particular tv show's original dvd season set releases (both flippers and single-sided seasons), the physical disc count is less than that of the corresponding Netflix disc count.

For reference, these are the physical disc counts of the original dvd season set releases of above listed shows:

the original V - 3 flippers

Without a Trace - 4 flippers + 6 single-sided (seasons 1 and 2)

Kung-Fu - 11 flippers

Dukes of Hazzard - 15 flippers + 23 single-sided (+ 2 single-sided tv movies)

Wonder Woman - 11 flippers

Dallas - 50 flippers + 5 single-sided (+ 2 single-sided tv movies)

The Waltons - 39 flippers (+ 3 single-sided tv movies)

Remington Steele - 17 flippers

The White Shadow - 8 flippers (seasons 1 and 2)

Hill Street Blues - 6 flippers

The Pretender - 16 flippers

NYPD Blue - 8 flippers + 18 single-sided (first four seasons released by Fox + 5th season released by Shout Factory)

This suggests single-sided disc versions of some tv season flipper sets, might already exist as Netflix rental exclusives.

jcroy · Apr 3, 2014

jcroy said:
The Waltons - 51 discs

http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/The-Waltons/70157154

I'm having a hard time making heads or tails of this Netflix 51 discs count of The Waltons.

From the original dvd flipper disc releases of The Waltons, there were 39 flipper discs (and 3 single-sided discs in the tv movies set). If one were to just duplicate each flipper into two single-sided discs, this would mean the 39 flippers would be equivalent to 78 single-sided discs! So clearly the Netflix 51 discs are not just a simple 1-to-2 duplication of flipper -> single-sided discs.

On the other hand examining the repackaged single-sided disc re-releases of seasons 1 to 7 of The Waltons, there are 5 single-sided discs per season set (except for season 6 which has six single-sided discs). So for the first 7 re-released season sets, there is a physical disc count of 36 single-sided discs.

Seasons 8 and 9 have not yet been re-releases as single-sided discs. The original flipper disk versions of seasons 8 and 9 had three discs per set.

http://www.amazon.com/Waltons-Season-8-Michael-Learned/dp/B001E549KC
http://www.amazon.com/Waltons-Season-9-Ralph-Waite/dp/B001F7AQDS

If seasons 8 and 9 were to be re-released as single-sided discs, the easiest way would be to just duplicate each flipper into two single-sided discs. This would correspond to 12 single-sided discs in total.

So the sum total of physical discs corresponding to the seasons 1-7 single-sided disc re-releases and hypothetical season 8 and 9 single-sided disc re-releases, along with the tv movies, would be:

36 + 12 + 3 = 51 discs.

In hindsight, perhaps these repackaged single-sided disc re-releases of the Waltons, were actually the same discs version that Warner previously made exclusively for Netflix rental?

jcroy · Apr 3, 2014

jcroy said:
Dallas - 77 discs

http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Dallas/70143817

For this even larger flipper disk monstrosity of the original Dallas, the original flipper disc season sets had a physical disc count of 50 flippers for seasons 1/2 to 13. (Season 14 had five single-sided discs, while the tv movies set had two single-sided discs).

There is no way that the Netflix 77 discs is a simple 1-to-2 duplication of a flipper -> two single-side discs. (Such a simple 1-to-2 duplication would result in 100 + 7 single-sided discs for the entire Dallas series!)

The only way I can make sense of this Netflix 77 discs figure, is to figure out how the seasons 1 to 13 flipper discs can be reauthored into single-sided disks. (Similar to what was done for single-side disc re-releases of The Waltons). If we ignore season 14 and the tv movies, the Dallas flipper discs' content would have to fit into 70 or 72 single-side discs.

There were twelve Dallas season sets released as flippers. (Season 1 and 2 were released as one season set). 72 single-side discs distributed over 12 season sets would mean 6 single-sided discs per season set, with 5 episodes per single-side disc. (It turns out seasons 10 to 13 were released as dvd-18 flipper discs, with 5 episodes on each side of a flipper).

So five episodes per single-side disc, with six single-sided discs per season set, over the first twelve season sets of Dallas, would produce a total physical disc count of 72 discs.

If Warner were to re-release the first twelve Dallas season sets as single-sided disc sets, perhaps they will just use these (hypothetical) single-sided Netflix exclusive versions?

phenri · Apr 3, 2014

jcroy said:
Thanks for the update.

Is there a third disc in the 2010 re-release?

I don't have it at my disposal right now, but I think it only has two discs.

jcroy · Apr 3, 2014

jcroy said:
Was googling yesterday and came across a thread (on another board) which mentions in passing that Netflix doesn't like double-sided flipper discs, and orders some single-sided discs versions of tv season sets which were originally released as flipper sets.

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/archive/index.php/t-216240.html

Going through Netflix's dvd search page, this appears to possibly be the case.

Fox

Remington Steele - 26 discs

http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Remington-Steele/70157284

Hill Street Blues - 9 discs

http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Hill-Street-Blues/70157401

The Pretender - 22 discs

http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/The-Pretender/70157171

NYPD Blue - 30 discs

http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/NYPD-Blue/70157313

If one counts the number of physical discs of a particular tv show's original dvd season set releases (both flippers and single-sided seasons), the physical disc count is less than that of the corresponding Netflix disc count.

For reference, these are the physical disc counts of the original dvd season set releases of above listed shows:

Remington Steele - 17 flippers

Hill Street Blues - 6 flippers

The Pretender - 16 flippers

NYPD Blue - 8 flippers + 18 single-sided (first four seasons released by Fox + 5th season released by Shout Factory)

For these particular Fox flipper tv show season sets, I can only think of one theory where these Netflix disc count numbers possibly make sense.

This theory will assume that Netflix is willing to tolerate and live with double-side dvd-10 flipper discs, but will not tolerate dvd-14 type flipper discs. So flipper discs which were double-sided dvd-10 type discs from the start, will remain as a dvd-10 disc and not be "seperated" into single-sided discs.

Double-sided dvd-14 type flipper discs have a dvd-9 layer on one side, and a dvd-5 layer on the other side. (Recall that dvd-9 discs can hold 8.54 gigs of data, while dvd-5 discs can hold 4.71 gigs of data).

My theory on this is that Netflix demands that a dvd-14 flipper disc's sides are to be seperated in an "unholy" manner. (For lack of a better description).

- The dvd-9 side of a dvd-14 flipper, is made into a new single-sided dvd-9 disc.
- The dvd-5 side of a dvd-14 flipper, is either made into a new single-side dvd-5 discs OR it is "combined" with the dvd-5 side from a different dvd-14 (from the same season set or tv show) and manufactured into a "new" dvd-10 flipper disc.

As an illustrative example, the season sets of Hill Street Blues released by Fox were originally both flipper disc sets with three dvd-14 discs per season set. So for both seasons 1 and 2, there is a total of 6 dvd-14 flipper discs. If the sides of these six dvd-14 discs are seperated, we have a total of:

- six dvd-9 sides
- six dvd-5 sides.

So the six dvd-9 sides are made into new single-sided dvd-9 discs.

For the six dvd-5 sides, they are now combined in an "unholy" manner into three "new" dvd-10 flipper discs.

So the net effect of this "unholy" construction, is 6 new single-sided dvd-9 discs and 3 new double-sided dvd-10 discs, which gives a total of 9 discs for Hill Street Blues seasons 1 and 2. (This is the same number of Netflix discs for Hill Street Blues).

Doing this same "unholy" seperation and construction for the NYPD Blue seasons 3 and 4 flipper disc sets, will produce 8 new single-sided dvd-9 discs and 4 "new" double-sided dvd-10 discs. Adding these 12 "unholy" constructed discs to the disc count of the seasons 1, 2, and 5 sets of NYPD Blue (6 single-sided discs per season set with no flippers), we get a total of 18 + 12 = 30 discs. (This is the same number of Netflix discs for NYPD Blue).

One can do a similar "unholy" seperation and construction for the dvd-14 flipper discs from Remington Steele and The Pretender, and also reproduce the Netflix disc count numbers. (For The Pretender, the 4th flipper disc of each season set turns out to be a dvd-10 flipper from the very start).

(Everything in this post, is complete speculation on my part. At this time, I have no way of directly verifying any of this).

jcroy · Apr 3, 2014

jcroy said:
It seemed like Universal was the worst offender for crappy dvd-18 flippers. Warner also did quite a few dvd-18 flipper sets too.

A list of Warner flipper tv season sets (by year) which I'm aware of:

2005
January 18, 2005 - Kung Fu (season 2)

Poking around barnes & noble's web site, I just noticed the listing for season 2 of Kung Fu, suggests it might be eight single-sided discs. (Originally season 2 of Kung Fu was a flipper set with four double-sided discs).

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd-kung-fu-the-complete-second-season-david-carradine/9201548

Though I have not been able to find a listing on amazon for this single-sided 8 discs version.

UniversalPhan · Apr 3, 2014

Where do you see 8 single sided disks mentioned anywhere in their listing? I saw no such thing. Barnes & Noble is one of the last dinosaurs, with the exception of FYE, that continues to charge full retail prices for their DVD boxed sets.

jcroy · Apr 3, 2014

UniversalPhan said:
Where do you see 8 single sided disks mentioned anywhere in their listing? I saw no such thing.

Scroll down two-thirds to the bottom, and expand the "scene index" and "menu" areas.

jcroy · Apr 3, 2014

UniversalPhan said:
Barnes & Noble is one of the last dinosaurs, with the exception of FYE, that continues to charge full retail prices for their DVD boxed sets.

I don't shop at offline bricks & mortar bookstores anymore either. (Not even for books).

Easier and less expensive to just order online.

UniversalPhan · Apr 4, 2014

Came across the image art for repackaged Magnum P.I. Season 7.

Here's the artwork for the original boxed set:

jcroy · Apr 4, 2014

Some more flipper disc Fox season sets, which I overlooked previously.

In Living Color - seasons 3 to 5.

The Lone Gunmen: The Complete Series

The Simple Life - seasons 1 to 5. (The Paris Hilton show from a decade ago).

Ironically, seasons 1 and 2 of "The Simple Life" may have been Fox's first flipper disc tv seasons sets.

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