Which shows were remastered & which used existing masters? (1 Viewer)

[ChadP2k]

I don't mean to start a flame war here but I thought it might be a good idea to start a list of the shows that have been remastered from original elements for DVD release as well as those that were produced from existing master tapes. This list hopefully can evolve like the one on cuts/edits has and provide a good basis for those looking into sets before they buy. Here's what I'm aware of:

Seinfeld- perhaps the gold standard in TV DVD at this point in time considering the work involved. They went back to the original film elements and re-edited the episodes to match the original network masters (the show was FILMED, but edited and finished on videotape without the negatives being cut to match). These edited films were then given High Definition film to tape transfers, and down converted to standard resolution for the DVD release.

Andy Griffith- I know when TV Land acquired the rights to TAGS back in 2000 Paramount had just signed a contract with Columbia House as well, so they went back to the original film elements and produced NEW 35mm interpositive prints which were transferred to videotape for TV Land to create their own masters from. I'm guessing these 35mm prints, or the subsequent video transfers were used for the DVD set.

Dick Van Dyke- All five seasons were produced from brand new digital transfers from the original 35mm negatives(nothing about high def so I'm assuming they mean Digital Betacam like Lucy)



I Love Lucy- all episdoes are being remastered from the original 35mm film elements supervised by Gregg Oppenheimer, the son of ILL creator/writer Jess Oppenheimer. Some 16mm footage from Oppenheimer's collection of his fathers' prints has also been used to fill gaps.

Sanford & Son- videotaped show, likely was produced from existing transfers due to the scarcity of 2" machines today.

 

[Mark To]

Lost in Space used the 1-inch tapes made in the 80s. Combat used the 1-inch tapes as well which were cut/sped up to come in at anywhere from 46:00 to 51:00, depending on the episodes. I Spy used tape transfers from the early 90s and did not go back to the film elements at all which is why some episodes contain cuts which I do not have on my VHS tapes from the early 80s. Branded and Guns of Will Sonnett are both transferred from King World's syndication tapes made in the early 80s when they first offered both shows.

 

[MatthewA]

I think "Dallas" may have used Canadian masters, as many episodes have the Worldvision logo (they distribute this show outside the US)

 

[Chuck L]

LAVERNE & SHIRLEY I know have been remastered. I have been a fan of this show since it's debut and I have never seen it look better. I mean, when you are getting down to where you can see the textures on bathrobs, you have a remastered set. Paramount, dare I say it, could not have done a better on their presentation of this series...now if they could just get on with season two and so forth, things would be great (a few extra's wouldn't hurt either...)

 

[Jeff Jacobson]

Rhino's Transformers season sets were remastered from 35mm. Season 1 had a ton of new mistakes in it because of this.

The film they used was full of animation mistakes that were later reshot. Rhino did not edit these retakes back into the show, however. Because of this, the episodes on DVD contain hundreds of previously unseen animation mistakes that were fixed before the show aired originally. (They also added in a bunch of stupid new sound effects, further ruining the show.)