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Rating the DVD Releases of Sound Serials; Best picture and sound quality available on DVD
Topic Started: Jun 16 2014, 07:30 AM (21,464 Views)
The Batman
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Thanks, Bart, I've made the addition.


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Barcroft
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Bats,
I have the Alpha version of Sea Raiders and again a fairly decent print. The usual chapter stops and a click on catalog offering additional serials and westerns. I'd rate this one 6 out of 10.
Barcroft
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Laughing Gravy
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Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island (Image Entertainment, 1 DVD): 8. Includes full-color booklet with notes and copies of serial posters; trailers for Darkest Africa, SOS Coast Guard, Undersea Kingdom, Zorro Rides Again, and this serial.

Rustlers of Red Dog (Serial Squadron, 2 DVD-Rs): I'll be charitable and give this rather worn print an 8. Includes ch. 1 commentary by "Whiskey Pete" and Grood, and a trailer.

Panther Girl of the Kongo (AC Comics, 2 DVD-Rs): 9. Includes Ch. 2 of Cap'n Video and the same 24 min. promo reel seen on other AC offerings.
"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
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Barcroft
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Bats,
I've had several copies of Bruce Gentry, Daredevil of the Skies over the years but I've got to give Trev Scott kudos for cleaning up the this serial so it can be viewed by everyone. Is it a perfect print? not really but it's the best now available and he has now put it out on 2 discs. The one thing about this serial that is worth noting is that Spencer Bennett made this serial as if he were still at Republic because the fights are more choreographed and you can see in the cast Tom Steele, Dale Van Sickel and the rest of the better stuntmen. One of my favorite later Columbia's and the Barcroft meter gives it 7 out of 10.
Barcroft
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The Batman
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Thanks, Bart and LG, I've made the additions.

Bart, for Bruce Gentry, were you rating the serial a 7/10 or the quality of the DVD release?


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Laughing Gravy
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The Robinson Crusoe disc was issued as part of the Hal Roach Studios collection (Roach, of course, had nothing to do with it) that was distributed by Image. Never figured out what the connection was, who the Hal Roach Studio people were, or whatever. They issued public domain serials and films under the Hal Roach banner, and invariably did a very good job of it. I was always pleased with their work, and they had the very best Gulliver's Travels '39 until the recent Blu-ray.
"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
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Barcroft
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Bats,
The serial not the quality. This is one serial that for some reason a decent print has never been available and like I said earlier Trev did one hell of a job getting this serial to where it is right now. Until Columbia opens it vaults, this is the absolute best available.
Barcroft
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JazzGuyy
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Barcroft
Jun 25 2014, 08:29 AM
Bats,
I have Grapevine's 2 DVD-r version of The Adventures of Smilin'. An all new transfer with Dolby Digital sound. Another one of my favorite Universal's and the print is pretty nice and I'd rate this one 6.5 out of 10. No other extras are found on the discs.
Barcroft
All DVDs have Dolby Digital sound. It is part of the DVD standard. Dolby Digital sound is just an encoding method and comes in many varieties (from single-channel mono, 2-channel mono, etc. up to 5.1 surround sound). That something is encoded in Dolby Digital does not mean that the sound is better. Dolby Digital merely encodes whatever original sound quality is presented to it.
TANSTAAFL!
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The Batman
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JazzGuyy
Jun 26 2014, 07:58 AM
Barcroft
Jun 25 2014, 08:29 AM
Bats,
I have Grapevine's 2 DVD-r version of The Adventures of Smilin'. An all new transfer with Dolby Digital sound. Another one of my favorite Universal's and the print is pretty nice and I'd rate this one 6.5 out of 10. No other extras are found on the discs.
Barcroft
All DVDs have Dolby Digital sound. It is part of the DVD standard. Dolby Digital sound is just an encoding method and comes in many varieties (from single-channel mono, 2-channel mono, etc. up to 5.1 surround sound). That something is encoded in Dolby Digital does not mean that the sound is better. Dolby Digital merely encodes whatever original sound quality is presented to it.

Hey, does that mean that movie theatres have been lying to me all these years, when they proudly proclaim their movies are in Dolby?

What a gyp.


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JazzGuyy
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The Batman
Jun 26 2014, 08:29 AM
JazzGuyy
Jun 26 2014, 07:58 AM
Barcroft
Jun 25 2014, 08:29 AM
Bats,
I have Grapevine's 2 DVD-r version of The Adventures of Smilin'. An all new transfer with Dolby Digital sound. Another one of my favorite Universal's and the print is pretty nice and I'd rate this one 6.5 out of 10. No other extras are found on the discs.
Barcroft
All DVDs have Dolby Digital sound. It is part of the DVD standard. Dolby Digital sound is just an encoding method and comes in many varieties (from single-channel mono, 2-channel mono, etc. up to 5.1 surround sound). That something is encoded in Dolby Digital does not mean that the sound is better. Dolby Digital merely encodes whatever original sound quality is presented to it.

Hey, does that mean that movie theatres have been lying to me all these years, when they proudly proclaim their movies are in Dolby?

What a gyp.


It's mildly deceptive. Dolby is a company that has produced over the years a number of different ways to encode movie sound and to improve movie sound quality. Variants of these methods have shown up in many home-oriented devices. The latest (and just now beginning to come to home electronics) is something called Dolby Atmos. Each new Dolby audio encoding method has been an improvement on the preceding one but no audio format can ever be better than the source audio and movie audio has not always been top notch.

Dolby Digital was an improvement in movie theaters since Dolby insisted that any theater showing films with Dolby Digital sound had to meet certain minimal standards for equipment and sound quality and proper configuration and adjustment. This meant that the theater would have a good chance of playing back the audio part of a film in a reasonable facsimile of what the original studio sound technicians intended. Home systems are rarely held to such standards though it is quite possible to have a home audio system that can greatly exceed that of even the finest movie theaters (but not without spending a fair amount of money).
TANSTAAFL!
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The Batman
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JazzGuyy
Jun 26 2014, 09:24 AM

Each new Dolby audio encoding method has been an improvement on the preceding one but no audio format can ever be better than the source audio and movie audio has not always been top notch.


Thanks, Jazzy, I knew I could count on you to explain it all.



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The Batman
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The Batman
Jun 25 2014, 05:59 AM

I have the first pressing of Cheesy Flick's JJRA and don't recall any of these problems. Not because I wanted to elevate this release over anyone of the other releases, I just don't honestly remember them occurring.

I will take a look at my copy, tonight.


Sorry, been busy the last couple of days, but will check my copy this weekend.


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Laughing Gravy
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There's no number assigned to AC Comics' Mysterious Doctor Satan. I'll give it a 7.

The Painted Stallion (VCI, 1 DVD): 8. Extras: Trailers for Undersea Kingdom, Zorro's Black Whip, and King of the Rocket Men; photo gallery.

SOS Coast Guard (VCI, 1 DVD): 8. Extras: Bios.

Red Barry: Excuse me? "DVD insert"??? That's actually a full-color booklet with extensive liner notes written by the best lookin' guy in the writing-about-serials BUSINESS, bub. Sheesh. Also, note that there are no trailers on either disc, despite what the box says.

"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
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The Batman
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Thanks, LG:

I've added the rating, I also give that one a 7, so that's the average at this time. More ratings are encouraged to get a larger sample size for the ratings of all releases on this chart.

Added THE PAINTED STALLION. There is also a release by the Serial Squadron, so if someone has both and can compare that would be great.

SOS COAST GUARD has been added.

RED BARRY has been updated, thanks, the only online description I could find was "DVD insert", which is obviously a great slight to what I am sure will be a fascinating piece of reading. Made the note about lack of trailers, too.


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williejg
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On AC Comics:

BLACKHAWK-Looks like a studio print because it is a studio print, albeit from Columbia's VHS release. The picture and sound are awesome. In night scenes when there's no music track you can hear the night sounds of crickets, etc. I'd give this a 9.

MYSTERIOUS ISLAND-Another great release from AC. I have no idea where they found this print but it's a very nice print with good audio. It doesn't compare to Blackhawk though, so I'd give this an 8.5 .

THE GREAT ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN KIDD-This is the strangest release I've seen from Ac since they tinted Spy Smasher. The 1st disc looks like a studio print and deserves a 9. The 2nd disc is another story altogether. AC even apologizes for the lower quality of the 2nd disc at it's beginning. What they used is an old worn print for the 2nd disc. It's not that bad though. The picture is still relatively sharp and is highly watchable. But it does have wear marks in the form of black rain(to coin a term from Creepy Girl). I can only give the 2nd disc a 7 or 7.5 . There's no point in trying to average this out because of the great 1st disc, so the entire serial gets the 7-7.5 .

willie
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