keithd@cadovax.UUCP (Keith Doyle) (05/07/85)
[............]
Glad to hear PCB's "Intolerance" is not too bad. I bought "The Seventh Seal"
by Bergman at $19.95, and also found it reasonably good quality. I hesitate
to buy the great old films as I've been burnt a couple of times on these.
Outfits like "Reel Images" and Hollywood Home Theater for example. I purchased
"M" and Metropolis, and thought the quality was atrocious. On "M", there are
several scenes where the tops of peoples heads are clipped off the top of the
screen. Metropolis was noisy and the contrast was lousy.
I'd love to hear from people that have had good luck with ordering old films
and have gotten decent quality (and particularly who you got them from.)
It's really disappointing when you know the films exist in good quality,
(seen them in theatres etc.) but are obviously getting an old worn out
16mm copy from some schlock joint using a quick and dirty film to video
converter.
On another subject, I once rented a tape from a local video store that was
a collection of old B&W T.V. commercials. There were loads of them, arranged
approximately by subject (started with cigarette commercials, then to beer
commercials, then to food etc.). Between each commercial, there was a
title frame that said something to the effect of "Boston University
Television Archive" or something. I'm not sure it was Boston, but
I seem to remember it started with a "B" and was somewhere east of the
Mississippi (though I could be wrong about that too). I also can't remember
if it was "Television Archive" or "Film Archive" or "Commercial Archive" or
what (I know, lots of help aren't I). I was wondering if there are any
more commercial collections from wherever this one came from. The video
rental store owner couldn't remember where he got it.
Keith Doyle
# {ucbvax,ihnp4,decvax}!trwrb!cadovax!keithdboyajian@akov68.DEC (05/11/85)
> From: cadovax!keithd (Keith Doyle) > Glad to hear PCB's "Intolerance" is not too bad. I bought "The Seventh Seal" > by Bergman at $19.95, and also found it reasonably good quality. I hesitate > to buy the great old films as I've been burnt a couple of times on these. > Outfits like "Reel Images" and Hollywood Home Theater for example. I purchased > "M" and Metropolis, and thought the quality was atrocious. On "M", there are > several scenes where the tops of peoples heads are clipped off the top of the > screen. Metropolis was noisy and the contrast was lousy. > > I'd love to hear from people that have had good luck with ordering old films > and have gotten decent quality (and particularly who you got them from.) > It's really disappointing when you know the films exist in good quality, > (seen them in theatres etc.) but are obviously getting an old worn out > 16mm copy from some schlock joint using a quick and dirty film to video > converter. Well, I've gotten three old films released by Kartes (under the label "Video Film Classics).I didn't get them from PCB, though they are the same batch of films (Walden's Book Stores and B. Dalton's, among others, carry them). Korda's THE JUNGLE BOOK is a *really* nice quality print. Capra's IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE is a good print, but not outstanding. I understand that Spotlite Video used the original negatives in making their video master, so the quality of their release is quite high. THINGS TO COME is an *awful* print --- choppy, grainy, poor sound, etc. There's an article in the May issue of VIDEO TIMES about Pre-recorded tapes under $20. It's worth a look. VT is a reasonably good magazine, concentrating more on the "software" than the "hardware" than does VIDEO or VIDEO REVIEW. --- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Maynard, MA) UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4|allegra|ucbvax|...}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian ARPA: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA