Muppet Christmas Carol on DVD?

[smcguire]

Originally posted by frogboy4
When the two films were released on Laserdisc several years ago, they had widescreen versions. I am sure that a new transfer would not have to be made. It must already be somewherer in digital form wating to be zapped on a DVD. Argh! Never knew that about Tracy. Are you sure? Where does the info come from?

Ah, but the laserdiscs were not anamorphic widescreen, so if they wanted to release an anamorphic widescreen DVD (which almost all DVDs these days are), they would have to do a new transfer.

Non-anamorphic widescreen makes DVDphiles almost as annoyed as full frame transfers (because of the lost resolution) but I think I might settle for it in this case, although obviously I'd prefer anamorphic ones!

I don't know if the laserdiscs were issued by Buena Vista; a fellow fan confirmed they weren't anamorphic on the Muppets newsgroup but didn't say who released them.

My info on the Dick Tracy release was from a recent thread on alt.video.dvd, and the review on DVDFile also touches on it briefly.

 

[Phillip]

Buena Vista did release the Laserdiscs along with the VHS version.

 

[frogboy4]

Luke & smcguire

Luke-
The MTI laserdisc I own was released by Jim Henson Video and Walt Disney Pictures and distributed by Buena Vista Home Entertainment so I guess the answer is yes. LOL! So much writing etc!

smcguire- Ah, you are right, but I am suspect the master from the laserdisc would still be higher res than the transfer they'd have to make. Laserdiscs still have superior quality, funny enough. I'll take anything - uncropped - I can get at this point.

 

[Gonzo]

I just e-mailed Buena Vista as well, just asking them to consider releasing the two DVDs in widescreen....

I would just add that sending them RUDE e-mails/snail mails won't get us anywhere...that being polite and professional will get you a lot further than name calling. The crazier you sound, the less credence they'll give your opinion.

Quinnnnnnnnnnnnn

 

[Luke]

Jamie

Yeah i don't see why they don't stick the non-anamorphic version on the disk then, if Buena Vista already has it in the vaults then it's not gonna be much more work for them. Maybe when writing people could mention the non-anamorphic version that has previously been available from them.

 

[smcguire]

Jamie - My understanding from reading DVD web sites and newsgroups is that if you want an anamorphic transfer and the only previous widescreen tranfer was non-anamorphic, they have to do a new transfer. I'm not sure why, and I admit this is just based on what I've read, not because I know the process.

Luke - I'm not sure we should encourage Disney to do that; we don't want to give them the idea that we'll settle for less than an anamorphic transfer (because that is really what we want in an ideal world). That way, if they decide to listen and give us a widescreen transfer, maybe they'll do a whole new one, or they'll say to themselves, "Okay, they want widescreen? Use that old one we have," and it'll be better than nothing. If we give them ideas they may just immediately jump to the easy way out.

Of course, it's possible that Disney's tasked someone to at least read over this discussion (they did ask me which website I'd heard about the DVDs being fullframe), in which case, they know all our secrets already.

--Scott

 

[frogboy4]

Luke

One reason for excluding the widescreeen veriosn that they give is that to place both versions on the disc, it will mean compression and loss of quality. When asked about double-siding the disk, they reply that it removes the opportunity of a sikscreening and that there are less machines that do this. I think it's a load of ****, but that's what they're saying.

 

[Luke]

Guys,

I have absolutely no idea what silkscreening is but i can understand that technically there might be some minute loss of quality when putting two versions on a DVD but then so many other companies do it and i doubt people have noticed that much. Obviously i guess Disney see this as a kids release and they want to aim it straight at kids (many of which i can understand would not want to see black bars on a screen). I do agree that it's a cop out and does not do justice to the film, and there is an adult audience out there that are left out because they aren't in the target audience. The thing i REALLY hate about DVD's and why i don't actually see them as 'Theatre Quality' like most people think they are is that layer transistion pause thing when you have a pause in the middle of the film while a layer changes. That ruins some DVD's for me.

Smc :- Yeah i kinda realised that would be giving them the easy option of putting out the non-anamorphic but then you've got more chance of them doing that because it wouldn't cost them. They probably haven't even researched into the fact that they HAVE a widescreen version ready - it's all entries into databases and things these days. I actually would support the non-anamorphic version being released anyway. I guess it's not the way to specifically request that version but i'd at least hope they were aware thats an option.

I still think we need a better method of contacting them. Usually when big websites run campaigns they do some research and find out who the actual person is responsible for producing the disc or making the decisions. Usually you can get a statement from them, sometimes you can even get an interview or something. For calls to general enquiries to work you need them to be on a massive scale otherwise they just get lost in the call logs along with "What size is Dumbo's trunk ?" and "Which dwarf does the commentary on the Snow White DVD ?". Phil posted that contacting 'Customer Services' was the most "effective" method of complaining but from personal experience, thats very untrue. Media companies rarely even go through the logs until around a month or so later, and you are only ever likely to get an "official" sugar coated response. Seeing as MC is going to town with the campaigns lately and promoting this as a top story perhaps some effort could actually be made to get to the bottom of it - contact Disney or Buena PR - ask them to read the threads and then comment on whats been said. You guys love the fact you have an "insider" here with Ken from Palisades - how about hunting out Joe Schmo from Disney ? Even as a common courtesy they are getting a bad rap here and they should be at least given the chance to respond.

 

[frogboy4]

Luke

The silk-screening I was referring to is a technique to print a picture on one side of the DVD. A double-sided disk only has a small ribbon that deem difficult to read by kids, so all info is then compressed onto one side of a disk. It's cheaper too.

I really think that if this is the way they are going to go, they should release collector’s editions for each film. Just putting "collectors edition" on a product increases it's sale value so I don't see why that's a bad idea. They claim stores don't like two versions of the same film, but doesn't Disney drive the market. I can't see Wal-Mart refusing to stock their titles because there are two versions.

About the silk-screening - Disney's job on silk-screening these labels (for lack of a better word) totally sux! The images are poor quality and resolution and the grain is large and blobby. George Lucas' Ep 1 disc has some beautiful artwork, however it is more expensive because the company must purchase the colors in their "limited palette". I think Disney should abandon the practice altogether or use actual labels (printing would appear professional). Just my take.

 

[smcguire]

Originally posted by Luke
Guys,

I have absolutely no idea what silkscreening is but i can understand that technically there might be some minute loss of quality when putting two versions on a DVD but then so many other companies do it and i doubt people have noticed that much. Obviously i guess Disney see this as a kids release and they want to aim it straight at kids (many of which i can understand would not want to see black bars on a screen). I do agree that it's a cop out[...]

Of course, saying that putting both versions on a disc reduces the quality is also a cop out when joined with the "this is for kids" argument... young kids are hardly likely to notice the slight drop in quality caused by putting both versions on the disc, are they?

I have DVDs (besides the other Muppet movies) that put both widescreen and fullframe on one dual-layer DVD, and they look just fine to me, and I'm picky. Disney would just have to put some effort into the compression process to make sure the results were acceptable, which I'm guessing they're not willing to do.

It would be nice to have a person to contact directly at Disney. But I'm sure there are other folks here who have better contacts in that regard for starting a search than me!

--Scott