The Beginning DVDS technical question??

[Taeylor Collins]

Hey cousins.  I am on Volume 4 of the DS Beginnings set and I noticed on one or two (?) eps that when the shot changes it suddenly goes to the look and sound of a kinescope episode.  I cannot at the moment remember the episode where it keeps going back and forth  however I do have an example!   There is an ep (possibly 133) where Sam [spoiler] keeps the Laura painting from Maggie and he urges her to go to bed.  She does. Then he leaves and she gets back up and looks at the painting of Laura.  Sam comes back and finds Maggie sitting in the dark. He turns on the light and she tells him she looked at the painting.[/spoiler] The whole episode had looked like a normal episode and then suddenly the last shot looks and sounds like a kinescope copy.  I was wondering if perhaps part of these eps were damaged or lost and they had to edit them together with kinescope copies??  Thanks cousins!!  I am not complaning cause I am glad we only have one episode that was completely lost.  Just very curious!   

[Midnite]

I was wondering if perhaps part of these eps were damaged or lost and they had to edit them together with kinescope copies??

That's the reason, resulting in a few partial kinescopes such as the ep you described (#136), though I couldn't tell you exactly what happened to that master tape.

[GooberCollins]

I noticed this, too. I positively despise the kinescopes due to their abysmal sound quality and was glad when the ep(s) returned to normal.

[Taeylor Collins]

Well I am not gonna say I despise them because if it wasn't for them we wouldn't have these early eps complete.  And if it wasn't for the kinescope eps we would be missing a handful of DS episodes.  I am not for sure how many kinescope eps we have??Anyone?? Yeah the sound isn't great but I will not complain!

[Taeylor Collins]

BTW...thanks Midnite. I forgot to tell ya! 

[GooberCollins]

I simply mean that I despise their poor quality; the video is fine, but the audio is sometimes unintelligible. Of course, it couldn't be helped, and they're certainly not unwatchable, so I'll take what I can get. I'd much rather have a few low-quality kinescopes than lose scenes or, worse, entire episodes. 

[Midnite]

You're welcome, Taeylor!

I am not for sure how many kinescope eps we have??Anyone?? Yeah the sound isn't great but I will not complain!

I think 29 fully kinescoped eps, give or take a couple. 

There's an ep coming up for you very soon that's, I think, the worst for sound quality.  Briefly: [spoiler]Laura turns on Sam for painting her.[/spoiler]  I haven't watched it on DVD yet, and hopefully the techs at MPI were able to work their magic on it.  But yes, I can't rail at the poor quality cuz it's a wonderfully creepy installment.

[barnabasjr]

.... hopefully the techs at MPI were able to work their magic on it.  But yes, I can't rail at the poor quality cuz it's a wonderfully creepy installment.

Unfortunately there was no magic to be found. Even with the sound cranked I had trouble understanding what was being said, but, as you indicated, the whole scenario was great. I'm not complainin'!

[Midnite]

Ah well.  Thanks, barnabasjr!