DVD Set 5 flaw on disc 2?

[murph]

Regarding the fifth episode on the third disc, episode 397.
When Barnabas has gone upstairs to look for Angelique, Ben and the Reverend are at the foot of the stairs, the screen suddenly goes black with no sound.  All of a sudden it switches back to Ben and the Reverend.  A couple minutes later there is a scene of Barnabas and the Reverend talking and then suddenly the scene very abruptly just shows Barnabas and then just as abruptly goes back to Barnabas and the Reverend. 

I don't know if what I described above is from the Master tape or a problem with the disc. Has anyone else noticed this?  If so please advise.

Thanks,

Murph

In the same episode I described above there is a humorous scene at Jeremiah's grave where his Tombstone reads "Here "Lyes" Jeremiah Collins."  I would have thought that someone in the technical department would have made sure that the spelling of something so prominent in the scene would be spelled correctly.    

[Raholt]

I have not gotten to the disc you are talking about.  However, throughout most of the color episodes on VHS, there are times when the picture will cut to black for a moment and sometimes come back to a different point.  It is also possible this was a camera goof and if so it remained in since they did not edit.

I have seen some of the black points in earlier episodes come across on DVD as just a momentary bit of interference, that on VHS go completely black.

As for the spelling of Lyes, while I know that is not the way we spell it today, it could have been the old English spelling or it could have been done to reflect that alot of gravestone and records have misspelling on them and in them in that period.  People were not as literate as they are today in that era.

Raholt

[Gothick]

Yes, Richard, and a lot of people who should know better are BARELY literate today...

I'm waiting for the first tombstone inscribed "Hear lI's the dearly departed, dont w8."  Ah, the wonders of our technical age!

Gothick

[joe integlia]

if the spelling of lyes is disturbing to u. just wait till u see how they spell the word JAIL! GAOL!

[murph]

In reference to my post from last night regarding the fifth episode on disc 3, episode 397.  I do not own the MPI videos but I did tape this episode when it last aired.  This morning I viewed that tape and the problems I listed last night that are on my DVD are not on the tape.  The scene with Ben and the Reverend does not go black at all.  As stated in my previous post the screen goes black, on my DVD, in the middle of the scene while they're talking to each other, it's not at the end of the scene.  The scene with Barnabas and the Reverend flows very well on the tape.  I wonder why the difference between the DVD and video.

Maybe I just have a defective disc if no one else has noticed this on their DVD.

Thanks again,

Murph

[Midnite]

Regarding the fifth episode on the third disc, episode 397.
When Barnabas has gone upstairs to look for Angelique, Ben and the Reverend are at the foot of the stairs, the screen suddenly goes black with no sound.  All of a sudden it switches back to Ben and the Reverend.  A couple minutes later there is a scene of Barnabas and the Reverend talking and then suddenly the scene very abruptly just shows Barnabas and then just as abruptly goes back to Barnabas and the Reverend. 

I don't know if what I described above is from the Master tape or a problem with the disc. Has anyone else noticed this?  If so please advise.

The MPI tape has the scenes exactly as you described them.

In the same episode I described above there is a humorous scene at Jeremiah's grave where his Tombstone reads "Here "Lyes" Jeremiah Collins."  I would have thought that someone in the technical department would have made sure that the spelling of something so prominent in the scene would be spelled correctly.   

That never bothered me because it's an archaic spelling of "lies", so it's not unusual to see "Here lyes... " on markers dating from the 1700s.  The blunder on that tombstone, however, is that Jeremiah's name is spelled "Jerimiah".  :-

[Gothick]

Hi Joe, gaol is the British spelling of jail.  In the 1790s I believe Americans were still using the British spellings for most words.  I forgot when the whole thing with adopting American spellings came about; it was a govt response to actual practice, obviously.  Noah Webster (now when did he live?) was an advocate for it, I believe.

Just another bit of trivia on an otherwise very dreary rainy afternoon here in Boss-town (heh, heh).

Goth

[victoriawinters]

I can assure all DS fans that MPI is definitely not going bankrupt.

On the contrary, we are in the process of expanding our line of product offerings in Dark Shadows as well as other programs.

I hope this means you will be releasing Dark Shadows from Episode 1 to Episode 208 in addition to the 1991 revival on DVD.  If so, you made me a happy woman today and my husband very unhappy!

luv, victoriawinters

[doombuggy69]

Murph,

The scene you described on the 5th episode of DS disc 5, with the Reverend and Ben, in which the scene breaks up and goes to black.  That is actually not a flaw of the DVD transfer.  This is one of the many damaged pieces of video footage that plagues many of the original episodes of DS. It is that way on the original master tape.  You will see many of these "black" break ups in future episodes.  The reason you don't see it on the syndicated episodes on sci fi, is because Worldvision went to great pains to remove those "flaws" from all the shows currently airing on sci fi.  I described Worldvision's "tweaking" of the sci fi tapes in a past posting. This was done to make the show more broadcast quality.  Over the years, these tapes have been damaged due to mishandling or poor storage  conditions.

Wait until you see episode 479 on DVD. On the original master tape, there is an actual break in the tape in the scene where Barnabas is trying to stop Dr. Lang from cutting off Jeff's head.  Missing in that scene is about 30 seconds of video.  On the sci fi channel tape, Worldvision cleverly edited this scene so you don't see the break in the tape.  I know this because I have an original 1968 audio tape of the episode, which contains the missing 40 seconds of video.   

[jennifer]

thanks for all the info as i just ordered the first set for mother's day!my family asked what i wanted and then rolled their eyes LOL! i can see this as a discussion on sunday!Vlad i just got a DVD and love it ! What a difference! and murph has the right idea!(viewed GWTW last night cool

jennifer

[Debra]

Just to add to the set 5 story...Mpi did say they were willing to replace just the defective disc so that was very cool of them....

Thats great Ksgemini!
 I've been thinking of purchasing a dvd player myself and ordering the set for ds so I've been learning alot about what to expect from everyones responses here.

Deb

[Selby_D._Pearson]

I hope no one minds my posting a reply to this thread in order to bring it forward. Apparently, there are some people here who have bought or are considering buying the DS DVDs but who missed this thread about the defects in set 5. Hopefully, the MPI rep can update us on any possible moves by MPI to correct the defects.

SDP

[mpi_marketing]

We have confirmed that the problem mentioned in this thread is on the original masters, so unfortunately we have no way to correct it if there is missing material.  Our intention was to represet the content on DVD as it appears on the masters, so editing has not been undertaken.  We have done our best to prepare the material for our DVD releases, but when dealing with sometimes spotty masters, there are only so many improvements that can feasably be made.

MPI

[ksgemini]

I think I may be the one who started a thread about this way back...When I got the disc I was worried that the glitch was on just my disc...upon finding that it is in the master, I was satisfied.  Honestly, I think, overall, MPI does a great job with the Dark Shadows tapes and DVD's...if only they would consider putting out the Revival series sooner than later.  To me any of the glitches are brief and minor and don't take away from the show's impact.

[Selby_D._Pearson]

I think I may be the one who started a thread about this way back...When I got the disc I was worried that the glitch was on just my disc...upon finding that it is in the master, I was satisfied.  Honestly, I think, overall, MPI does a great job with the Dark Shadows tapes and DVD's...if only they would consider putting out the Revival series sooner than later.  To me any of the glitches are brief and minor and don't take away from the show's impact.

Dear ksgemini,

I hope I'm not a bother but could you (or anyone else who has Volume 5 of the DVDs) tell me the precise moment that the glitch occurs? I checked my own VHS volume of this episode (#392) and saw no hint of a glitch in the pre-opening credit conversation between Naomi and Joshua. If you could tell me the words spoken by the character just before the glitch occurs, it would help me to look closer and understand what we are talking about.

Dear MPI Marketing,

Are you suggesting that this particular glitch occured in the master tapes between the time the VHS tapes were produced and now, as the DVDs are being produced? If not, why don't I see this defect in my VHS copy? If so, I hope the best possible storage facilities/procedures are being utilized for the masters to prevent further such glitches in future DVD sets!

SDP