'Route 66' DVD

[Larry S.]

I heard on radio on the way home today that all episodes of 'Route 66' just became available on DVD. I Googled this when I got home and found that they're availabe everwhere at discount. This may be old news, but that's what the guy on NPR said (I listen to them to get my blood pressure up).

[Grant M.]

Re: 'Route 66' DVD

The first volume (1/2 season--4 discs/15 episodes) of season 1 is currently available (Best Buy--in the US only carries it for $24.95) and it has been announced that the second volume of season 1 will go on sale on 5 February 08. The production company that is putting these out is also reportedly working on producing a full-length movie, but not details available on that yet.

I picked up the first volume a couple of weeks back and the quality is excellent. As was the case with many older TV series, there were lots of later famous actors and actresses getting early exposure during Route 66: Bruce Dern, Anne Francis, Jack Lord, Leslie Nielsen, Jack Warden to name a few from the first volume episodes.

Hope they go "all the way" and issue the entire 5 seasons as I'd like a good quality copy (I have an old, recorded from TV VHS print of very fuzzy video quality) of the (final) 1964 episode filmed in my hometown of Toronto, ON (Yeah, I know it's not even near Route 66, and the title of the episode said it well: "A long way from St. Louis".

grant

[Grant M.]

Re: 'Route 66' DVD

The first volume (1/2 season--4 discs/15 episodes) of season 1 is currently available (Best Buy--in the US only carries it for $24.95) and it has been announced that the second volume of season 1 will go on sale on 5 February 08. The production company that is putting these out is also reportedly working on producing a full-length movie, but not details available on that yet.

I picked up the first volume a couple of weeks back and the quality is excellent. As was the case with many older TV series, there were lots of later famous actors and actresses getting early exposure during Route 66: Bruce Dern, Anne Francis, Jack Lord, Leslie Nielsen, Jack Warden to name a few from the first volume episodes.

Hope they go "all the way" and issue the entire 5 seasons as I'd like a good quality copy (I have an old, recorded from TV VHS print of very fuzzy video quality) of the (final) 1964 episode filmed in my hometown of Toronto, ON (Yeah, I know it's not even near Route 66, and the title of the episode said it well: "A long way from St. Louis".

grant

[Steve L.]

Re: 'Route 66' DVD

Since no one is responding, from what I gathered, a complete set is usually boolegged off a TV, they are all very poor quality.

Last Oct/07, the owners did release the first season DVD that was supposed to be mastered right off the film. But reports are that the video and audio quality is not very good. The owners are supposed to release the rest of the seasons in 6 month intervals. The first season release is available at Amazon and other places for around $25.

I suspect that the owners are looking at their sales of the first season. If it is good, they may release the other seasons with better quality and perhaps re-release the first season with better quality.

I would wait and see what happens.

Steve

[Steve L.]

Re: 'Route 66' DVD

Since no one is responding, from what I gathered, a complete set is usually boolegged off a TV, they are all very poor quality.

Last Oct/07, the owners did release the first season DVD that was supposed to be mastered right off the film. But reports are that the video and audio quality is not very good. The owners are supposed to release the rest of the seasons in 6 month intervals. The first season release is available at Amazon and other places for around $25.

I suspect that the owners are looking at their sales of the first season. If it is good, they may release the other seasons with better quality and perhaps re-release the first season with better quality.

I would wait and see what happens.

Steve

[Steve L.]

Re: 'Route 66' DVD

Grant,
It's interesting that you said the quality is excellent. The numerous feedbacks I've read is that some of the video is very dark, almost unviewable and some audio has a buzz.

I wonder if they've done a second release on the first volume?
Steve

[Steve L.]

Re: 'Route 66' DVD

Grant,
It's interesting that you said the quality is excellent. The numerous feedbacks I've read is that some of the video is very dark, almost unviewable and some audio has a buzz.

I wonder if they've done a second release on the first volume?
Steve

[Grant M.]

Re: 'Route 66' DVD

Steve,

I can't comment on what others have seen, but my DVDs are just fine for quality; I'd say as good as any black and white/1950s-19602 movies I've seen on DVD and better than some. I think those not old enough to recall what TV series of the 1950s and 1960s looked like on a black and white set in those days might be judging them as poor quality (by today's standards), whereas they were as good as it got for the day. Take a look at any "live" musical performance DVDs of say, the Ed Sullivan Show etc, and you'll see how far video quality has come in the last 40-50 years. I have seen the videos advertised by something like "TV land" etc, but I've never boguht one from them. My own VHS tapes that I made from a poor quality cable signal off a Montreal TV station back in the late 1980s were very "snowy" and not good at all.

BTW, if my attempts to locate copies in Best Buy stores is any indication, the production company will be pleased with first season sales. No border-area Best Buy stores had it in stock; I had to go to the Rochester (Henrietta) store, where I found three copies.

grant

[Grant M.]

Re: 'Route 66' DVD

Steve,

I can't comment on what others have seen, but my DVDs are just fine for quality; I'd say as good as any black and white/1950s-19602 movies I've seen on DVD and better than some. I think those not old enough to recall what TV series of the 1950s and 1960s looked like on a black and white set in those days might be judging them as poor quality (by today's standards), whereas they were as good as it got for the day. Take a look at any "live" musical performance DVDs of say, the Ed Sullivan Show etc, and you'll see how far video quality has come in the last 40-50 years. I have seen the videos advertised by something like "TV land" etc, but I've never boguht one from them. My own VHS tapes that I made from a poor quality cable signal off a Montreal TV station back in the late 1980s were very "snowy" and not good at all.

BTW, if my attempts to locate copies in Best Buy stores is any indication, the production company will be pleased with first season sales. No border-area Best Buy stores had it in stock; I had to go to the Rochester (Henrietta) store, where I found three copies.

grant

[Steve L.]

Re: 'Route 66' DVD

I was under the impression that these DVD's were supposed to be copied right off the film so that no TV was involved at all. So that should be exceptional quality. Apparently the distributor has rights to the film. Perhaps the distributor took the cheap way to digitize it -not knowing if they would get their money back.

Steve L.

[Steve L.]

Re: 'Route 66' DVD

I was under the impression that these DVD's were supposed to be copied right off the film so that no TV was involved at all. So that should be exceptional quality. Apparently the distributor has rights to the film. Perhaps the distributor took the cheap way to digitize it -not knowing if they would get their money back.

Steve L.

[Grant M.]

Re: 'Route 66' DVD

Steve,

I wasn't implying that they were copied from TV, but that the lighting/makeup etc used for films produced for TV in the 50s and 60s was necessary to the technology (TV) that would be used to present it. High contrast was a necessary evil in those days, and the earliest days of colour TV. If you were ever present at a live colour TV show being recorded or broadcast in that period you would have seen the bright "red" faces of the actors (makeup) and the careful choices of colours of the clothing (no white shirts--blue) because the cameras and the media itself needed the high contrast. Another, important thing to remember about Route 66, is that it was shot entirely on location; there were no studio "interior" shots, where lighting etc could be optimized, and I suspect that the amount of supplementary lighting equipment taken on the road as well as the time available to keep to a shooting schedule was limited (I think there were 25 or 26 approximately one-hour episodes in the first season). The crew did the best they could on the road; they were to a great degree at the mercy of the weather/natural lighting of the day. In any event, I didn't find there to be anything wrong with the quality, all things considered. If you're used to today's digital products, where post-shooting editing can clean-up anything that wasn't perfect to begin with in the carefully and expensively-staged shooting, then I guess you'd be disappointed.

I still hope they continue to release them and ultimately the entire series.

grant

[Grant M.]

Re: 'Route 66' DVD

Steve,

I wasn't implying that they were copied from TV, but that the lighting/makeup etc used for films produced for TV in the 50s and 60s was necessary to the technology (TV) that would be used to present it. High contrast was a necessary evil in those days, and the earliest days of colour TV. If you were ever present at a live colour TV show being recorded or broadcast in that period you would have seen the bright "red" faces of the actors (makeup) and the careful choices of colours of the clothing (no white shirts--blue) because the cameras and the media itself needed the high contrast. Another, important thing to remember about Route 66, is that it was shot entirely on location; there were no studio "interior" shots, where lighting etc could be optimized, and I suspect that the amount of supplementary lighting equipment taken on the road as well as the time available to keep to a shooting schedule was limited (I think there were 25 or 26 approximately one-hour episodes in the first season). The crew did the best they could on the road; they were to a great degree at the mercy of the weather/natural lighting of the day. In any event, I didn't find there to be anything wrong with the quality, all things considered. If you're used to today's digital products, where post-shooting editing can clean-up anything that wasn't perfect to begin with in the carefully and expensively-staged shooting, then I guess you'd be disappointed.

I still hope they continue to release them and ultimately the entire series.

grant