The Avengers dvd set 3 (series 4) from Optimum

Post by **dissolute** » Mon Sep 12, 2011 10:49 am

I'm watching the series in turn and I've noticed the occassional oddity when capturing screens - some of Season 4 is a pan & scan crop to 4:3 of the original source material.
The picture qualiity is a billion times better than the A&E sets - I was shocked how awful they were; low quality compression, Never The Same Colour (the banding in the dark sections is atrocious) and weak lighting - but the weird cropping is disappointing.

I know it was shot on film but who cares now how it might have been framed for broadcast back then? (Well, as a historian I do care but I'd rather see the full picture, maybe the 4:3 framing could be a different DVD angle).

Oddly, you get more of the left edge, but less of the top and right. Maybe we'll get full frame in the blu-rays...

Regard:

A&E set:
http://www.dissolute.com.au/avweb/emmab ... hat-AE.jpg
Optimum set:
http://www.dissolute.com.au/avweb/emmab ... hat-OR.jpg

Not all episodes are affected, you can always spot it as there's a visible grey bar up the right edge where they've overlaid the mask. I can't think why they'd do such a thing in this widescreen age, surely presenting the entire frame is everyone's preference.

cyberrich · Post by **cyberrich** » Wed Sep 14, 2011 4:50 pm

I'm still watching the season 2 box set, so haven't got round to buying the others yet. There does seem to be an awful lot of the right side of the picture missing on the optimum dvd of the butler episode in the post above.

Why didn't they release the episodes with the full picture I wonder. Has anyone noticed this on any of the other episodes, and is anything vital missing? Rich.

Frankymole · Post by **Frankymole** » Thu Sep 15, 2011 6:51 pm

dissolute wrote:I'm watching the series in turn and I've noticed the occassional oddity when capturing screens - some of Season 4 is a pan & scan crop to 4:3 of the original source material.
The picture qualiity is a billion times better than the A&E sets - I was shocked how awful they were; low quality compression, Never The Same Colour (the banding in the dark sections is atrocious) and weak lighting - but the weird cropping is disappointing.

I know it was shot on film but who cares now how it might have been framed for broadcast back then? (Well, as a historian I do care but I'd rather see the full picture, maybe the 4:3 framing could be a different DVD angle).

Oddly, you get more of the left edge, but less of the top and right. Maybe we'll get full frame in the blu-rays...

Regard:

A&E set:
http://www.dissolute.com.au/avweb/emmab ... hat-AE.jpg
Optimum set:
http://www.dissolute.com.au/avweb/emmab ... hat-OR.jpg

Not all episodes are affected, you can always spot it as there's a visible grey bar up the right edge where they've overlaid the mask. I can't think why they'd do such a thing in this widescreen age, surely presenting the entire frame is everyone's preference.

That's odd. We were assured that the Optimum sets actually had more picture area, which is why you can sometimes see things you shouldn't, like stuntmen's hands waiting to catch people, etc.

Anyone have any idea what's going on??

Alan · Post by **Alan** » Thu Sep 15, 2011 7:40 pm

Well, as my page with grabs from the contentious episode (What the Butler Saw) demonstrates, the Optimum remaster has plenty more on show compared to the PAL masters:

http://declassified.theavengers.tv/aven ... ptures.htm

If the NTSC masters of old had more picture area than this, then I'm at a loss to explain why or how.

Post by **dissolute** » Fri Sep 16, 2011 5:12 am

Alan wrote:Well, as my page with grabs from the contentious episode (What the Butler Saw) demonstrates, the Optimum remaster has plenty more on show compared to the PAL masters:

http://declassified.theavengers.tv/aven ... ptures.htm

If the NTSC masters of old had more picture area than this, then I'm at a loss to explain why or how.

Thanks Alan. That's weird, not one of my captures for those screens matches yours - it may be an issue with PowerDVD10 that I've been using to do the capturing. (It drives me nuts because the frame shuttle control is terrible, but it automatically saves as PNG or JPG, instead of just BMP, which the others all do, and that saves me tons of time).

I'll try the episode with different software - apologies to everyone if this turns out to be a false alarm!

I've only noticed it twice - both times trying to grab the face of an extra who was near the edge of the screen.

I've forgotten what the other episode was...

Post by **dissolute** » Fri Sep 16, 2011 10:03 am

Well, I've just checked and my copy definitely has less visible than in your timecoded grabs, Alan, regardless of software.
I'll try it on the TV to make sure but it looks like a snafu.

Alan · Post by **Alan** » Fri Sep 16, 2011 6:53 pm

Of course, the grabs on my page are pre-release, sent to me by Optimum, so goodness knows what's happened.

cyberrich · Post by **cyberrich** » Mon Sep 26, 2011 5:24 pm

I wanted to buy this box set but it's looking as if it's unavailable.

I bought the first two box sets recently from cavalcade on play.com, but series 4 is not being sold by cavalcade on play. It is unavailable on the amazon and hmv sites. I didn't want to buy it from anyone other than cavalcade as it may be an uncorrected set. Seems strange to be unavailable so soon. Does anyone know if cavalcade are planning to sell more of series 4, or if any more are likely to be manufactured if they have all been sold out

Thanks, Rich.

Dandy Forsdyke · Post by **Dandy Forsdyke** » Mon Sep 26, 2011 7:10 pm

I noticed this set was unavailable when I was trying to decide whether it was better to buy the series sets individually and the extra disc, totalling up the cost of each set, or go for the one complete box set - and fanny about with the dodgy disc removal

Alan · Post by **Alan** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 10:06 am

It's worth pointing out that Optimum appear to have been completely consumed by Studio Canal now, so it's possible the old email addy is dead or at least no longer reliable (if it ever was).

See this page for updated details:

http://www.studiocanal.co.uk/Home/AboutUs