MovieChat Forums > Parker Lewis Can't Lose (1990) Discussion > Great series, so-so DVD picture quality

Great series, so-so DVD picture quality

posted 16 years ago by karsten_nord
9 replies | jump to latest

I hardly need to say how brilliant S1 of this series was. It was far ahead of its time, and today, so many years later, it still seems fresh and original.

Plus, I love the look of it. The colours are rich and saturated, but all very natural and pleasant to look at. Lots of pinks and blue hues. So different from today, when everything seems to be shot with a heavy green filter. Digital grading has killed cinematography.

The bad news is, the DVDs are not perfect. Are these really the best masters of the series? Hard to believe. The colours are still rich in most episodes, until you get to disc 4. There, all of the episodes after "Jerry's First Date" have serious colour problems, with an oversaturation of green.

Also, there is surprising graininess in some of the shots, and quite a few white particles (dust? deterioration?) in some episodes.

And in dark scenes, you can often see a bluish tinge on both the left and right sides of the frame, especially on a 16x9 screen, where the picture is pillarboxed, and the black bars show the bluish-tinged l/r borders.

Obviously it's a thousand times better than any recording that anyone will have from the original series. But it's far from perfect, especially by modern DVD quality standards. In three of the four discs, it's still acceptable, but most of the episodes in disc 4 really suffer, colour-wise, and that's a shame, because the colour scheme is one of the most notable aspects of the show.

A proper digital restoration would surely have been beneficial.

[–] vnisanian2001 16 years ago

A lot of people need to keep in mind that this show was made at a time when shows were shot on film, and then finished on videotape, so of course the picture quality isn't going to look mind-blowing.

Plus, Shout! Factory can't afford to do new transfers.

[–] lennon62 16 years ago

If only tv could be great like this again. I will say this. These were also done at a time when no one ever thought there would be a market for Tv shows in their entire run.

I would wager the masters, or shows this old were probably not taken care of like shows would today. And, it is also pointed out that Shout! probably couldn't afford transfers. I obtained all of the episodes before the DVD release. Not, the best quality. But, is still good. I am getting the official DVD release today.

DVD comments of this type really do bother me. If were were talking about Lost, or a recent show. I would agree on the harsh comments on the quality. However, we are talking about a show that was shot on film, between probably late 1989-1993. I think we should just be lucky that Shout! is releasing it with not only better looking episodes. But, also recent interviews, and finding out what the cast is doing now.

I am in hopes that the sales are good enough to promise the release of season 2, and 3. And, I say over look minor flaws of color, and such. They did the best they could do, with the material they had access to.

And, off the topic a bit. Growing up, I have often had a few crushes on a few actresses BUT!! My heart never got crushed to find out they were married, or taken. Until, I read that Maia Brewton was married. She looks just like a girl I went to school with, and had a HUGE crush on. But, she never gave me the time of day. LOL Not, like if Maia was single I would stand a chance with her. But... Still crushed. LOL

[–] ralph_2ndedition 16 years ago

Couldn't agree more!
Absolutely superb series - a lot less of a disappointment than some other childhood favourites of mine, that I've bought/seen. Like Knight Rider and The Greatest American Hero...

The quality of the dvd's though are actually pretty terrible.
Like you said, it was ok...but to be honest, by todays standard that's really streatching the meaning of the phrase "ok".

I almost started thinking that the dvd-disc I put in the player somehow had turned in to a crappy, much-watched videotape.
I did countless attempts to adjust the 42" flatscreen to accomodate the rough images, but it was all pretty fruitless...

But I guess part of the charm is really getting that feeling all over again, that you're sitting in front of that 26" boxy tv-set in the early 90's. :)

"Racoon, Rog?"

[–] karsten_nord 16 years ago

It's true.

Ultimately, I could put up with the occasional graininess of the picture I could deal with the occasional white artifacts. I could even stand the blue-hued shadowy areas near the left or right border.

It was only the final disc, where, in every episode after the first, the colours were clearly off and too soaked in green, that I started to get downright annoyed, because the colours of the series (as seen in all of the other episodes) were so important, such much a part of the appear of the series, and remained just as vivid as they had been during the original broadcasts.

I'm guessing that the final batch of episodes were stored together on a tape or reel somewhere, or in similar conditions, given they they all deteriorated in a similar way, colour-wise, as none of the episodes on the previous three discs had done.

In fact, during one of the latter episode commentaries, the cast members doing the commentary even laugh about the fact that Parker's shirt appears to have changed colour.

Don't get me wrong -- I adore this series, and really appreciate Shout for making it available. I just wish that they could have found a better source for that last disc of episodes, if they couldn't do any colour-correction themselves.

[–] Marla_the_big_tourist 14 years ago

Agreed

I was surprised and disappointed at the fair/poor video quality of the first season dvds I got - the episodes looked like old vhs transfers done by an amateur - I was hoping they would work out the kinks for the second season but apparently they haven't, so I have yet to buy the second season.

Now comes word that they may not release season 3 because season 2 sales were poor - hmmmm, wonder why?

[–] mike_7857 11 years ago

Just ordered season one...I held off because of the fact that everyone said they were horrible transfers. We'll see how bad they are lol. It's not because they were filmed on film that they don't look good...they probably used transfers that they had on video is my guess. Depending on the film used...some very old film movies look amazing on digital media because it was a high quality negative that the transfers came from. Atleast we have it on dvd :)

[–] Bluecher 11 years ago

S1 still has decent picture quality but beware of S2 and S3. S3 is at times truly unwatchable because of the hefty motions blurs and washed out colors.

"Oh, what have I drunk?" - Socrates

[–] mike_7857 11 years ago

Ok thanks for the warning.

[–] mike_7857 11 years ago

I'm watching season 1...maybe cause everyone complained so much about the picture quality...I'm not to disappointed lol...it looks fine on my tv. 47 inch lcd 60hz sitting about 10-12 feet away. Ofcourse I see some grain but this was also filmed in 1990 for standard tv's and probably on 16mm film and I'd guess these are transfers from video sources...not the master set. It looks the way it did back in 1990. Happy to have it...still funny and brings back memories...I love the video store scenes...looks like the video stores I went to back in the late 80's.