Looking for copies of the 2 Christmas specials

[Michael Kessler]

Hello it’s been a while since I posted here but I am currently trying to find either dvd copies or original vhs or beta tapings of the 2 Christmas specials. I had them in dvd at one point but sadly lost a lot of stuff. I know they are on YouTube but kind of want to have physical copies

 

[tomswift2002]

Have you picked up the “Christmas Memories” DVD from 2015? It doesn’t have the full specials, but it has the highest quality versions of the specials currently out there. The one downside is that all the videos feature stereo mixes, including both the exclusive Christmas Alphabet & Make Me Laugh are in new stereo remixes. (Even the previously released video for Santa Claus Is Coming To Town from the “Perry Como Christmas Show” uses the 1984 AOFC Stereo mix, whereas the 2013 Perry Como DVD used the original mono broadcast audio—-which was the 45 mono mix.). Also the Winter Wonderland/Silver Bells/White Christmas is featured in a stereo mix that is exclusive to the DVD, since all the connecting parts were removed, so instead of the choir singing in between WW & SB, it cuts the choir out right to Karen’s vocal. And it’s a very jarring cut. Even the space between SB & WC has Karen’s first verse on WC cut out.

(Just remember the specials were shot on NTSC Composite Videotape—-either 2-inch Quad or 1-inch tape, so they exist at 480i-only! What’s online and even on bootleg DVD’s, has been software deinterlaced where 1-field of the 720x480i frame has been thrown out and you are really seeing a 720x240p video that’s just had its 1-remaining field doubled. But the “Christmas Memories” DVD features the videos in a downcoverted 720x480i video (because the DVD is a downconversion of the HD broadcast master where the videos would have been run through a hardware deinterlacer, thus resulting in a much higher picture because it would’ve used the information from both fields to make a high quality 480p image that was the upscaled to either 720p or 1080i, whatever the broadcast station called for the master to be mastered at)).

 

[Without A Song]

I know that last paragraph makes sense technology-wise, but I can't help but think if Doc Brown had said all that to Marty McFly, Marty would have cried out, "English, Doc!" as he did in "Back to the Future Part II."

 

[tomswift2002]

I know that last paragraph makes sense technology-wise, but I can't help but think if Doc Brown had said all that to Marty McFly, Marty would have cried out, "English, Doc!" as he did in "Back to the Future Part II."

Basically, interlace video was tricking your eye into thinking that you were seeing a full frame, when you were only seeing half every 60th of a second (in NTSC territory). Problem with online and newer TV’s is that they display full frames in progressive scan at 30 frames per second. For older interlace content, they have to be converted to play properly on online sites or you’ll end with something that looks like you are viewing it while holding a comb in front of your eyes.

There are two methods to get an interlace image into progressive. The cheapest and quickest method is just to do a software de-interlace. This is what those cheap “VHS-To-DVD/Digital” converters that are sold in department stores do, even when you are going to DVD. That takes half the image and deletes it. Then it just doubles the remaining half image to make the progressive image, like the old NES and Sega Genesis do in order to send out a compatible 480i signal from their internal 240p signal. This is the way that major studios have used to just dump old Standard Definition content on streaming sites. That’s why you see people online saying that if you want the best viewing copy of Star Trek Deep Space Nine & Voyager you need to watch the DVD’s. CBS/Paramount basically gave a 240p copy of the shows to the streamers. The DVD’s have the original 480i video.

The other method is to run that interlace image through a hardware de-interlacer where it’s specifically designed to take the two parts of the image, combine them into a single progressive image (and some are even designed to upscale as well) and then send that image onto the computer. Even your cheap $30 upscaling set top DVD player has its own hardware de-interlacer/upscale built into it which is why your DVD’s over HDMI look so much better than most standard definition video on streaming sites look. Studios use this method more if they are editing the SD footage into something for broadcast, because it gives them all the information available.

 

[jaredjohnfisher]

Have you picked up the “Christmas Memories” DVD from 2015? It doesn’t have the full specials, but it has the highest quality versions of the specials currently out there. The one downside is that all the videos feature stereo mixes, including both the exclusive Christmas Alphabet & Make Me Laugh are in new stereo remixes. (Even the previously released video for Santa Claus Is Coming To Town from the “Perry Como Christmas Show” uses the 1984 AOFC Stereo mix, whereas the 2013 Perry Como DVD used the original mono broadcast audio—-which was the 45 mono mix.). Also the Winter Wonderland/Silver Bells/White Christmas is featured in a stereo mix that is exclusive to the DVD, since all the connecting parts were removed, so instead of the choir singing in between WW & SB, it cuts the choir out right to Karen’s vocal. And it’s a very jarring cut. Even the space between SB & WC has Karen’s first verse on WC cut out.

(Just remember the specials were shot on NTSC Composite Videotape—-either 2-inch Quad or 1-inch tape, so they exist at 480i-only! What’s online and even on bootleg DVD’s, has been software deinterlaced where 1-field of the 720x480i frame has been thrown out and you are really seeing a 720x240p video that’s just had its 1-remaining field doubled. But the “Christmas Memories” DVD features the videos in a downcoverted 720x480i video (because the DVD is a downconversion of the HD broadcast master where the videos would have been run through a hardware deinterlacer, thus resulting in a much higher picture because it would’ve used the information from both fields to make a high quality 480p image that was the upscaled to either 720p or 1080i, whatever the broadcast station called for the master to be mastered at)).

Tom Swift, you're amazing!!