Does Shout! sometimes have better masters than they use?
May 8, 2021 16:28:05 GMT -5
Megalon likes this
Post by Udvarnoky on May 8, 2021 16:28:05 GMT -5
No episode from MST3K’s original run will ever look particularly good. Them’s just the breaks of a 480i shoot format. However, even within the playing field of standard definition tape, the official releases bear some noticeable discrepancies in quality from episode to episode. Some just have the telltale look of being transferred from a source a generation removed from others.
As an example of what I’m talking about, compare two Season 10 episodes on ShoutTV: HAMLET and BOGGY CREEK II. To my lights, HAMLET looks like it comes from a first generation source, or in any case a generation closer to the master than BOGGY CREEK II does. The latter seems a little bit less detailed, with a little bit inferior color definition, little bit muddier sound, and more frequent analog artifacts (examples include 4:06, and 1:05:17). In other words, it looks and sounds like a dub. Have a look for yourself. It's ultimately a comparison between not-great and less-than-not-great, but I think it's still obvious enough to the untrained eye what the difference is when you put them side by side.
In fact, you could probably go through all of Shout!’s transfers and ID which are the dubs…or anyway the “Grade A” dubs versus the “Grade B” dubs. It gets a little confusing because I think there is the occasional episode that received a second transfer by Shout! over time. There’s also the Rhino transfers, which are inferior to Shout!’s in terms of compression artifacts but sometimes come across as being based on superior sources. (For example, the Rhino version of BOGGY CREEK II doesn’t seem to have all the tape hits, but it’s bit-starved to hell.) Nevertheless, one could probably go through each official release and assign a binary grade. Maybe a stubborn MSTie with a lot of free time could do so someday as a public service.
I’m not entirely sure what accounts for this, but it would make sense if the BBI library contained multiple copies of each episode, including “safety” dubs. The genuine master tape would be the best source for a transfer, but it’s entirely possible Jim Mallon wasn’t mailing those Shout!’s way, and instead sending dubs copies for the DVD releases. Once Shout! acquired the assets, who knows what they found, and how organized it was? There’s been a lot of speculation about the cataloging of the tapes (or lack thereof), what with the K03 being outright missing and K01 and K02 apparently being discovered arbitrarily, in a box without proper labeling.
There could be episodes where the master is missing and a dub was the best source available, or instances where a dub was what got digitized simply because the better tape was discovered after the fact. Shout! apparently has two versions of DELTA KNIGHTS, for example, though I wish their initial transfer was still available on ShoutTV so I could be sure. It seems they took it down, maybe due to the fact that they used the episode as a Kickstarter reward and didn’t want to keep offering it for free at the same time. Hopefully it’s restored eventually.
As an example of what I’m talking about, compare two Season 10 episodes on ShoutTV: HAMLET and BOGGY CREEK II. To my lights, HAMLET looks like it comes from a first generation source, or in any case a generation closer to the master than BOGGY CREEK II does. The latter seems a little bit less detailed, with a little bit inferior color definition, little bit muddier sound, and more frequent analog artifacts (examples include 4:06, and 1:05:17). In other words, it looks and sounds like a dub. Have a look for yourself. It's ultimately a comparison between not-great and less-than-not-great, but I think it's still obvious enough to the untrained eye what the difference is when you put them side by side.
In fact, you could probably go through all of Shout!’s transfers and ID which are the dubs…or anyway the “Grade A” dubs versus the “Grade B” dubs. It gets a little confusing because I think there is the occasional episode that received a second transfer by Shout! over time. There’s also the Rhino transfers, which are inferior to Shout!’s in terms of compression artifacts but sometimes come across as being based on superior sources. (For example, the Rhino version of BOGGY CREEK II doesn’t seem to have all the tape hits, but it’s bit-starved to hell.) Nevertheless, one could probably go through each official release and assign a binary grade. Maybe a stubborn MSTie with a lot of free time could do so someday as a public service.
I’m not entirely sure what accounts for this, but it would make sense if the BBI library contained multiple copies of each episode, including “safety” dubs. The genuine master tape would be the best source for a transfer, but it’s entirely possible Jim Mallon wasn’t mailing those Shout!’s way, and instead sending dubs copies for the DVD releases. Once Shout! acquired the assets, who knows what they found, and how organized it was? There’s been a lot of speculation about the cataloging of the tapes (or lack thereof), what with the K03 being outright missing and K01 and K02 apparently being discovered arbitrarily, in a box without proper labeling.
There could be episodes where the master is missing and a dub was the best source available, or instances where a dub was what got digitized simply because the better tape was discovered after the fact. Shout! apparently has two versions of DELTA KNIGHTS, for example, though I wish their initial transfer was still available on ShoutTV so I could be sure. It seems they took it down, maybe due to the fact that they used the episode as a Kickstarter reward and didn’t want to keep offering it for free at the same time. Hopefully it’s restored eventually.
