Recent Posts

As always, details are on the main blog page:

http://www.americanclassictelevision.com/index.php

Man, do I remember this show...! 

-Kevin

The latest press release is on the blog page:

http://www.americanclassictelevision.com/index.php

-Kevin

Today I picked up just out of sheer desperation the latest in a series of public domain release of 1950s "Dragnet" episodes.    Mostly the same ones other PD companies have done but with a random episode I hadn't seen before.

Sadly, the 1950s version of "Dragnet" is a show we will probably never see released properly even though the original film elements do exist.    Because too many episodes have fallen into a PD state, Universal (which won't even release the rest of the 1960s revival!) isn't about to consider releasing this 50s TV classic in the format it deserved to be released in.

This brings up a point of how we can sometimes face a ridiculous situation where great copies of classic TV *do* exist, but we'll never be able to see them in the format they should be seen in.   

Kevin, I'm glad I finally found an outlet to congratulate you on the outstanding job on the Sullivan Show DVDs!  (HTF alas is a place I can not post in anymore)    I know you had talked about this process before in our e-mails of years ago, but when I saw the process for the first time I was absolutely floored because it matched the appearance of a videotape quality broadcast perfectly.

I have to admit, I hope that someday this process can be applied to some of the few surviving sports telecasts of the 50s and early 60s for which next to nothing exists in a videotape format. 

In the meantime, I will be looking forward to whatever comes next with great interest.    Congrats!

Hey, Glenn-- Welcome!

Well, I **have** been trying to keep busy... 

I have to say, I've been knocked out by the compliments that have come my way in the past few months... it's one thing for **me** to think that the final product looks and sounds good, but it's quite another to see that so many other people feel the same way.  Very heartening, as you might guess!

And of course I'll be more that happy to autograph your copy of the Elvis set... I must warn you that one "X" looks very much like another, though.   

Anyway, hope you enjoy this place-- I hope to see you (and anyone else you think to invite) posting here often!

-Kevin

An essay in the main page blog:

http://www.americanclassictelevision.com

And here's a link to the NY Times article that it refers to:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/12/technology/12video.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

It seems the "PD" label owners are running out of legs to stand on...

-Kevin

[CONGRATS on your burgeoning enterprise, old man!]

Geez, Kevin... I leave you alone for four years, then you go and make a huge name for yourself!!! LOL! 

CONGRATS on your burgeoning enterprise, old man!  I'm absolutely thrilled for you.

http://www.kinescopes.com/elvisdvd.html

(I trust you'll autograph my copy...)

-G

I'm very excited about the technology and will be even more excited to see it further refined - especially in regards to the film transfers used as source.

With the Ed Sullivan kines used for the Elvis set - which look incredible and are much closer to a representation of the original broadcasts - I believe the LiveFeed technology was applied to existing transfers. Because kinescope transfers have improved dramatically over the last few years, I still believe for the true effectiveness to be acheived you must have a more recent transfer to begin with. I saw the LiveFeed demo disc and was astonished at the Sid Caesar clip. It was absolutely amazing.

Of course this leads me to the 1957 Rogers & Hammerstein's Cinderella, which was transferred incorrectly for the recent DVD release. Kinescopes are a different animal than regular film - if the transfer facility does not take this into consideration it will be rendered dark and murky. My 15 year old copy of a 16mm transfer of it looks better than the DVD for this reason.

Hopefully the convergence of these technologies will allow us to someday have a truer approximation of some of these historic programs - and being that kinescopes were a bastard process to begin with, I have no qualms about applying new technologies to the existing versions.

Welcome to the Forum, and thanks for the kind words! 

Glad you got an opportunity to see one of the demos... I think there are some marvelous examples on them, and the Sid Caesar/Benny Goodman cluip is one of my favorites, as well.  As you can imagine, I've got a real itch to do some official work for them-- although I must say that I can't find anyone in their organization to contact on that subject...

It is indeed true that a better film transfer will lead to a better result-- and I'm a great proponent of new transfers being done, if only from an archival standpoint; but there are often some compelling reasons to use the existing transfers, if possible... not the least of which are cost/budget considerations, as well as the possibility that original film elements may have been damaged or lost in the intervening years.

As for "Cinderella", which did undergo **some amount** of polishing and repair prior to its release, I think part of the problem with the existing DVD is actually a result of the condition of the print that Rodgers & Hammerstein had to work with.  To begin with, I'm not certain if they had an original kine, or simply a dupe-- the existing transfer is indeed so murky and muted that it's hard to tell.  It may also be that they were attempting to kinescope a color broadcast, and hadn't made allowance for the resultant difference in image brightness and contrast.  At least it appears they weren't attempting to shoot the B&W kinescope from a color monitor, as NBC apparently did.

Fortunately, a fair amount of the luma problems can be compensated for-- in fact, the "quick & dirty" demo I put together for the R&H people did just that.  But, if there's ultimately no corporate interest in fixing things, you can only do so much...

With regard to technology, I'm also eagerly looking forward to whatever it is that the future holds-- I hope LiveFeed is just the first in a series of steps that can help preserve and properly present our television heritage to future generations of viewers.  Now that we've started the journey of restoration, it's just a matter of being dedicated enough to keep moving forward!

-Kevin

I'm very excited about the technology and will be even more excited to see it further refined - especially in regards to the film transfers used as source.

With the Ed Sullivan kines used for the Elvis set - which look incredible and are much closer to a representation of the original broadcasts - I believe the LiveFeed technology was applied to existing transfers. Because kinescope transfers have improved dramatically over the last few years, I still believe for the true effectiveness to be acheived you must have a more recent transfer to begin with. I saw the LiveFeed demo disc and was astonished at the Sid Caesar clip. It was absolutely amazing.

Of course this leads me to the 1957 Rogers & Hammerstein's Cinderella, which was transferred incorrectly for the recent DVD release. Kinescopes are a different animal than regular film - if the transfer facility does not take this into consideration it will be rendered dark and murky. My 15 year old copy of a 16mm transfer of it looks better than the DVD for this reason.

Hopefully the convergence of these technologies will allow us to someday have a truer approximation of some of these historic programs - and being that kinescopes were a bastard process to begin with, I have no qualms about applying new technologies to the existing versions.

When I first met Kevin, LiveFeed had not been invented yet. He had done some work on vintage tv clips and the picture had been somewhat improved. Being his wife and his biggest fan I was privy to the "ah ha" moment when he realized how to make the kinescopes look so alive, and LiveFeed was born. (make sure you spell it right, "LiveFeed" not "Live Feed") I am not inherently a lover of old tv, film or video but I was pretty excited about the change in the quality. Since that "ah ha" moment Kevin has been able to work with some of the best old footage available. One of his first projects was restoring the Ed Sullivan shows that Elvis was on. I hope everyone gets to see what he has done. It is startlingly 3 dimensional. Even I'll watch vintage televsion, as long as Kevin has "fixed" it first.