[QuadList] The Danny Kaye Show--It might have been from Kinescope--

[Ted Langdell]

Hi, Rob, 

What makes you think that the material IS NOT from Kinescope? (Perhaps in poor shape or poorly tranferred?)

Transferring shows to Kine from tape was a common thing in that era for a variety of reasons.  Sometimes, the Kine is the surviving element of the production, tapes having been reused, lost, misplaced.

I have seen a 1964 Danny Kaye show produced at CBS Television City (TVC) to Quad and then transferred to 16mm monochrome Kine scanned to 2336 x 1752 on the UCLA Film and Television Archive's MWA Vario scanner, and it looked pretty damn close to tape. 

The higher than 525i scanning eliminates moire from the picture, and really reveals the depth of quality available.  

We could see some quad artifacts, revealing the tape-based nature of the show, and some specks going by revealing the film transfer. If you ignored the occasional dust speck you could easily think it was tape you were looking at.

Here's an iPhone movie still of the scanner software's window during transfer, which doesn't do the Kinescope or Quad and live picture justice, but is an example of the contrast range there, and the overall quality, 



I'm in Savannah, GA at the Association of Moving Image Archivists Conference.  I transferred a 1950 Kine of a Faye Emerson Show.  It looked pretty decent for the time period and nature of the process... several film generations away from the original, based on film gate and element movement.
I'll ask about posting an image under "fair use."

Given time, it is possible to get very watchable results from many Kines.  With digital restoration software someone could make more improvements.

But as you say, if the compression isn't done well (as in "lets put six shows on a single DVD"... the digital version of EP mode on VHS...) you don't do anyone favors.

In the case of this product: 
http://mvdb2b.com/s/DannyKayeTheBestOfTheDannyKayeShow/MVD6505D
http://mvdb2b.com/i/salessheets/MVD6505D.pdf

It's 300 minutes (Five hours) on two discs (In stereo, they say.)

Ted

Ted Langdell
Secretary
Quad Videotape Group
e-mail:	ted at quadvideotapegroup.com

On Oct 10, 2014, at 2:25 PM, Rob via QuadList wrote:

> 
> 
> From: Rob <jeffwld at hotmail.com>
> Date: October 9, 2014 7:50:44 PM EDT
> To: "quadlist at quadvideotapegroup.com" <quadlist at quadvideotapegroup.com>
> Subject: The Danny Kaye Show
> 
> 
> A company named MVD Visual has just released a 6-episode DVD set of The Danny Kaye Show. I'm assuming it's likely that one or more of the this list's members may have had some involvement with this classic CBS variety show, either during it's broadcast history or a subsequent restoration phase.
> 
> As a matter of interest, I'm reprinting here my Amazon review of this release:
> 
> "It is always amazing how a company will opt to license a rare and classic property such as The Danny Kaye Show, offer complete shows, and tackle the myriad of difficult music and legal clearances required, only to wind up trashing the end product.
>  
> The Danny Kaye Show was produced on 2-inch videotape, which offers a brilliant "live" look. Whether it was out of brute ignorance/incompetence or a conscious decision, MVD Visual has encoded this great source material to destroy the intended "live" look of the show and replace it with a jittery, contrast-removed film look reminiscent of 1950's kinescopes. Those who are prone to epileptic seizures are advised to avert their eyes during fast-moving dance numbers and jerky, sputtering credit rolls.
>  
> What a slap in the face to the ever-dwindling group of industry veterans who work so hard to restore long-defunct 2" quad tape and preserve our broadcast history with the best possible quality, only to have their work ruined by the likes of MVD Visual".
> 
> 
> Rob Sinclair
> 
> 
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