Seinfeld on DVD mention in EW

Hi all,

In the Nov. 14th issue of Entertainment Weekly, there's a mention of Seinfeld on DVD (or more correctly, the lack thereof) under the title "We're Dyin' For...Seinfeld). In the article, Howard West says Seinfeld on DVD is coming and should be out late next year. And the process is taking time because of adding extras such as "unseen footage, behind-the-scenes interviews". But it also says that Columbia Tri-Star has no timetable for release yet. The writer of the blurb (Nancy Sidewater) takes a bit of a "I'll belive it when I see it" tone in the article because she says about the release of Seinfeld on DVD "getting solid information is harder than being master of our domain."

This doesn't mean we're definitely any closer to seeing this release, but it's great that the LACK of Seinfeld on DVD is starting to get some mentions in the press.

Ryan

In article , [email] says...

I'm glad they're adding extras to these DVDs (if they actually are making these). Otherwise it could be a hard sale for people who have all the episodes already in other formats. Comment tracks would be great.

On Mon, 10 Nov 2003 11:20:59 +0200, Noone wrote:

Are you kidding? Why would anyone NOT want the episodes on DVD? Other formats?

"Yeah, these VCDs I have of Seinfeld suit me just fine." "I'll never get rid of these VHS copies until they put some extras on those DVDs!"

Yeah, the extras are nice, but who are you kidding saying that it would be a "hard sell" to have all Seinfeld episodes in pristine DVD format? And the DVD formats out there now are NOT true DVD format.

That's cooky talk.

I keep in contact with Larry Thomas (the Soup Nazi) regularly, and while I am in no way pretending to be his spokesman, what I will say is that he's never been asked to supply interviews for the "Soup Nazi" episode. If and when he does, i'll let everyone know, and that will tell us when the full box set is in the works. He did tell me he knows that a DVD is definitely coming out soon.

My bet is that they're going to do what most shows do- release "The First Season", and then box sets of each season in the coming months. If a complete Box Set was in the near future, i'm sure Larry would have been interviewed by now.

On a related note, I was watching a daily morning show called "Ali and Jack" on NBC, and Ali is none other than "Schmoopie" in the "Soup Nazi" episode. She seems to mention the "Seinfeld" show fairly often, and referred to herself as a "Seinfeld Girl". I always liked in that Seinfeld episode, and now I can see her every day. Wish she were *my* "schmoopie"...

In article , [email] says...

Well, direct rip from digi-tv source and burning it to DVD yourself could give better result than commercial DVD. I'm scared that when R2- versions come out, there's few different soundtracks (english/german/whatever) and dozen subtitle options. These all eat a lot of bitrate and result is just couple of episodes on one DVD with less than optimum bitrate.

On Tue, 11 Nov 2003 10:53:18 +0200, Noone wrote:

No way. May I ask you what the bitrate would be from a digital signal?

In article , [email] says...

You just snipped the part where I explained the conditions where DVD could be worse. Bitrate, depending on system (sat/ter/cable) is about 3- 6Mbit/s.

"Noone" wrote in message news:[email]...

all

That's cooky talk.

There is no way to "direct rip from digi-tv source" the best you can hope for is TIVO off direct TV, but even that is not pure digital, because it has no digital out, and even then it is nowhere near DVD quality.

In article , "arizona cowboy" <cacheoverflowATyahoo.com> says...

Sure you can, just capture with digi-tv card on your computer (where digital feed is provided). Anyway, we are talking about a sitcom with very little action on the screen and very little bitrate needed. I don't think there's really a difference watching Seinfeld with 3Mbit/s or 8 Mbit/s with good conversion.

"Noone" wrote in message news:[email]...

hope

has

capture it from what?

what is a pure digital source that is beautiful that can be sent direct digital into a computer? there isn't one! precisely why we need the DVD's!

why do you think the downloadable files of Seinfeld on Kazaa Lite are such crappy quality? If there was a high quality digital source, someone would have put it on Kazaa by now.

besides, if there was some pure digital source all the way to your computer, it still would be the cut version missing a few minutes (syndicated version) and would also have commercials.

there is no substitute for these DVD's we are all anxiously awaiting, and I am not referring to the DVD "extras", interviews, etc. I would be quite happy with just the shows uncut. Once they are on DVD, then you will be able to "rip" to your hearts delight.

In article , "arizona cowboy" <cacheoverflowATyahoo.com> says...

Well, my recording was from OTA dtv source. I captured it in 640x480 and I say it's pretty darn close to DVD quality.

Sample file is in mpeg-4:

http://www.geocities.com/seinfeld300/soupnazi.mpg

Fox's 24 (season 3) in widescreen: http://www.geocities.com/ba_hdtv/24.mpg

Seinfeld runs twice a day in my area, which means I could captured it all 180 epi in 3 months. But right now, I am collecting Roseanne - which is the next best sitcom after Seinfeld. Thank goodness to my wonderful pvr, there is no need to spend hundreds of dollar to buy tv shows that is already showing on tv.

On 18 Nov 2003 11:55:00 -0800, [email] (ky) wrote:

The Seinfeld link is dead. The 24 sample looks great, but no way it can compare to DVD quality. I know if given a choice between spending hundreds of dollars on TV shows or capturing from OTA digital source, I'd probably go with the OTA capture. But in regards to my absolute favorite TV shows on DVD..Seinfeld, Three's Company, X-files, etc, etc, I'd want them without the logo on the bottom, commercial free, 5.1 surround, etc.

Seinfeld link works. I just tried it.

I could easily make the video quality close to DVD quality by uping the bitrate to 6000. You were watching the mpeg-4 file with only 1000 bitrate, and the reason is I like to keep the file size small enough to fit 12 episodes to a DVD. And all my captured video are edited commerical free and bug free except a small watermark logo.

As for Seinfeld, 3's Company and x-file in 5.1 surround sound -- good luck in finding one -- never going to happen because it was not recorded in it. Most earlier x-files seasons were not even in widescreen.