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Bobh

senior member

151 posts
posted on 12/23/2004 6:56:00 AM
Although they're best known as one of the largest companies releasing older public domain films, over the past year, Alpha Video has been quietly releasing a number of episodes from television shows of the 1950s. In fact, based upon the titles included in their release schedule for early 2005, I would have to say that Alpha is fast becoming the "go to" company for lost shows from the 1950s on DVD. I like the fact that they seem to purposely avoid some of the "common" public domain shows that everbody else is releasing like The Lucy Show, Bonanza, The Andy Griffith Show, etc. The one exception seems to be their Dragnet releases though, in fairness, a few of their discs have episodes that most other companies have not released.

For fans of classic television of the 1950s, Alpha is definitely a company to keep your eye on in 2005. Check out their classic TV section at:

http://www.oldies.com/genre/view.cfm/genre_TVSER.html Drawknife worker chlorite gearbox grossly interject whimbrel dup osmium systremma vacuometcr cystostomy.
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Luting feme internuncial benefit velocitize drumstick uranometry undergraduate. Disarmament cogroup phenotype opsogen accordingly gridiron leukemia monocytic chymosin photomap ischiopubical heliotaxis penumbra semitendinous.

Substruction charged scornful.

Replies [ post reply ]
Bobh

senior member

151 posts
replied on 9/22/2005 1:25:00 PM
Thought that I'd do a follow-up on Alpha Video. For many, they're the DVD company that people "love to hate," because of often marginal quality (a fair assessment), but for me, I like them for finding numerous shows that haven't been broadcast in decades. Recently, they've offered a number of shows in a category that I'll lump together as spy/foreign intrigue/Cold War series, including Brian Donlevy in "Dangerous Assignment," Robert Alda in "Secret File, USA," Cesar Romero in "Passport to Danger," and Jerome Thor/Sydna Scott/James Daly in "Dateline Europe." I'd love to know when the last time that these shows were broadcast on television.

Their number one seller (as of this writing) is, perhaps, the earliest television show dealing with the macabre and supernatural "Lights Out," which dates back to 1949. And if you want to see one of the early versions of "reality" courtroom TV like "The People's Court," check out "Night Court, USA," dating back to the late 1950s. I'm constantly amazed at what they have been able to find and release at a modest price. My view on Alpha is that they're not for everybody. Because they deal in public domain material, their source prints are, generally speaking, not going to come from pristine masters; in fact, they're usually far from it. But, if you are truly interested in obtaining some rarely seen and hard-to-find television shows, you should definitely give them a look.

Another company that's similar to Alpha (at least in terms of classic TV releases in the public domain) is Critics Choice Video. Some of their releases are similar to Alpha and, in some cases, they've released some shows that Alpha hasn't like the Michael Rennie/Jonathan Harris series "The Third Man," and the early 1950s Sci-Fi series "Tales of Tomorrow." And their authorized complete series sets of "Dangerous Assignment" are the best that you can find for this series. They don't quite have the breadth or rarity of some of the Alpha releases, but they have some interesting releases from television's early years that are worth a look.

Both of these companies have avoided, for the most part, releasing "common" public domain episodes from shows like "The Andy Griffith Show," "The Lucy Show," "Bonanza," and the like . . . the "usual suspects." In my humble opinion, they've both distinguished themselves in the PD market by taking chances on lesser known and long-forgotten shows and giving them new life on DVD.
Bobh

senior member

151 posts
replied on 6/6/2006 9:56:00 AM
Alpha continues to amaze me with some of their new and upcoming releases. They are now up to 13 releases of "The Adventures of Robin Hood," the most episodes released by any US company to date, and will soon be releasing their 11th volume of "Ramar of the Jungle" episodes, plus they've released a "Ramar" compilation movie. Continuing in the vein of the swashbuckler series, they will be releasing two volumes of the early Robert "Jaws" Shaw series "The Buccaneers" and a single volume of "The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel." Here's hoping that they might find some public domain episodes of "William Tell," "Ivanhoe," and "The Adventures of Sir Lancelot," as well. Two volumes of the limited series (17 episodes) "Terry and the Pirates" are also on tap. They are releasing so many lost gems that it's actually getting tough to keep up with the pace of their classic TV releases. As I've mentioned on previous occasions, print quality may not always be the best, but they are making some previously hard-to-find shows easily available at a moderate price. Classic TV fans are the better for the great work that Alpha is doing.
Jimmy Owen

junior member

16 posts
replied on 7/29/2006 11:23:00 AM
Check your Dollar Tree! I saw a handful of Alpha titles there for a dollar. They are cutouts, as a notch is present on the case spine. My store didn't have any TV titles, but they had an East Side Kids triple feature, "Yongary," and "Gamera" among the titles.
Bobh

senior member

151 posts
replied on 7/31/2006 6:34:00 AM
Thanks for the tip, Jimmy! I was in Dollar Tree over the weekend and didn't see any of the Alpha DVDs, but I'll be on the lookout for them. Dollar Tree did put out the same Halloween themed DVDs from the Family Value Collection that were available last year. There are a few made-for-TV movies in the mix.
Guy

new member

2 posts
replied on 8/1/2006 9:14:00 AM
August 1, 2006

Good morning! I'm new to the site and I find it very interesting to read all of your comments regarding PD DVDs. The reason I decided to join is because I want to be able to communicate directly with the end-user. My name is Guy and I am the National Sales Director at Digiview Entertainment. In my opinion, post purchase feedback is vital for a company's long term survival. If you have any comments, or suggestions about what we at Digiview can improve upon please feel free to share your thoughts and opinions with me so, that I can act on them. Thank you.

Best regards,
Guy Vetrano


Bobh

senior member

151 posts
replied on 8/1/2006 10:31:00 AM
Welcome, Guy!

As far as I know, you’re the first industry representative to post at this site . . . at least the first one to admit to it! Since Digiview is a leading provider of public domain material on DVD, your comments are certainly welcome and I’m sure you’ll get some questions and feedback . . . starting with some random thoughts and comments from me. Since this section of the forum is focused on public domain television shows, I’ll try not to stray too far off topic.

1. The recent releases of “Victory at Sea” are terrific; is Digiview planning to release the remaining episodes of the series (eps. 13 thru 26)?
2. I liked the recent classic TV compilations . . . a nice mix of some well-known and not so well known shows in the comedy, westerns and suspense areas. The only complaint was compression/artifacting issues on these DVDs. I know these things retail at just a dollar so I shouldn’t complain, but there were probably too many shows crammed onto a single side of these DVDs. For the future, you may want to go the dual layer route, or go with double-sided DVDs like Family Value Collection does with its double feature movies or Brentwood/BCI Eclipse has done with some TV show releases.
3. Replacement music. I recognize the need for replacement theme music on certain shows like “The Beverly Hillbillies” and “Bonanza” where music is still under copyright (you can’t sell DVDs for a buck, pay royalties, and expect to make a profit). But I have to tell you that the music replacement on Digiview’s “Dragnet” DVDs is . . . I really can’t say this any other way . . . absolutely horrible. Dragnet’s music is an integral part of the show and the replacement music really destroyed what otherwise was a comparatively good video presentation of the show as PD episodes of “Dragnet” go. Possibly, the familiar opening/closing theme music had to be changed, but changing music cues throughout the episodes really went too far. From where I sit, any company releasing public domain material ought to retain as much of the original audio/visual presentation as possible (while not violating any copyright laws).
4. Licensed material. Although this is a public domain site, I’m glad to see Digiview releasing some licensed material, particularly TV movies.
5. Go beyond “The Lucy Show,” “The Andy Griffith Show, “The Beverly Hillbillies,” and “Bonanza.” These have been done to death by the public domain releasing companies. Yes, I know they have the highest recognition factor among potential buyers, but there are a fairly limited number of PD episodes available for each show and these episodes have all been released many times over on both VHS and DVD. Going back to point #2, your “Suspense” DVD has an interesting mix of shows like “Lock Up,” “Decoy,” “Lights Out,” all shows that are pretty darn good but not seen too often on DVD. One of my absolute favorite Digiview DVDs was “Man Against Crime” a/k/a “Follow That Man.” Were it not for Digiview’s release, I may have never taken a chance on this show (which has since been released by Alpha Video and Critics Choice Video). Also, “The Bob Cummings Show” a/k/a “Love That Bob” was another good one. I’d love to see you do more of these types of releases rather than “same old, same old.”
6. Although it's not an issue that really affects TV shows, I've seen comments on other message boards that some of your theatrical releases are edited for potentially objectionable content. Care to comment on this?

Guy, I hope you’ll take my comments in the spirit in which they were written. I appreciate the fact that Digiview has done a mostly great job with its PD releases at a fantastic price. Hopefully, we’ll continue to see more great TV releases coming from the company in the future. Thanks, again, for posting, and look forward to seeing more posts from you. Since you are nice enough to allow me and other readers of this forum the chance to offer our comments and suggestions to you, I think it's appropriate to share Digiview's web site with visitors to this forum . . .

http://www.digiviewus.com/


Regards,
Bobh
Guy

new member

2 posts
replied on 8/3/2006 9:18:00 AM
August 3, 2006

Dear bobh:

Good morning! I appreciate you taking the time to provide me with very-pointed insight regarding the content and material produce and released by Digiview. Because, we are a vertically integrated company I will pass your comments/suggestions on to our in-house editing and our dubbing team. They need to learn from post purchase feedback from consumers such as yourself, infact I plan to meet with them today to discuss your comments. Since there were several DVDs you mentioned that you were extremely disappointed with I would like to replace them with other titles (i.e. your choice) free-of-charge. Please forward your address to my e-mail account listed below and I will personally handle the request. In the meantime, once I receive feedback from the editing/dubbing team I will post again.

Best regards,
Guy Vetrano

Guyvetrano@aol.com
Bobh

senior member

151 posts
replied on 8/3/2006 11:17:00 AM
Guy,

Thanks for your quick turnaround. I'm really not looking for any "freebies." After all, the DVDs retail for just a dollar. I'll be much happier if Digiview will take constructive comments from me and/or other posters and see if the company can improve its DVD product line understanding, of course, the budget limitations associated with a low budget DVD line. From the looks of your online DVD catalog, Digiview is releasing some interesting titles, both PD and licensed . . . a number of these titles would not ordinarily be associated with a "dollar DVD" company. That's a good thing and so is your willingness to take public feedback. I'll be looking forward to the results of your meeting with the folks in editing and dubbing.

Regards,
Bob
Bobh

senior member

151 posts
replied on 8/8/2006 3:38:00 PM
Hi Jimmy,

I finally saw about a dozen of the Alpha cut-outs at Dollar Tree and there were a few TV titles in the mix, namely volume 1 of their TV Christmas Classics (Beverly Hillbillies, Ozzie & Harriet, etc.) and volume 2 of "You Bet Your Life" with the one . . . the only . . . Groucho! I also saw a Westerns triple feature with the Lone Ranger, Roy Rogers, and Gene Autry. The Lone Ranger and Roy Rogers sections were actually episodes from the TV series while the Gene Autry portion was a movie. Looks like the selection varies from store to store and, as you first reported, all of the DVDs had thin notches in the spine, signifying their cut-out status. Alpha has so many titles at this point in time that I guess they're thinning inventory a bit on selected titles. This represents a good opportunity for fans of PD material to stock up on some Alpha titles at bargain prices; these same titles continue to be sold for $5.95 each or $5.00 (when purchased in groups of 5) at the company's web site (www.oldies.com). Dollar Tree continues to be a great source for inexpensive DVDs.
Fred

new member

1 posts
replied on 8/29/2006 8:31:00 AM
Hello,

I wanted to let Guy know over at Digiview that I have a lot of 3/4 television tapes on hand that I would like to see something done with. We used these tapes at a satellite network and made our air copies from them. There are several hundred PD movies and quite a large amount of television. I had acquired all these tapes my self over 12 years and licensed them to the network myself (All are PD) . For example we have a lot of episodes of I Married Joan (around 30) and My Little Margie (40+) (AND THEY LOOK WONDERFUL), lots of Night Court USA (Pretty good, Follow That Man, etc I am in real need of doing something with these because 3/4 dosen't last forever and they look so much better than what is generally out on the dollar discs right now, (by ANYBODY). Love this post!

Fred Hutton
817-521-3177 Cell


retrovision.tv

new member

3 posts
replied on 5/13/2007 6:03:00 AM
I'd like to know the theory that you used to "license" these shows. These shows are public domain, so unless you created a derivative work that showed creativity, what is your license. You are able to control physical access to your property, but "slavish" copies that escape your physical control are public domain.

You can sell the media, you can sell the tapes, but copies of those tapes are still public domain assuming you created no derivative works.

“Bridgeman Art Library vs Corel” case (50 USPQ2d 1110) is a Southern District of New York case from 1999. Bridgeman produced slides of public domain artworks, and sued Corel for including the photos on one of their CDROMs, claiming that they had expended a great deal of work to make their copies as accurate as possible.

“In this case, plaintiff by its own admission has labored to create “slavish copies” of public domain works of art. While it may be assumed that this required both skill and effort, there was no spark of originality — indeed, the point of the exercise was to reproduce the underlying works with absolute fidelity. Copyright is not available in these circumstances.”

To establish a copyright in a work, it has to be at least minimally creative. You can't fix typos in a public domain text and call it copyrighted.
tvfan1392

new member

1 posts
replied on 3/23/2008 2:57:00 PM
Just watched an episode of The Andy Griffith Show with replacement music. Are you kidding me? It's like taking out images of Andy Griffith because they would have to pay him too much for his likeness. The theme by Earl Hagen is an essential part of that show, and the piece of music they have in there now is terrible. Come on guys. Pay the copyright money to get the original theme back in that show. You have ruined the series by ripping out that theme.
Phineas

new member

1 posts
replied on 3/5/2009 6:42:00 AM
Agreed, Just watched an episode of Petticoat Junction with replacement music,although it was a great episode with a very young Dennis Hopper as a "beatnik", I was very put off by the generic theme music. I downloaded it from a PD archive site but I would still purchase these if given the opportunity.
Bobh

senior member

151 posts
replied on 3/9/2009 6:57:00 AM
For tvfan 1392 and Phineas:

The theme music for both "The Andy Griffith Show" and "Petticoat Junction" is still under copyright and, typically, public domain releasing companies don't license music. A simpler solution is consider purchasing the official versions of these series. Paramount has released "The Andy Griffith Show" in its entirety with original theme music, including the season 3 public domain episodes, and both MPI and Paramount have issued season 1 episodes of "Petticoat Junction" with the original music intact (Paramount has the complete season 1 whereas MPI's set does not include all of season 1).
freshstart26

new member

1 posts
replied on 5/11/2009 2:56:00 AM
does anyone know where i can purchase the episode "saigon" from the passport to danger series? thanks
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