The Equalizer to be released on DVD

[hifisoup]

I loved this show! I don't remember how many seasons were on the air but I always tried to catch it when it was on the telly. I always liked his dark green Jag.

I saw that it is soon to be released on DVD. Excellent...any Equalizer fans out there?

[Jerryb]

Big fan. I watch the reruns on cable.

http://www.breakingnewsupdate.com/images/equalizer.png

[Andrew T.]

I like The Equalizer myself: It was a bleak, dark, but engaging show. I watched it fairly often when it was rerun on A&E in the mid '90s. Stewart Copeland's dramatic theme music was a highlight. :thumbsup:

I don't think I'll be buying it, though: I have too many DVDs to soak up as-is.

[charlie W]

I liked the show when it was on air. Depending on the price, I might the DVD seasons.

[JohnG]

I usually watch it on UniversalHD.

[hifisoup]

I've never seen any reruns of the show on my cable network. I had forgot that Stewart Copeland did the soundtrack.

[ChrisM]

I watched it when A&E used to show it some years back. I'll probably break down and pick up this set.

Cheers,
Chris

[Steve Hoffman]

Be prepared, the version I saw on some HD channel was in the wrong aspect ratio with the resulting grain and wrong framing that drove me batty within a few minutes.

[ChrisM]

Be prepared, the version I saw on some HD channel was in the wrong aspect ratio with the resulting grain and wrong framing that drove me batty within a few minutes.

The DVD set is listed as 1.33:1 which would be correct for a show made in the '80s. It sounds like the HD channel was trying to stretch the picture to make it appear widescreen. I can't stand watching f/s shows stretched on a w/s TV!

Cheers,
Chris

[Steve Hoffman]

The DVD set is listed as 1.33:1 which would be correct for a show made in the '80s. It sounds like the HD channel was trying to stretch the picture to make it appear widescreen. I can't stand watching f/s shows stretched on a w/s TV!

Cheers,
Chris

No, they were not stretching. It was delivered that way. Not stretched, simply reframed (cut the top and bottom off of the 35mm neg and presto! WIDESCREEN!)

[ChrisM]

No, they were not stretching. It was delivered that way. Not stretched, simply reframed (cut the top and bottom off of the 35mm neg and presto! WIDESCREEN!)

Urgh! What are these people thinking when they do something like that??? :realmad:

Cheers,
Chris

[ringosshed]

I thought the show was laughably bad. Poor old overweight Edward, looking like his girdle was killing him, trying to be tough. A far cry from " Callan " or
" The Wickerman ".

[Steve Hoffman]

I liked him when he looked like this:

[Ken_McAlinden]

No, they were not stretching. It was delivered that way. Not stretched, simply reframed (cut the top and bottom off of the 35mm neg and presto! WIDESCREEN!)Yep. UHD experimented with "tilt and scan" versions of "The Equalizer" and "Knight Rider". There may be more, but the only series I know of that was actually released on DVD that way was "Kung Fu". What a terrible idea.:thumbsdn:

Regards,

[BaTiger]

I liked the show when I was a kid, but seem to remember the coolest part being the intro and the music.

[ChrisM]

Anybody pick up this set yet? Comments?

Cheers,
Chris

[Vidiot]

Yep. UHD experimented with "tilt and scan" versions of "The Equalizer" and "Knight Rider". There may be more, but the only series I know of that was actually released on DVD that way was "Kung Fu". What a terrible idea.
This is being experimented with by a lot of studios right now. Many execs are of the opinion that people who have $5000 HD sets get upset when they see black bars on the left and right sides of the picture, and have to watch a 4x3 picture on a 16x9 monitor.

I can tell you that all the Seinfeld shows were remastered in both 16x9 full-frame (tilt & scan) and 4x3 HD, though only the 4x3 versions have been released to home video so far. I'm curious which way they're going to with this. In some cases, the 16x9 blow-up is not a killer, provided they do the reframing with some taste and intelligence -- but there's no guarantee this will be done.

About the only time I think a full-frame 16x9 transfer works fine is with a scope feature film shot in Super 35mm, where you just open up the bottom part of the frame more to fill the 16x9 area. There's a couple of dozen films I've worked on where I think this aspect ratio worked fine, and was actually more pleasing in some ways than the 2.40 scope version.

But for TV and older 1.33 films... I'd be inclined to recommend the studio stick with the regular 4x3 framing the show has always had. Luckily, most film shows shot since about 1992 have been done in 3-perf 35mm, which is extremely close to the native 16x9 aspect ratio of HD. Friends was the first show I know of to shoot in this format (1994), but there were undoubtedly many others around the same time. Unfortunately, shows like Seinfeld that started out in 1.33 stuck with that to the end of their run. A few shows I worked on, like Will & Grace, started off in 1.33 4-perf but then switched to 16x9 3-perf two or three episodes in, as the studios started to get concerned about "future-proofing" the shows for HD.

[bencasey]

The Equalizer set looks great, although Universal annoyingly feels the need to pull up the blacks on the commercial breaks. But it's in the correct aspect ratio. I had actually started transferring my CBS off-air masters on this show, not thinking it would come out. But Universal is planning a movie version and they always need some kind of tie-in for them to put a series out. Great show, one of the top 5 of the 80s. Not like most of the fluff crap that was on that decade.

[apileocole]

This is being experimented with by a lot of studios right now. Many execs are of the opinion that people who have $5000 HD sets get upset when they see black bars on the left and right sides of the picture, and have to watch a 4x3 picture on a 16x9 monitor.

That widescreen battle all over again. Ugh! Now TV is going "modern" widescreen "at last" we have to go for a ride on the Merry-go-round Ignorama all over again. For goodness sake. Put it out right like professionals so the people who care will be satisfied, and let the people who don't and won't care do what they will with settings on their sets as they so choose.

[apileocole]

I always liked his dark green Jag.

It's a 1984 Jaguar XJ6 in "British Racing Green." Also known as a "Series III" and made from 1979-1987 with few changes.

Like it too (of course, having a sister model). A stunning number of these fine cars have been lost or wrecked, by a bad rap mostly based on '70's-era urban legends, horrible treatment by mechanics from the dealers to specialists to jiffy lubes that never have learned to fix them right, and careless owners most of whom seem to think it is or ought to be an old Chevy truck, for reasons I can't figure.

They're beautiful cars. They had the finest balance of ride quality and handling in any car prior to the computer design age, smooth engines, good mileage for the time, comfortable interiors, quiet ride and all disc brakes. Sluggish off the line with a lousy slushbox auto tranny (far better was the 5 speed they designed it for in the UK), they do cruise very nicely on the highways and have excellent driving manners. For the performance-anemic early '80's it had unusually good performance. They also had hefty, well built bodies that are still largely rattle-free to this day. Unlike most of the cars that were championed by those insulting these, the Jags still look stylish and if one finds one that made it in good shape and can take good care of it, they're still a nice car.

While that makes for a wonderful digression :winkgrin: to swing it back firmly on topic, it was a great idea to have the character use that particular car. It's unusual and handled well for the time. But much more than that, the defiantly classy, individualistic style and hand-made quirky nature of the older Jags like that immediately suggests a little insight to the character.

EDIT: Or was it black? lol I forgot!