Magical Mystery Tour DVD

I found that 4 disc set going for a very reasonable price a year or so ago and snapped it up. Having read all the negative comments regarding this MPI DVD version of MMT I was surprised at how good it looked!

I assume it must be the same as the single DVD release - but, if so, why all the negative reviews? Is it possible that it is a different transfer?

I have the MPI VHS so I guess it's time to dig it out and do a comparison - stay tuned.....

 

This is not what has been written here in the forums. I have been reading that the picture on the LD is way better than the bad DVDs out there. You are the first to state the LD looked worse than the DVD. I wonder how anything could look worse than that dull fuzzy blurry DVD. No way the LD could!

It seems that besides the bad transfer of the DVD, the encoding is poor quality too. LDs require no encoding.

I have seen both the LD and DVD. But I do not have them both here to compare. But I recall the LD being much much cleaner and sharper than the DVD I now have.

 

Hmm...now I'm even more tempted to crack open the shrink wrap on my copy of the DVD. Maybe the PAL version is different, or is yours PAL?

 

I have the MPI 4-DVD set referenced above, and I assure you that MMT looks like hell. Wait until you see you your VHS...

Derek

 

The problem with the DVD isn't a bad transfer - it uses the same video master as the VHS & LD. The problem is whoever did the DVD mastering apparently had no idea how to do it correctly. The image is filled with horrible artifacts. Worse yet, instead of using the remixed audio of the VHS/LD master, somebody subsituted the standard CD versions of the Beatles music. Avoid at all costs...

Derek

 

What do you mean of standard versions of Beatle songs.
I just own the LD by the way.

 

The initial LD and VHS release in 1988 had a remixed soundtrack especially for video release. Sometime after this, as the DVD was being prepared for release, the remixed songs were replaced with the same mixes available on the commercial CDs.

 

And what, may I ask, is wrong with the mixes available on the commercial CDs?! They are the original 1967 mixes!!

 

The original stereo mixes anyhow. When the movie first came out in 1968 the mono mixes were used, which are often quite different as you know. "Blue Jay Way", for instance, doesn't have the backwards vocal parts and neither did the remixed version of the movie.

 

Well, I was a little miffed that they didn't bother to use the stereo mix of The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band's "Death Cab For Cutie", like the VHS and LD did. They just went with the mono from the film soundtrack. Easily available on CD.

 

Since when is it a crime to use the original soundtrack when releasing a film?! I wish all DVDs came with the original soundtrack as a given and any modern remixes (2-channel, 5.1 or whatever) were included as a bonus for those interested......

Of course, in the case of the MMT DVD I agree it is odd to use a mixture of stereo and original mono but I would say the original mono segments were the only correct thing they did use!

Incidentally, does anyone know for certain whether the original mono soundtrack for MMT did use the original mono mixes or was it just fold-downs of the original stereo mixes?

Drifter, have you actually heard the original mono soundtrack or read something stating the original mono mixes were used?

 

I still have both & have A-B'd them extensively. The DVD has MUCH better color & actually IS sharper than the LD, which is a fuzzball (but MUCH sharper than the excerable VHS version). Look at the scenes with the 5 magicians. On the LD, everything has an oversaturated orange look--the DVD is much more natural looking. HOWEVER, the DVD of The Beatles Anthology shows us what it should REALLY look like, and that blows away all other comers. Same thing goes for Help!

 

Hi Mal, I'm going by an early VHS copy I rented in the early 80s that had true mono mixes (no backwards vocals in "Blue Jay Way", for instance) and a showing at the local public library that featured the same mono mixes (it was shown on 16mm reels, IIRC). Even if my memory was off, it would only make sense to me that they would use the mono mixes for a mono TV film. After all, Yellow Submarine (the movie, not the UK LP) used true mono mixes of all the songs and it was released the following year (where available anyhow - perhaps "All Together Now" and "Only A Northern Song" were fold-downs...not sure. For all I know they could've been properly mixed to mono for the film, along with "It's All Too Much" with the alternate verse).

 

I received a PM from Ron Furmanek, asking me to post this to set the record straight....so here it is!


Hello to Steve & the gang!,..I was just made aware of the thread regarding MMT & asked your friend & mine,.Mr. Evan to please post this for me!,..(sorry for any typo's!)

I restored the entire visual & audio for the entire film in 1988. It was shot on 16 mm Ektachrome film stock originally in 1967,..(the mention of 35 mm at the beginning of the original MPI release is a MISTAKE!,.it should have said 16mm,.they got the film lab's name wrong also!!),..The elements were missing!,.After two weeks I located the original A&B negative rolls intact & in mint condition giding in a film lab in London,..they were "lost" there since the early 70's!

The entire film was transferred on at the time state-of-the-art rank telecine equipment,..both A&B rolls seperately,&,each scene color corrected!,..its perfect!,..crystal clear & sharp,.professionally filmed!,..the only problem I had was some printed-in dirt during some of the "opticals",..this was done in 1967 originally,&,because I couldn't find the overlays for this transfer,.I couldn't "re-do" the opticals to remove the dirt,..very minimal I might add!

The entire audio track was re-transfered from the original mag tracks,.."tracks" I say here,..there were as many as a dozen rolls of 16 mm mag that had to be locked in sync for the duration of the 3 reels,..sometimes a roll would contain only ten seconds of audio,&,the rest was blank,.but,.needless to say I went the extra mile to resync everything,.with the tedious task of having to re-splice 90% of the 16 mm mag splices from 1967,.which actually was falling apart during the winding of the rolls!

I'm always surprised that no one ever notices that the entire films audio is in stereo?,.I mean,.there are sounds & sound effects coming out all over the place!!,..again,.I could have used the mixed mono master mag,.would have taken an hour to transfer,.but,.no,.I spent probably 100 hours!

The 3 remixed songs are another matter entirely,..George is credited as remixing them,(so he wouldn't get hurt).but,.guess who really did?,..it was my idea to sync up the different 4 track stage tapes to create 8 or more tracks to mix with,.providing for a much better stereo spread & image,..(ya really gotta admit,.the 3 songs I remixed kinda stink in stereo on vinyl & CD!)..George & crew at Abbey Road thought it was a crazy thing to do,..but,.we pulled it off,.all by hand,.no digital computer action then!,..We cued up Blue Jay Way,.his exact words to me were,."this is rubbish!,.did we release this!?",.so folks,..there ya go,..a short version of the whole story.

I know the original VHS & Lasers were fine,.what the heck happened with the DVD is anyone's guess!,..do yourselves a favor & track down the VHS,or,Laser on MPI,..put on headphones & enjoy! The current DVD's found is stores ARE bootlegs,..off the MPI probably.

For those who do not know,.anything that looks super clean in Anthology,."(Let It Be,.Shea,.Washington,Promo Films,.etc,.etc),.Its My work there,.picture & audio,..ask Mr. Hoffman,.he told me that if he were ever to remix Beatles,.he would do it exactly like I did!

enjoy!

Ron F

 

I have mentioned this many times in posts on this issue! Thanks, Ron, for a great job! Too bad it's dead & buried.

PS, this relates purely to the AUDIO. I still stand by my comments on the video.

 

Pass on my thanks to Ron for the info!

 

Ahh, I have to disagree with you here. The DVD is sharper only due to higher resolution of the format, not due to anything else. There are horrible artifacts all over the place. The color is less saturated and balanced differently on the DVD (cooler) by comparison. I'll try to do a couple of framegrabs this weekend and post them for all to view. The LD is better in every respect (visual & audio) except for resolution.

Derek

 

And this is a GOOD thing. The color is WAY oversaturated towards orange on the LD. The balance on the DVD is much better. The transfer on The Beatles Anthology looks much more like the DVD than the LD, color-wise.

 

I started to do the framegrabs I mentioned above, and chose a suitably awful looking frame from the MMT DVD. Then I went to capture the corresponding frame from the LD, and discovered to my shock that IT WASN'T THERE!!! I'm not the first one to notice this as I found this interesting writeup here: http://abbeyrd.best.vwh.net/beatdvd.htm

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Both the LD and the DVD begin with the same "To the Viewer" disclaimer regarding the film's 1988 transfer. In fact, there's no reason to believe that the DVD version of MMT should be any different from the existing laserdisc version. No further restoration done; no special screenings on cable networks. Nevertheless, seconds after the film begins, differences become obvious. The animated opening sequence has been altered on the DVD, a multi-colored star frozen for a fraction of a second. The brief "raining stars" shot, admittedly filthy on the laserdisc, has been wholly removed from the DVD. It's been replaced by another view of the MMT coach, the camera zooming in and out as in the excised shot. It is here that shoddy digital mastering (or, perhaps, the limitations of the DVD format itself) becomes shockingly apparent. During that zoom shot, the DVD's image degrades into a screenful of rectangular pixels, like a television signal breaking up during broadcast. This digital artifacting, or pixellation, can be seen throughout the MMT DVD, often as a filmy haze hanging over the DVD image.

Peering through its murkiness, the DVD image lacks the vibrant look of the laserdisc. The LD's bus is brilliant yellow, its lettering intense and vivid. By comparison, the DVD bus looks faded, its color dull and dreary.

Regrettably, as with the AHDN DVD, MMT's DVD image has been cropped on the left, top, and bottom of the screen. People visible at the fringes of the laserdisc are eliminated from the DVD.

MMT's sound has also been mysteriously tweaked for DVD, with less than magical results. The volume level of the background noise seems to have been increased, but not without first adding an annoying layer of hiss. Like the pixellation, it is difficult to ignore. The laserdisc, on the other hand, sounds clear and bright-- it's not hiss-free, but certainly not overwhelming.
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Here's the frame from the couple of seconds that are missing from the LD attached...

Derek

 

Just had to bump this up. Having had the opportunity to view an original 35mm print of this film the other week, i must say, this is the worst looking film of all time! But I did enjoy the mono soundtrack.

 

The original prints I believe were 16 MM.

 

I know there were 16mm prints and it was filmed in that gauge, but the print i ran last week was a 35mm blowup

 

I've seen grey-market Deep Purple and Black Sabbath DVD's from Brazil in Best Buy.

 

Done and done!


Evan

 

The 35mm prints shown here in the US were bootlegs. I'm not surprised you thought they looked awful.

Derek