More Silly Symphonies disc 2: MAJOR GLITCH PROBLEM!!

[MK Sharp]

There's also the problem the original poster of this thread mentioned with the cartoons on disc 2 being "crooked" (i.e. not horizontal). At least mine aren't.

Except that that isn't a problem, it's a misunderstanding of how television works.

[MikeyMouse]

Except that that isn't a problem, it's a misunderstanding of how television works.

Excuse me? I'm well aware of how televisions work. In a former life I was a Home Theater installation tech. The cartoons on disc 2 are most definitely crooked in the copy that I purchased.

[Grumpy]

Hi
I tried to search for the email adress to Disney costumer service.
Regarding replecement discs for more Silly symphonies. but i couldn't find it. Does anybody have it. I'ts easier for me to send e-mail then to call.
Thank you

[MK Sharp]

I'm well aware of how televisions work. In a former life I was a Home Theater installation tech.

Ah, well, that trumps me, I was only a TV Master Control Broadcast Co-ordinator...

The cartoons on disc 2 are most definitely crooked in the copy that I purchased.

Just assume for a moment that I'm dim and can't see it; and tell me why you think they're crooked. What are the key signs I should be looking out for?

[TheGreatOz]

...it's a misunderstanding of how television works.

Oh my my, everyone knows TV is a magic box where everything you see is inside...only really teeny tiny...and you're looking through a special window that makes it all SEEM bigger.

MM, try sliding a matchbook or two under the leg of the table that the magic TV is sitting on. That should help, shouldn't it Mr. Sharp?

Short fuses around here caused by Treasures uncertainty and poor QC in Hollywoodland.

[TheGreatOz]

Hi
I tried to search for the email adress to Disney costumer service.
Regarding replecement discs for more Silly symphonies. but i couldn't find it. Does anybody have it. I'ts easier for me to send e-mail then to call.
Thank you

You'll get better service on the phone (oops! not from Sweden)...though I can't figure out why you'd need a Disney costume...Halloween is eight months away.

Try: http://disney.go.com/disneyvideos/dvdsupport/

[TheGreatOz]

Just assume for a moment that I'm dim and can't see it...

No, let's assume your TV system is PAL and we're talking about NTSC here in the States.
And we Yanks admit that PAL TVs have better picture quality.

[MK Sharp]

Just assume for a moment that I'm dim and can't see it...

No, let's assume your TV system is PAL and we're talking about NTSC here in the States.
And we Yanks admit that PAL TVs have better picture quality.

Let's assume I have a DVD player and a TV set that both handle NTSC.
I'm not a heathen, you know. I do watch my NTSC discs in NTSC, rather than through a cheap and nasty DVD player standards conversion.

Or are you suggesting that it's crooked in NTSC, but a conversion to PAL would straighten it out?

[MikeyMouse]

Just assume for a moment that I'm dim and can't see it; and tell me why you think they're crooked. What are the key signs I should be looking out for?

I won't assume anything . But the "key signs" I would look for would be this dead giveaway:



Not only does the picture not look straight, but you can see excess black in the upper right corner. This only occurs on my disc 2. The B&W cartoons on disc 1 are fine, and I can tell because most of them are matted well inside the 4:3 boundaries with the rounded edges, and all are parallel with the edges of my television screen. I realize my image is a "dramatization", but I will work on getting an image off my actual television tonight.

[MK Sharp]

Curiouser and curiouser, said Alice...

Here's that exact same frame (I think!) directly off my DVD.

I've left it full size so people can check it for themselves - the geometry on this screengrab is absolutely square.

What I've been assuming has led people to say the picture is crooked is the little half width video line at the bottom left of the picture (which ends where I've indicated with a red arrow), which is almost certainly a result of the picture being telecined full-frame and then shrunk electronically to add the black border.

(Long boring technical bit) The thing about television pictures are that they're made up of an odd number of lines (525 in NTSC, 625 in PAL); each frame is broken down into two fields which contain half the picture each - i.e. 262.5 or 312.5 lines. If you get a professional overscan TV monitor, you can see the half-lines at the top and bottom of the active picture area. A standard definition telecine will create the same effect, and if the picture is then shrunk in an edit suite, you will see the half-lines that are normally hidden at the edges of your TV picture tube. (End of long boring technical bit)

But I'm intrigued now - if your picture is more askew than mine, then there's something seriously screwy going on. For the record, my is set no. 40706, and the files on the disc are dated 18/10/2006.

BTW, all this is in entirely the wrong thread...

[MikeyMouse]

Yes, wrong thread. If Luke or anyone wants to move these posts to the "MAJOR GLITCH" thread, I'd have no problem with that. Below is a picture of what is actually seen on my television screen. I tried several different ways to get a decent picture, but unfortunately this was the best way I could come up with to show exactly what is happening:



Admittedly, the photograph isn't great, but the arrows point to the excess black in the upper right and lower left. You can even see some crookedness in the top left, but I didn't want to clutter the space with arrows. The menus and special features all seem to be pretty straight. My set # is 1,011. I only see the black border on the color shorts when I watch on my computer, where the framing isn't quite as obvious. I didn't realize my HD CRT overscanned that much. The B&W shorts are much more obviously framed with the rounded border on my television.

[MK Sharp]

And here's the same image off my DVD... again, the picture content is perfectly square to the edges.



It looks fine on my TV, too.

Any chance you could take a screen-shot directly off your disc?

[Billy Moon]

Large TV sets (the old kind, not LCD and such) tend to tilt and distort the picture a little. There should be an adjusting option on the TV itself to correct this.

[MikeyMouse]

Large TV sets (the old kind, not LCD and such) tend to tilt and distort the picture a little. There should be an adjusting option on the TV itself to correct this.

Well, my TV isn't THAT old (December 2004), and it's a 32" Sony Flat Screen CRT HD monitor. There was a tilt issue when I first set the TV up (noticeable when watching HD programming or letterboxed DVDs) that I fixed using the internal controls, and I haven't noticed a problem since then...until now. The strange thing is, everything else looks completely straight on my set: the highly-matted B&W cartoons on Disc 1, HD programming, widescreen DVDs, etc. I don't want to mess with the tilt compensation JUST for this one disc. If everything else looks level, this should as well.

[TheGreatOz]

But the "key signs" I would look for would be this dead giveaway:



Not only does the picture not look straight, but you can see excess black in the upper right corner.

Did you try my matchbook-under-the-right-leg solution??:?

Seriously, I'm going to take the shrink wrap off my MSS tin and audition Disc 2 guys. Breakin' the seal just for you!

Back in a flash.

[TheGreatOz]

Well, my TV isn't THAT old (December 2004), and it's a 32" Sony Flat Screen CRT HD monitor.

S of a B!...I've got good news and I've got bad news.
On my Sony WEGA flat-panel 23" LCD from 2005...The Pied Piper is fine, as are the rest of Disc 2. That's the good news.

The bad news is...on my son's cheap 13" Magnavox CRT TV (not flat, bowed) from 1995, the picture is indeed tilted, but not quite as much as yours.

When I skip from Chapter to Chapter, the picture, for an instant, seems straight, but then it flashes like stretched rubber and the tilt appears.

It's gotta be a factor of the DVD's signal and the adjustment of a CRT TV.

Now he won't go back to his homework! Aaaargh!

[MK Sharp]

Now he won't go back to his homework! Aaaargh!

Inculcating him with rare Disney goodness is far more important than his scholastic career. Priorities, man, priorities!

On my Sony WEGA flat-panel 23" LCD from 2005...The Pied Piper is fine, as are the rest of Disc 2. That's the good news.
The bad news is...on my son's cheap 13" Magnavox CRT TV (not flat, bowed) from 1995, the picture is indeed tilted, but not quite as much as yours.

Is that using the same DVD player with both TV sets?

What kind of freak DVD can effect the geometry of a CRT TV? Whatever it is, it isn't doing it to my 32" Teac CRT, anyway.

[MikeyMouse]

I'm stymied...but at least I'm not the only one. I'll take a shot of my 24" Sony WEGA CRT (not HD) in the bedroom and see how it looks there...or we could just wait 'till the replacements show up and see what the deal is. More to come...

[TheGreatOz]

Now he won't go back to his homework! Aaaargh!

Inculcating him with rare Disney goodness is far more important than his scholastic career. Priorities, man, priorities!

Is that using the same DVD player with both TV sets?

Your Disney vs. scholastic is a point well taken. In fact, I tossed the books and we watched the rest of Disc 2 together. I finished his composition on his computer after he went to bed. <Nice Daddy>

You are also correct...he's got an older Toshiba DVD player attached to that Magnavox CRT TV. A Sony Progressive Scan player is hooked up to the Wega LCD TV.

It's after midnight, so I'll swap players tomorrow and report any anomolies.

Who needs sleep...time for Daddy to go watch Disc 1.

Night!

[Lars Vermundsberget]

Watching Disney's Silly Symphonies should be considered an important part of a good education anyway, so there should be no problem, really.