Early editing and time-compression - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Vahan · 03-27-2014, 10:05 PM

As much as I love early Home Video, there is, sadly, a disturbing trend that occurred during its early years. It is every bit of disturbing as logo plastering and digital mastering.

On some early tapes and discs, they would speed-up the film (like PAL) and/or cut scenes out just to fit it on one tape or disc. Examples below:

Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back were original 121 and 124 minutes respectively. On early American laserdiscs and CEDs of both films, PAL masters were used to fit both of them on both sides of the same disc. The Japanese laserdiscs used three sides, preserving the original speed of both films.

Superman (1978) was 143 minutes long. The WCI Home Video version was sped-up, and came in at 127 minutes. They sped-up the opening credits, and any scenes with no dialogue. The 1983 VHS version was the first to be issued in its proper speed.

The Terminator (1984) was 108 minutes long. Early Home Video releases were sped-up to fit the 105 minute running time on the tape. If you look at the tapes on Home Video releases of films, they specify running times like T-105 and T-120. They indicate how many minutes can be fit onto a VHS or Beta tape.

http://www.cedmagic.com/home/ced-dig...igest0208.html

Dude111 · 03-28-2014, 01:05 AM

Ahhhh yes I had that copy of The Terminator!!

THEY DID THAT ON PURPOSE?? -- I thought they made a mistake.. THAT IS A VIDEODISC TRANSFER and I thought they accidently used the PAL record instead of the NTSC one which would account for it being faster.... (Isnt PAL faster?? (I think they travel @ 500rpm while NTSC videodiscs are 450rpm))

THANK YOU FOR THIS INFORMATION BUD!!

03-27-2014, 10:05 PM	#1
Vahan Member Senior Member Join Date: Jan 14, 2008 Posts: 2,712	Early editing and time-compression As much as I love early Home Video, there is, sadly, a disturbing trend that occurred during its early years. It is every bit of disturbing as logo plastering and digital mastering. On some early tapes and discs, they would speed-up the film (like PAL) and/or cut scenes out just to fit it on one tape or disc. Examples below: Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back were original 121 and 124 minutes respectively. On early American laserdiscs and CEDs of both films, PAL masters were used to fit both of them on both sides of the same disc. The Japanese laserdiscs used three sides, preserving the original speed of both films. Superman (1978) was 143 minutes long. The WCI Home Video version was sped-up, and came in at 127 minutes. They sped-up the opening credits, and any scenes with no dialogue. The 1983 VHS version was the first to be issued in its proper speed. The Terminator (1984) was 108 minutes long. Early Home Video releases were sped-up to fit the 105 minute running time on the tape. If you look at the tapes on Home Video releases of films, they specify running times like T-105 and T-120. They indicate how many minutes can be fit onto a VHS or Beta tape. http://www.cedmagic.com/home/ced-dig...igest0208.html

03-28-2014, 01:05 AM	#2
Dude111 Forum Legend Join Date: Nov 05, 2013 Posts: 36,303	Ahhhh yes I had that copy of The Terminator!! THEY DID THAT ON PURPOSE?? -- I thought they made a mistake.. THAT IS A VIDEODISC TRANSFER and I thought they accidently used the PAL record instead of the NTSC one which would account for it being faster.... (Isnt PAL faster?? (I think they travel @ 500rpm while NTSC videodiscs are 450rpm)) THANK YOU FOR THIS INFORMATION BUD!!