talkietime
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Posts posted by talkietime
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TCM's tight schedules present a special problem when one wants to record movies scheduled back-to-back. One approach is to schedule the two movies as a single recording with buffer timing at both ends. Another approach is to set up two (or more) recorders and schedule them in tandem to include buffer time with an overlap at the beginning and ending times. This usually works very well as long as one pays close attention to running times.
I use Now Playing to schedule my recorders one or two weeks in advance. Then, I usually check the online schedule several days ahead of scheduled recordings to find last minute corrections or the most accurate running times, note shorts information, make final adjustments and incorporate shorts into the scheduled recordings.
Lately I've become somewhat lax with this procedure.
My Magnavox 2160 HDD/DVD recorder cut off the end of Silk Stockings and its fan programmer outro. This was not such a problem as I had scheduled a Panasonic recorder for the Mickey Rooney Private Screenings. The conclusion to Silk Stockings and its outro was intact on that recorder's disc. Then, when I compiled and edited all the fan programmer intros/outros with my Magnavox onto a single DVD I was able to dub and include the Silk Stockings outro, Now Playing The Show and the four My Retrospective segments, two of which were dubbed from discs recorded on Panasonic recorders, and the "Four Fans" promo.
Phantom Carriage, with the early start, fooled me; I lost the beginning and end. What would Doris Day say to that? "Que Sera, Sera"
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Ruggles of Red Gap is the only commercial VHS movie I've purchased in this century so I'm delighted that TCM will be showing it. I have two HDD recorders and one DVD recorder programmed to record it--just in case.
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"And they used to have a guy that was in a old time radio booth that announced the upcoming feature."
Might you be remembering J.K. Simmons as he stood in front of microphone, reading from a paper in one hand as his other hand held an earphone to his ear? AMC had such an interstitial.
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If you are experiencing picture quality problems with TCM the problem is that your service provider is adding so many HD channels that the bandwidth allocated to all networks, including HD networks, is being compressed to accommodate volume, not quality. In other words, the more HD networks on a given system the poorer the picture quality becomes. Since sports networks are the advertising revenue ?cash cows,? and fast action requires more bandwidth, sports networks are robbing bandwidth and picture quality from other networks.
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April's Now Playing: The Show seems to be appearing in revised versions. Ben Mankiewicz sometimes appears in the April version, sometimes not. It appears that additional material has appeared in the version shown today (following Goodbye Again) that didn't appear in the version(s) shown during the first few days of April. Or, have I been visiting the "Twilight Zone" too much lately?
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Now Playing: The Show April 2009 has scenes from the TCM launch in April 1994. Robert Osborne was fifteen years younger in those days. So were we all.
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There is brief biographical information for Rita Rio here:
http://www.glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com/show/76/Dona+Drake/index.html
Rita Rio was also known as Dona Drake. Here are some photos from the that period:
http://www.fanpix.net/gallery/dona-drake-pictures.htm
This "Soundie," dated 1942, has Alan Ladd singing with the Rita Rio orchestra:
Message was edited by: talkietime
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I had often wondered about Leo's insipid moan in the early MGM talkies, now I know.
This morning our family cat was making a nuisance of herself on my home office table. I picked her up to put her on the floor. She hissed and growled at me and then attempted to bite me. This is not such a rare event.
Our cat's growel is a more realistic lion roar than the moan MGM used in its early talkies.
I'm a fan of early talkies, hence I am . . .
TalkieTime
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In another thread Goldensilents mentioned a disc that had problems being played or "ripped." I responded with this advice:
Sometimes problematic discs may be dirty or have oily residue. Discs may require gentle cleaning using a soft cloth dampened with diluted dish soap. Wipe from the center hole to the outside edge, and rinse with clear water.
Sometimes problematic discs may be dubbed in real time by a HDD/DVD recorder. Then the contents may be high-speed dubbed from the hard drive to a new disc. I've done this with my Philips 3575 and Magnavox 2160 HDD/DVD recorders. Or, use a DVD player or DVD recorder to play the disc while another DVD recorder makes a real-time copy. I've done this with my Panasonic ES and EZ series DVD recorders.
Often disc problems arise when a DVD may slip on the rubber hub that grips it during read, write and finalizing operations. The rubber hub needs regular cleaning, more often when the machine is used in warm, dusty or smoking environments; or where discs are handled with a finger through the center hole transmitting oily residue to the rubber hub area. The rubber hub may be cleaned with a cotton swab dipped in isopropyl alcohol.
Cleaning procedures may vary by make of machine. At the AVS Forum I've posted advice and photos (as "DigaDo") for the thorough rubber hub cleaning procedure for DVD Drives found in recent model Panasonic DVD recorders:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14479898#post14479898
While the direct access cleaning procedure is the most thorough, there is a short-cut procedure. The disc tray is extended and then the machine's power cord is disconnected. With a long-handled cotton swab clean the rubber hub by rolling the cotton swab along the hub. This will gather up most of the debris or residue as the swab rotates the hub, perhaps sufficient to correct reading, writing or finalizing errors. Be gentle when working near the easily-damaged lens assembly. Don't close the disc tray by manually pushing it back into the machine (as some drive tray mechanism parts may become dislodged or misaligned). Reconnect the power and close the disc tray by using the disc tray open/close button.
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Goldensilents,
Sometimes problematic discs may be dirty or have oily residue. Discs may require gentle cleaning using a soft cloth dampened with diluted dish soap. Wipe from the center hole to the outside edge, and rinse with clear water.
Sometimes problematic discs may be dubbed in real time by a HDD/DVD recorder. Then the contents may be high-speed dubbed from the hard drive to a new disc. I've done this with my Philips 3575 and Magnavox 2160 HDD/DVD recorders. Or, use a DVD player or DVD recorder to play the disc while another DVD recorder makes a real-time copy. I've done this with my Panasonic ES and EZ series DVD recorders.
Often disc problems arise when a DVD may slip on the rubber hub that grips it during read, write and finalizing operations. The rubber hub needs regular cleaning, more often when the machine is used in warm, dusty or smoking environments; or where discs are handled with a finger through the center hole transmitting oily residue to the rubber hub area. The rubber hub may be cleaned with a cotton swab dipped in isopropyl alcohol.
Cleaning procedures may vary by make of machine. At the AVS Forum I've posted advice and photos (as "DigaDo") for the thorough rubber hub cleaning procedure for DVD Drives found in recent model Panasonic DVD recorders:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14479898#post14479898
While the direct access cleaning procedure is the most thorough, there is a short-cut procedure. The disc tray is extended and then the machine's power cord is disconnected. With a long-handled cotton swab clean the rubber hub by rolling the cotton swab along the hub. This will gather up most of the debris or residue as the swab rotates the hub, perhaps sufficient to correct reading, writing or finalizing errors. Be gentle when working near the easily-damaged lens assembly. Don't close the disc tray by manually pushing it back into the machine (as some drive tray mechanism parts may become dislodged or misaligned). Reconnect the power and close the disc tray by using the disc tray open/close button.
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The Staples #1 Standard Size Indoor Antenna is shipped folded up in a box of 1,000 antennas. The box of 1,000 antennas was priced at $2.99 the last time I checked.
Instructions for use:
1. Open box
2. Select S1SSIA for your use
3. Unfold S1SSIA, but leave last folded section at a right angle to the vertical element.
4. Insert S1SSIA into converter box "antenna in" connector as shown here:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=15884277#post15884277
Warning! Indoor use only, do not attempt to ground the S1SSIA antenna.
The remaining S1SSIAs may be used as paperclips. What a deal!
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Most of the digital broadcast channels are UHF.
Rabbit ears antennas that have only the extending rods are VHF, only marginally effective for UHF reception. Some rabbit ears antennas also have a loop, rectangle or circle for UHF reception. Some folks have affixed aluminum foil between the rods hoping that this enhances the signal capturing performance of the loop or circle.
With outdoor antennas the most common UHF configuration has short elements spaced along a central shaft. When aiming this type antenna the shortest elements are at the front toward the broadcast towers and the longer elements are at the rear.
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Voranis,
Digital broadcast signals may present similar difficulties.
The main considerations are your distance from the broadcast towers, unobstructed line-of-sight to the broadcast towers and type and orientation of antenna. Other considerations are present digital channel assignments and possible channel reassignments once analog channels are gone, stations relocating digital antennas to higher locations on towers, increases/decreases in transmitter output once analog transmission is abandoned, etc. Complications arise if your area's digital transmitters are in varying directions.
For local information visit antennaweb.org. Enter your address and Zip Code for local station information and a street level map that will be helpful with aiming an antenna.
I am located line-of-sight about five miles from the concentration of our local "antenna farms." Most of the local towers are visible through the windows in my home office. A few are obstructed by trees but there are only occasional signal problems. In my location a $10 indoor antenna or an unfolded #1 standard-sized paper clip perform about the same, providing twenty-six digital channels with more to come in the near future.
I use Zenith DTT901 converter boxes, one for use with an analog TV and one for use with an analog DVD recorder and analog TV. I also use eight DVD recorders or hard drive/DVD recorders that have digital and analog tuners, five dedicated to TCM, two connected cable-ready (no TCM) and one connected to an antenna for over-the-air (OTA) use.
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I read somewhere that the music for early Hal Roach talkies was meant to cover up the film hiss between dialog. Some of the early Hal Roach talkies that did not have music scores had musical scores dubbed to later re-releases.
Here are a few interesting excerpts from the liner notes of The Beau Hunks Play The Original Laurel & Hardy Music, Volume 1:
"When film companies switched to sound in 1929, Hal Roach studios struck an interesting deal with the Victor Talking Machine Company. Victor was to provide everything necessary for the soundtrack--including the music . . . LeRoy Shield, Victor's A&R man for the Western United States, was sent to Culver City to compose background music for sound pictures . . . Once in Hollywood, he started composing at a furious pace. Between late 1929 and early 1931 he wrote sixty-eight tunes (varying in length from one to three minutes) and had them recorded . . . Shield's musical items . . . began to be used in the Hal Roach two-reeers by mid-1930. Pups Is Pups, an Our Gang short released on August 30 contained a number called "Hide And Go Seek;" the first Boy Friends short Doctor's Orders (September 13th) contained organ music by Shield, as well as musical numbers such as "On to the Show," "Fliver Fops," and "Little Dancing Girl;" the first Laurel & Hardy picture to feature Shield compositions was Another Fine Mess (November, 1930) featuring numbers called "Run!" and "Colonel Buckshot" . . .
"But there were other important composers, too. Sons of the Desert, one of the best Laurel & Hardy features (1933), contained a wonderful hit song, "Honolulu Baby." Its composer was Marvin Hatley . . . who had devised the original Laurel & Hardy theme, "Ku-Ku." It was also Hatley who would double as a musician off-screen each time an actor played an instrument in a film scene. He had the official title of Hal Roach Studio "musical director" from 1930 until 1939 . . . He co-wrote many specialty numbers together with such Roach actors and directors as Charley Chase, Walter Weems, James Parrott, Billy Gilbert, King Zany, and Gus Meins. In 1934, one of his tunes was used in the Laurel & Hardy film Them Thar Hills; in 1935 he worked on Bonnie Scotland, re-arranging old Scottish airs and playing instruments off-screen; during 1936 and 1937 he wrote many numbers, together forming a complete film score for the feature film Way Out West. Here his talents were truly recognized . . . When studio boss Hal Roach heard the "Donkey's Ears" theme for the first time, he was heard to remark: "Cute music! Cute music!" Others thought so too; his Way Out West score was nominated for an Academy Award, as was his music for Block-Heads (1938).
"LeRoy Shield had temporarily returned to the Roach studios in 1936 to write a number of new tunes, together forming the score for the Laurel & Hardy feature Our Relations (released October 20, 1936). Fifty-one new tunes were the result of this new wave of creativity . . ."
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Perhaps the guy didn't watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w34nNux4Xw
Perhaps the guy did watch it.
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Going back to 1936 there is a MGM short musical *New Shoes* where the shoes talk and sing and there are other interesting visuals. TCM ran *New Shoes* on 5/6/2007 and 1/4/2009.
While this short is fun the story line you've described is not found in this short.
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You are thinking of Remember WENN shown on AMC from 1996-1999.
Here is a website dedicated to this show:
There is also a discussion group at yahoo:
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While I am familiar with the Philips 3575/3576 and Magnavox 2080/2160 HDD/DVD recorders designed by Philips and manufactured by Funai, I am not familiar with other recent Funai-manufactured products including Toshiba.
Here is one AVS thread discussing the Toshiba DR560:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1084394
Perhaps there are other discussions of this product found through this front page:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=106
For more results you may want to adjust search criteria (at the bottom of that page) to go back more than one month.
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Primosprimos,
The EZ series Panasonics have had a high rate of customer returns as few buyers tolerate the design flaws and bugs. The EZ series was introduced in 2007. Once one has used some of the outstanding ES series Panasonics one has to lower their minimum performance expectations when using EZ series Panasonics. The EZ series Panasonics are able to produce DVD recordings of great picture quality--when the machine actually functions. With my five EZ series Panasonics I use various workarounds to maintain functionality. The EZ series bugs and design flaws have generated much discussion on the AVS Forum. I'm planning to retire two of my EZ series machines in the near future, to be replaced by one well-tested Magnavox HDD/DVD recorder of about the same vintage.
The best Panasonics were produced in 2005 and 2006. The DMR-ES45V and DMR-ES46V are, like your DMR-ES35V, 2006 models. The DMR-ES30V is a 2005 model. Since most owners find these to be reliable "workhorses" most of these models have had heavy use.
The VCR you access on channel 4 has that channel selected as its "output channel." There will probably be a Channel 3/4 output channel switch on the rear panel.
Some devices with HD or SD digital tuners will output only SD digital or analog signals. DVD recorders with VHS sections will not actually record digital signals to the VHS section. The DVD section will record analog and digital signals. The VHS section on current products is a cheap throw-away device, convenient for playing videotapes, not particularly suitable for making good quality recordings.
The suggestions I've provided are for optimized picture quality. Except for the initial connection to cable/satellite converters/tuners, the threaded coax RF connection does not provide the best picture quality. Other outputs, HDMI, component, S-Video and composite (in that order) provide better picture quality. If your TV has these inputs (and you use them) you will see picture quality improvements over that provided by the threaded coax RF connection. These are the basics.
On the AVS Forum I leave connectivity descriptions and details to others. I've often posted AVS Forum links at TCM (and a couple of other message boards) for the convenience of those interested in fuller, more detailed discussions.
When AVS Forum DVD Recorder sub-forum posters mention their favorite "channels," TCM is mentioned frequently.
On the AVS Forum I am known as "DigaDo." "Diga" is the name used by Panasonic for their entire line of DVD recorders. I participate in Panasonic, Philips and Magnavox threads and a few topical threads; and occasionally the CECB, HDTV, and local Comcast and OTA sub-forums.
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I'm attempting to determine a year of production for each of the Star Of The Month promos that have a signed closing scene.
Anyone have a link to this information?
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Primosprimos,
I hope you kept your DMR-ES35V. That and three other Panasonic ES series machines (DMR-ES45V, DMR-ES46V and DMR-ES30V) are the ones to use in a dubbing/copying project.
I own five Panasonic EZ series DVD recorders but I did not purchase EZ series combo recorders as these were stripped of the FUNCTIONS menu-initiated dubbing/copying features I regard as essential for copying videotaped recordings to DVD.
Are you attempting to copy a videotape from the built-in VHS mechanism on your EZ48/485? In that case you are limited to the front panel control where you will lose control of the process and you will not have seamless results.
If you must use an EZ48/485 to copy videotapes attach a VCR to an input (IN 1 or IN 2) and copy videotapes from that input. That method will allow you more control of the process, including use of the Flexible Recording feature.
The slow response to the EZ48/485 remote--I assume you refer to channel changing--comes from the integration of digital and analog channels in the same tuning sequence. First, you select the channel, then the digital tuner has to acquire the digital signal and after that the digital signal needs to be displayed. That's just part of the problem with integration of analog and digital tuning in the same sequence. Other brands (Philips/Magnavox) have two tuning sequences, one digital and the other analog selected by the DTV/TV button. Tuning is faster when the tuning sequences are separate.
My December 10/11 post (responding to TrissyCat) includes a lengthy description of connectivity, some of which is relevant to your situation. If your TV is set to channel 3 for its primary signal reception, then does it receive its primary signal source directly through a cable/satellite box or the EZ48/485 RF output? Since the EZ48/485 has a modulated RF output if that output provides the TV with its primary signal the TV would then be enslaved to the EZ48/485, not the best option. If you have a satellite/cable box it is better to have that connected to the primary TV input and a secondary satellite/cable box output feed an EZ48/485 input with an EZ48/485 output feeding another TV input (if those options are available). In that situation the TV remote would be used to select among the TV inputs. Most analog-tuner TVs, at a minimum, have RF and composite (yellow, white/red) inputs. Most recent digital-tuner TVs have multiple composite (yellow) inputs, a component input (red/blue/green) and S-Video input (round with four pins) all of which require use of the white/red audio connections. Recent HDTVs also have HDMI input(s) that carry video and audio signals. See the December post for more detail.
The AVS Forum thread dedicated to the DMR-EZ48/485 is found here:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1014536
Wajo has provided some useful diagrams in this post from his Philips/Magnavox sticky thread:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=12298409&postcount=10
Wajo often suggests placing a Philips/Magnavox HDD/DVD recorder on the coax ahead of the satellite/cable box. That is fine for "pass through" recorders that DO NOT MODULATE THE RF OUTPUT. This connectivity arrangement is not practicable with a combo recorder, like the EZ48/485, that MODULATES the RF output. Modulated/Unmodulated RF outputs are described in more detail in my December 2 post in this "Gremlin" thread.
The generality of AVS Forum DVD recorder discussions may be found here:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=106
This message was revised for clarity by TalkieTime
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The Big Broadcast (1932) was shown by AMC on 12/16/1990. This was in the good old days of AMC.
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TikiSoo,
I believe the title is First A Girl (1935), shown 11/6/2008.
I first saw Evergreen on The Nostalgia Channel, 12/6/1987.
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Two Barks Brothers is the only Dogville short I don't have. I began recording from TCM to DVD in September 2005. Catching and recording shorts at that time was hit-or-miss. MGMWBRKO started listing shorts on 6/27/06. That's when it became easier to plan to record shorts. All the other Dogville shorts have been shown since that time. Some have been shown several times.
Movies cut short
in Hot Topics
Posted
TCM's tight schedules present a special problem when one wants to record movies scheduled back-to-back. One approach is to schedule the two movies as a single recording with buffer timing at both ends. Another approach is to set up two (or more) recorders and schedule them in tandem to include buffer time with an overlap at the beginning and ending times. This usually works very well as long as one pays close attention to running times.
I use Now Playing to schedule my recorders one or two weeks in advance. Then, I usually check the online schedule several days ahead of scheduled recordings to find last minute corrections or the most accurate running times, note shorts information, make final adjustments and incorporate shorts into the scheduled recordings.
Lately I've become somewhat lax with this procedure.
Last evening's Latino Images In Film schedule was programmed a week in advance but not verified online. The first portion of the Latino schedule was "bulked," set to begin with Ramona and run through the end of Old San Francisco adding a minute or two of buffer time at the end. I didn't discover the corrected schedule until one machine stopped recording Old San Francisco at around 70 minutes into the movie. I had scheduled another machine to start recording at that time, the original Now Playing start time shown for Big Stakes. So, last evening's Old San Francisco is complete, but on two discs. As I was watching Old San Francisco at the time I checked the online schedule and was able to adjust the beginning/ending times to correctly record the rest of the evening's schedule. (Last June I recorded Old San Francisco when it was part of the Asian Images in Film series.)
Last month my Magnavox 2160 HDD/DVD recorder cut off the end of Silk Stockings and its fan programmer outro as I had paid too little attention to the running time and did not figure in enough time for the intro/outro. I had not verified that schedule online but the tight scheduling is so obvious from a quick glance at Now Playing that the tight schedule (now) seems to jump off the page and bite me on the nose. This was not such a problem as I had scheduled a Panasonic recorder for the Mickey Rooney Private Screenings. The conclusion to Silk Stockings and its outro was intact on that recorder's disc. Then, when I compiled and edited all the fan programmer intros/outros onto a single DVD, I was able to dub and include the Silk Stockings outro, Now Playing The Show, and the four My Retrospective segments, two of which were dubbed from discs recorded on Panasonic recorders, and the "Four Fans" promo.
Phantom Carriage, with the early start, fooled me. I lost the beginning and ending. What would Doris Day say to that? "Que Sera, Sera"
Message was edited by: talkietime