Dallas HD Amazon Freevee

[Rove]

Here's the first 3 seasons in HD

I'm just thankful they didn't airbrush out the silhouette of the helicopter as it moves past Reunion Tower. I also wonder if the gentleman ploughing his field knew he would become part of television history. I love how this HD restoration is showing detail I never realized...like the tractor driver acknowledging the helicopter pilot by dipping his hat.

Love it.

 

[Knots4ever]

9Now has TNT Dallas. I don't think they've ever had the original.

I have the original two-sided discs and the box set and also purchased some seasons on YouTube (which I hope don't disappear into the ether now). The only reason I would have for buying the Blu-Rays is curiosity value.

I know currently TNT Dallas is on 9Now and not the original that’s why I said keep an eye out. Also keep an eye on other services.
The HD version is actively being sold to services in many markets at the moment.

 

[bmasters9]

I'm just thankful they didn't airbrush out the silhouette of the helicopter as it moves past Reunion Tower. I also wonder if the gentleman ploughing his field knew he would become part of television history. I love how this HD restoration is showing detail I never realized...like the tractor driver acknowledging the helicopter pilot by dipping his hat.

Love it.

And when that striped building passes across the screen (on the "Starring In Alphabetical Order" line), it doesn't freeze like it did on CBS-- it's one continuous shot into Barbara Bel Geddes' card on all three of those openings (first, second and third).

 

[Grangehill1]

From memory the only scene I ‘think’ wasn’t shown in the UK was Ray and Jenna driving past Bobby’s burnt car. That was never shown here and I later saw it on the dvd. Weird why it was cut. I can’t think of any other examples

 

[southfork88]

From memory the only scene I ‘think’ wasn’t shown in the UK was Ray and Jenna driving past Bobby’s burnt car. That was never shown here and I later saw it on the dvd. Weird why it was cut. I can’t think of any other examples

So the American DVDs that I own have not undergone any cuts compared to the original broadcast? Thanks ...

 

[Billy Wall]

They have to work out their ad placement. Some ads are added in the middle of the scene.

 

[Garry]

So the American DVDs that I own have not undergone any cuts compared to the original broadcast? Thanks ...

Well yes they are a few. A scene with J.R. and Angelica from the episode "Sitting Ducks" is not available on the USA Region 1 DVD set but is available on the European Region 2 DVD set. A scene between Miss Ellie and Jessica at Southfork is missing on the DVD sets. That scene is available on the new remaster but the Angelica/J.R. scene is still missing on the new remaster. So Warner have made a mistake there.

 

[southfork88]

Well yes they are a few. A scene with J.R. and Angelica from the episode "Sitting Ducks" is not available on the USA Region 1 DVD set but is available on the European Region 2 DVD set. A scene between Miss Ellie and Jessica at Southfork is missing on the DVD sets. That scene is available on the new remaster but the Angelica/J.R. scene is still missing on the new remaster. So Warner have made a mistake there.

Thanks @Garry , with the exact title and number of these problematic episodes, as well as the playing time of the scenes within each episode, I could definitely verify my DVDs in English and my VHS in Italian (cut or maybe not).

 

[Matthew Blaisdel]

From memory the only scene I ‘think’ wasn’t shown in the UK was Ray and Jenna driving past Bobby’s burnt car. That was never shown here and I later saw it on the dvd. Weird why it was cut. I can’t think of any other examples

That scene was on the DVDs? I thought only a youtube video in lousy quality exists publicly.

 

[Bobby Southworth]

Here's the first 3 seasons in HD. What mistake am I looking out for here in Season 3?

In the first 4 episodes of season 3, the side panel shots of the actors did not freeze. A minor grievance, but I always kinda liked the continuously moving shots. I do think freezing/pausing them added a sense of style, though.

 

[Bobby Southworth]

So, in all third-season episodes, the side panels freeze on each cast member's card, unlike the original CBS broadcasts of 1979-80?

Correct.

 

[bmasters9]

I do think freezing/pausing them added a sense of style, though.

Why do you think that gave it style?

 

[B.J. Ewing]

That scene was on the DVDs? I thought only a youtube video in lousy quality exists publicly.

I thought the same thing!

 

[Seaviewer]

A scene with J.R. and Angelica from the episode "Sitting Ducks" is not available on the USA Region 1 DVD set but is available on the European Region 2 DVD set.

I wonder how that happened. I would have thought they had the same source material but converted to PAL or NTSC for each market.

 

[TJP]

I wonder how that happened. I would have thought they had the same source material but converted to PAL or NTSC for each market.

WB's DVD masters for NTSC and PAL markets were always different since they used Lorimar's existing prints for the different regions.

Lorimar first created an NTSC master from the answer print, which was the first distribution print for the original airing on CBS. Usually, WB used this print as the DVD masters in the DVD region 1 market. There are a few exceptions when they didn't find that first distribution print or were simply negligent — in these cases, they used NTSC syndication prints, which were edited for syndication.
For the PAL markets, Lorimar converted the first NTSC distribution print to PAL in a process called Telecine transfer. The PAL distribution prints were always unedited since they came from unedited NTSC distribution prints. Since Lorimar never edited PAL prints, WB's European and Australian DVD sets are usually the most complete ones — it simply wasn't possible to mix up the masters like in the NTSC case where both unedited first-airing prints and syndication prints still co-exist. Just FYI, whenever an international TV station shortened the episodes, these edits were done by that TV station, but never by Lorimar / WB (unlike in the domestic U.S. market where Lorimar offered edited syndication prints).

In the new HD transfers, in contrast, the same source material was used for both the NTSC and PAL versions.

 

[Rove]

It's a pity Warner Bros didn't see the value in Dallas sooner rather than later. HD restoration has been available for some time now. This process could have been started 5 years ago with careful consideration regarding each episode and all available raw film. Would it have been a lengthy and expensive exercise? Yes. But Warner Bros has deep pockets. Granted I'd imagine some film could have been lost in storage but if the majority of it was found and then Warner Bros sought out the services of David Paulsen he could be responsible for overseeing the restoration project.

You see this is the beauty of restoring a series like Dallas for streaming services or being repackaged for sale on Blu-Ray...there are no time restraints. There must have been scenes filmed but later cut due to whatever circumstances. Better yet. Imagine if Warner Bros hired an orchestra to recreate the music scores of Dallas to give it the full effect.

 

[AJSJR]

I'm on season 6 and one of the episodes is wrong.

Instead of Season 6, Episode 22 "The Sting" playing like it should, it actually Season 12, Episode "The Sting" that plays instead.

TIL, Dallas had 2 episodes both named "The Sting".

 

[supermanfan]

Thanks for the heads up

 

[Dreamer]

Like you I am also really grateful for the remastering. I'm not happy the teasers and recaps (Last on Dallas from the later seasons) were not remastered. However, the graphics for the credits for Season 8 onwards leave a lot to be desired. You can really tell this was a rushed hash job. In Season 8, for some reason on the first scrolling panel the black bar is obnoxiously wide. Very glaring error that can be easily fixed. Donna Reed's first appearance in the credits is missing. She was added to the credits starting on episode 7. For episodes, 7-10 she had a different picture than what was used for the rest of the season. She is completely missing from the credits in those episodes and goes uncredited - yikes! The ending credits for season 10, 11, 12, and 13 all used the Southfork shot that was used in Season 7, 8, and 9. These remastered episodes use the background from season 2-6. The fonts for the intro from season 10 onward are wrong. Season 10 has a ridiculous extruded shadow that was never there before. The black lines of the three way split are thicker than ever really chaning the look up. In season 12, Charlene Tilton and Sheree J. Wilson look like different fonts from the rest. The alignment is off from both the upper text and lower text of the name and the name is off center from the three way split. The font in season 13 and 14 is not the original font used again with glaring alignment and sizing issues (the first name is too large). Season 12 title card for the Dallas logo should read "A Lorimar Television Production" and it does not. The Lorimar Television logo appears to be missing too on the episode close for seasons 12, 13, and 14.

Thanks for this detailed response. I wasn’t sure if the episodes on FreeVee were now being broadcast in HD, as I assumed Warners was going to wait and premiere the remastered episodes exclusively on HBO Max. I was skeptical that Season 10 was in HD because the opening credits still look so awful and low quality, as if they didn’t even bother to do any remastering on the opening credits. Yet, after reading your comment, I went and actually watched an episode of Season 10, and it indeed looks better. Why they didn’t clean up the credits for season 10 is beyond me.

 

[Dreamer]

Do we know whether a blu ray version will be available on DVD? Generally speaking, DVDs look better in high def than a streaming, especially older programs and films.