Sunday, December 9, 2012

Defective Discs Plague Christmas DVD


The new Christmas with Danny Kaye DVD is receiving rave reviews for its wonderful mix of song, dance and comedy—with one curious exception: the second “Peggy Lee” episode runs more than seven minutes shorter than the first episode and one of the sketches ends abruptly, with no payoff.

At least one customer has accused Inception Media of shenanigans by advertising the DVD as containing two “complete” episodes, but then trimming one show, theorizing there must have been some song that they couldn’t secure the rights for and secretly snipped it.

The truth is the only thing “missing” is the last two-thirds of the eleven-minute sketch “Giovanni’s Christmas Gift.” And it really isn’t “missing”—you can view the full sketch by loading the DVD onto a computer and accessing the individual VOB file that contains the sketch (file VTS_02_6.VOB in folder Video_TS).

Unfortunately, due to an “authoring” problem at the factory where the first batch of discs was pressed, DVD players cut the sketch abruptly at the 3:45 mark and, consequently, their counters register the entire episode as under 43 minutes, instead of its true 51-minute running time.

The good news is that all defective discs appear to have been pulled out of the distribution pipeline and all new orders are being fulfilled from a corrected second pressing from the first week of December. Anyone who bought theirs earlier and ended up with a defective disc can return it for an exchange.

But probably the most amazing thing: 50 years ago, due to the high quality of entertainment and the greater engagement of audiences, a TV show could actually stage an eleven-minute sketch!

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