Golden Jubilee 1985/Turner 1986 Video Master Process

[rwinger24]

Around 1985 with the release of the Golden Jubilee 24 Karat Collection of Looney Tunes shorts on VHS, Warner Bros./Warner Home Video requested new film to tape transfers of those 91 cartoons released.

Also, I think the post house that did these shorts was also the same one that did the 1986 transfers of the MGM/a.a.p. cartoon library when Ted Turner acquired them in May 1986.

These master tapes were a step in quality compare to The Looney Tunes Video Show transfers between 1982 and 1984.


I think how it worked was this. The 35mm prints were transferred via telecine onto 1 inch Type C videotape (I don't think it was 1/2 inch Betacam).

Then when the new masters were recorded, it was achieved by a Grass Valley Group or an Ampex AVC video switcher. A colored background was created, and the main VTR playback source for the cartoon (let's say Duck Amuck and there is a red border), was zoomed out as a DVE (digital video effect). Because of that, you see the colored border and the credits are not clipped off. It was a custom-created mix/effect, or a multimedia effect as the mix/effect bus is 2 layers.

Then onto the recording.

The technical director would fade into a mix effect of the colored background and zoomed out VTR playback (the cartoon). After the credits, the TD would fade to black, and then fade into another source where it is just the VTR playback.

It is not until 1988 that WB would request new video transfers of these cartoons. Same with Turner in 1995.

 

[Cool_Cat]

I see that you did some research.

But yes, afaik they used 1 inch tape for all the early VHS masters. The 88-90 masters (at least the source material) were mastered on D2 and the Turner remasters on DCT.

 

[rwinger24]

I see that you did some research.

But yes, afaik they used 1 inch tape for all the early VHS masters. The 88-90 masters (at least the source material) were mastered on D2 and the Turner remasters on DCT.

Thank you very much. Adding on to that, a Rank Cintel telecine machine was used.
The reason why the post house created a colored background looking like a windowboxed matte on to the opening credits was to prevent overscanning (common with CRT TVs) from clipping off names. The titles of The Pied Piper of Guadalupe has an unique multi colored matte, rapid switches from green to blue to red and to green again.

The background bus was able to change color because of a color matte generator within the switcher.

Cartoon Networks Worldwide would end up using different sources and retransferring them to Betacam SP or Digi Beta, those being the 1982-1984 LTV 1 inch masters, the 1985-86 Goldem Jubilee masters, 86-87 aap MGM/UA Turner rescans, the D2 1988-1990 masters (Laserdisc prints), and the Turner dubbed DCT masters.

The post-July 1948 shorts use either NTSC or PAL masters.

Boomerang still uses a 1985 PAL master of Hyde and Go Tweet.

 

[Cool_Cat]

Just curious, do you work on television? I had a brief experience, so that's where my knowledge comes from.

As for those PAL masters shown in America, I already explained in a previous thread they're part of a 50th anniversary compilation which ended up being used to make masters with an international (music/effects) track. There are 9 of those for each character.

They did another package right after, and they used a few 1985 masters for whatever reason. Those use true NTSC masters though. Some are repeated (like Hyde and Go Tweet or A Scent of the Matterhorn), so it's a matter of luck if the dubbing studio used the better version.

From what it looks like, the American CN feeds used Betacam SP tapes, while European and Pacific feeds used digibetas. I haven't seen dropout glitches in Pacific recordings, while in Europe they'll all over the place.

 

[rwinger24]

Just curious, do you work on television? I had a brief experience, so that's where my knowledge comes from.

As for those PAL masters shown in America, I already explained in a previous thread they're part of a 50th anniversary compilation which ended up being used to make masters with an international (music/effects) track. There are 9 of those for each character.

They did another package right after, and they used a few 1985 masters for whatever reason. Those use true NTSC masters though. Some are repeated (like Hyde and Go Tweet or A Scent of the Matterhorn), so it's a matter of luck if the dubbing studio used the better version.

From what it looks like, the American CN feeds used Betacam SP tapes, while European and Pacific feeds used digibetas. I haven't seen dropout glitches in Pacific recordings, while in Europe they'll all over the place.

No, I just did a lot of googling and researching. When I took a studio production course during a summer semester at UCF, I learned the basics of being a technical director operating a video switcher while we practiced a live broadcast.

Also, watching some demo and sales videos of Grass Valley Group's 300 series switcher and a few Ampex products from the 1980s/90s, I was able to connect everything.

I thought they used Golden Jubilee PAL masters since that video series was also released in that format.

D2 master tapes came out the same year (1988) WB started making these new masters with the release of the Cartoon Cavalcade VHS series, and later on the Authentic and Original Looney Tunes Cartoons VHS and Laserdiscs released between 1992 and 1994.