TEST DISC REVIEWED

Macrovision copy protected
English sub-titles
Aspect ratio: full frame 4:3 (non 16:9 enhanced)
Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0

Definition? whoa! For the most part the picture is razor sharp exhibiting a level of visual detail never seen in the home environment. I literally watched each of the four episodes so impressive was the colourful clarity of the transfers. The only shots which didn't come up well were 'process' shots, or opticals (overlaps in dissolves, shots with titles et al), and location focus cock-ups (of which there are a couple which hithertofore went unnoticed in the general fuzz of a vhs picture).

The quality of the supplementals is variable as is usually the case with old and neglected source material. But rest assured the effort made at the grading stage is plain to see with each separate element looking as good as decent transfer gear can deliver.

Negative aspects? Well, there's always going to be DVD equivalents of the kids who spoil it for everyone else in the class. It has to be pointed out that in the test disc there were a couple of instances of encoding errors - minor as it happens but present nonetheless.

The most eye-catching instance occurred at the 37m 08s mark of The Long Goodbye and lasted for about 6 frames or so. I haven't a clue what the correct technical term is so I'll just include a picture (28kb).

Main title fade-outs seem to have presented problems at the authoring stage with a few artefacts of this variety towards the 'black' end of the fade on some of the episodes. While it hardly ruins the viewing experience it still catches the eye and it would be remiss not to mention it.

The opening shot from The Old, the New and the Deadly suffers from noticeable compression artefacting inasmuch as the flat (day for) night sky looks like it's crawling. Again this does not mar the overall experience but as it is the first shot of the first episode it stands out like the proverbial dog's bollocks.

It was interesting to note that the bitrate of volume 4 is 8mbps (megabits per second) whereas it's predecessor was encoded at 9mbps. Naturally enough the higher the bitrate the less likelihood of compression artefacting (although this in itself is no guarantee of flawless picture). Considering what is contained on the disc, I am surprised the lower bitrate was the preferred option but not being an authoring guru I'm unaware of the practicalities of bitrate choice. 

The emphatic final judgement regards picture quality however is 99.99% approval. The visuals of volume 4 are detailed, colourful and unarguably an uncommon pleasure to watch. The glitches referred to are virtually insignificant and may be rectified for the production run of discs.

THE SOUND
since writing the review of volume 3, old Mr Carlton has apparently taken the advice of myself and many, many others and popped 'round to his G.P. and had his aural canals syringed of the thick plugs of ear wax which had been inhibiting his sense of hearing so acutely. As a result the audio of volume 4 is Dolby Digital 2.0 - therefore devoid of the music & effects surround track that caused so many problems on volumes 2 & 3.

The audio of The Persuaders! can only be judged relative to its production parameters i.e. a monaural soundtrack produced for monaural transmission accessed via frequency-limited tv speakers, serviceable but never exciting. While the audio has been tweaked & equalised to sound better than ever, it is entirely unfair to expect sonics that even begin to approach the least active of modern soundtracks. Nothing short of the discovery of the separate magnetic tracks used to make the soundtrack composite is going to change the fact. But it has to be said that the 4 included episodes feature a much better audio response than any transmission or domestic video format has delivered to date.

The audio of the items in the supplement section is variable and once again the age and condition of the source elements must be taken into account. Volume levels vary between supplementary items. This is deliberate and relies on the ability of the viewer to grasp and exercise the principles of audio attenuation whose practical outcome is turning the sound up and/or down via the remote control - a challenge to be sure.

THE EXTRA'S
past dvd volumes of The Persuaders! have seen Mr Carlton smuggle out some priceless items from the ITC vaults under his coat and he doesn't disappoint with the offerings on this volume, the highlight arguably being two 'bumpers' which, despite being used on several early broadcasts, have never been seen by the vast majority of fans (more on the bumpers below).

"Can it last?" I hear you cry. Well, with only another 3 discs to go until all 24 episodes are available on dvd, Carlton product manager, Jaz Wiseman, assures us yes it can as there are still a number of rare and extremely interesting items sitting in boxes in the ITC vaults which can be easily secreted in the folds and pockets of Mr Carlton's raincoat.

TRAILER
my statement, in the review of volume 3, that all trailers for the Persuaders! features were available on disc was slightly erroneous as the trailer for The Switch has not been included until now. But let's not get bogged down in pointing the finger of blame and instead give two thumbs up to the inclusion of the last (really this time) feature trailer.

A point of interest re: the trailer is there is only 1 surviving 35mm print from which a video master could be struck. Under this circumstance we are very lucky indeed that the trailer was in a decent state of repair. Film-based dirt aside, the transfer is excellent. The trailer itself is "as boring as bat shit" (a common term 'round my way) but not even Mr Carlton can be blamed for that.

BUMPERS
just as little things can do the most damage to a young disc's reputation, so too can they add worth. The bumpers were made for the original broadcasts and supplied to TV stations. 'Bumpers', for the benefit of those unfamiliar with the term, were cards (often with audio under) that identified a given programme and appeared going into and coming out of commercial breaks.

There are two bumpers included on the disc - a standard one for your common or garden commercial break and a "sponsor" one complete with voice-over:, "The Persuaders! ...brought to you by...". This sponsor type bumper was common in US tv broadcasts and as the voice is an American one, I presume the bumper was made for that market.

In any event the majority of fans will likely be seeing the bumpers for the very first time or at least believe they are seeing them for the first time (I saw the first broadcast on Scottish TV and my normally photographic mind had no recollection whatsoever of the bumper).

It should be pointed out that we are quite fortunate to have bumper 1 with sound. Only the image exists in the ITC archives (the audio was sep-mag - separate magnetic - and had long since gone the way of the world). Jaz Wiseman to the rescue:

"The audio was taken from my 1982 VHS copy of Greensleeves (the only place I know that it exists...). We edited the sound in a sound [computer software] package to get the best quality possible and then synched it to the vision master using the VHS copy of Greensleeves to get the audio cues right..."

Due to the incompatibility of the resultant sound file with the native DVD audio format, the audio of bumper 1 comes out of the left channel only. I am reliably informed that for reasons only a technical boffin could explain, this was the only satisfactory option of presenting the audio.

STILL & MEMORABILIA GALLERY
2 picture galleries grace volume 4 - a gallery of 20 production stills and a gallery of international record sleeves.

As per usual the production stills are generally relevant to episodes which appear on the disc - which illustrates that some effort has gone into the selection of the images. Each picture is accompanied by an explanatory blurb which includes names of featured personnel. The gallery is presented in a slide show format so one only needs to select the gallery, sit back and let the show unfold. Images are sourced from both the ITC vaults and Jaz Wiseman's private collection.

This is the case with the second gallery whose subject is international releases of the Persuaders! theme (album, single or CD). It's a great opportunity to show the international appeal and impact of John Barry's theme. All the images are sourced from Jaz Wiseman's private collection.

"ITC PRESENTS" COLOUR IDENT
the much requested colour ITC Presents ident has replaced the monochrome version that heralded the disc extra's section of volumes 2 & 3. Once again the ident appears at the press of the "extra's" button. It also appears when leaving the supplemental section too.

Not enough can be said about these seemingly small touches; they give the impression that some, dare I say it, love for the program has gone into the presentation of the disc - something which is nearly always lacking in videos or dvd's.

MENU'S & DISC NAVIGATION
all works fine and has the same layout and function as volumes 2 & 3.

THE SUMMARY
close to perfect is the summation of this disc (bearing in mind the age and quality of the source materials) of course). The re-mastered pictures are sumptious; the standard of worth of supplementary materials is, as always, very high.

Volume 4 of The Persuaders! is the best disc to date and, if nothing else, shows that Mr Carlton does listen to the consumer. None of the aural or visual authoring glitches that marred previous volumes are evident on this one. Fifteen quid well spent! If they can keep to this minimum standard then the remaining discs will be risk-free purchases. Well done to all concerned.