Magnum Mania!

Hello! I'm new here! By the way, great site!

Does anybody know if Universal will release newer DVD editions of season 3&4? I purchased season 1&2 (2012 versions) and enjoyed them a great deal... I'm reading "not so good" reviews on the double sided older versions of season 3&4.
Thanks,
Col.Sanders

I don't know! I have the older DVD's, and they work just fine! Some people just like to complain, or want to let everyone know how "knowledgeable"(Higgins)they are about how DVD's should work! I still have some VHS tapes from the 1980's, of Magnum's I taped! Some from the original CBS broadcast! I'd watch those, and enjoy them just as much, if I didn't have the DVD's! My point is, what's better, having each season, or waiting for something 'better' to come along!

I have the 3 disc, double sided early seasons. I've watched them several times through with no problems what-so-ever. Also have the later seasons 5disc sets (single sided) and really can't see any difference in quality between the two types.

I'm still waiting for somebody to release any of them with some behind the scenes "extas" or "bonus" features, other than including an episode from the next season, or one of the "cross-over" episodes from other series. Maybe there just isn't any footage that isn't already part of the show, or whoever has it is unwilling to share it?

308GUY wrote:I have the 3 disc, double sided early seasons. I've watched them several times through with no problems what-so-ever. Also have the later seasons 5disc sets (single sided) and really can't see any difference in quality between the two types.

It isn't a matter of picture quality, it is that the double-sided discs were known for having playback issues such as freezing. I don't know if that problem was ever resolved or not.

When the first season was first released, I bought it at Wal-Mart. Several episodes had freezing issues in both of my PC's DVD drives as well as my standalone DVD player. I took it back and exchanged it for another copy of the set, and it did the exact same thing. I researched it on the internet and found lots of people having the same issue. You can find people on this very forum that had the same issue as well.

So I took the set back again. I knew that Wal-Mart had an "exchange only" policy for opened DVDs, but I told the counter person that unless they were willing to open a set, put it in a DVD player, and prove to me that it functioned properly, then I wanted a refund. They gave me a refund. During my research on the internet I'd learned that if you got the DVDs from Netflix they were single-sided versions that worked fine, so I did that, and those single-sided versions worked perfectly for the entire season. Single-sided versions for season 1 were never available for retail sale until recently though.

MR: I can certainly understand and empathise with that situation, been there done that with more than a few discs. I have also expereinced the situation where the player makes a huge difference. I do still have discs that if put in one of my players, it will freeze and skip, pixilate in mid-stream, and other anoying quirks that make it impossible to watch. Put in another player, and it plays fine. Yet the player doesn't do it with all discs? Beyond me what goes on with the laser reader! I have never played one in a cumputer, so can't speak to that issue.

If more folks have had that problem than not, then I'd have to agree, there is a poblem with the double sided discs, I was just relating my personal experience. IOW-you should probably hold out for the single sided discs if you want the best shot at viewing them trouble free.

Thanks for the responses. I decided to go ahead and buy season 3&4 from Amazon. You can't beat $10 a piece!

My season 1 double-sided discs have freezing and skipping issues on two episodes and always in the same places. The first 18 minutes of "Lest We Forget" never plays. Instead it skips to the next chapter when Thomas is swimming in the tidal pool. "Missing in Action" freezes and refuses to play during the climactic gunfight. I bought the new single-sided version of S1 and S2.

My seasons 3 and 4 are double sided and play fine but I will replace them as soon as the single-sided versions are released. They're only $9.99 each. I normally don't re-buy stuff, but this is Magnum, after all.

Yeah, I can attest to skipping and freezing found on the double-sided seasons. Universal has many shows that were released this way that shared similar problems. The early seasons of Miami Vice were also double-sided and known to have playback issues. These DVD-18 discs were prone to error and were made poorly from wherever the factory was located. In a nutshell, double-sided can usually work fine, but I avoid them at all cost, especially these Universal TV shows.

I was thrilled to see seasons 1 and 2 get re-releases with single-sided discs and a slimmer profile case. I would love for them to get seasons 3 and 4 out to be done with all of their double-sided releases. I also made sure to hunt down the re-releases of Miami Vice season 1 and 2 with the single-sided discs.

I've had freezing/skipping issues with a few spots in several Season Three episodes.

They should have never released them in double-sided format to begin with. It's a cost-cutting measure that saves pennies and causes lots of problems.

I recently replaced my DVD-18's of Kolchak: The Night Stalker which had occasional skipping and freezing issues on a few episodes but played perfectly the vast majority of the time, but I watched Kolchak countless times over the past eight years since the DVDs were released because I actually wore the discs out! One had a crack in it from being played so much! Twenty two Dollars well spent!

Amazon.com presently sells Season 3 and Season 4 of MPI at around $10.49 so I wonder if they're trying to unload their double-sided versions in anticipation of the reissued single-sided ones? I sure hope so!

We can only hope! I'd replace season three and four in a heartbeat if these would come out.