Combat!: The Complete Series

DVD Wholesale Quick Overview:

Hey Folks,

I recorded all 152 episodes of “Combat!” on VHS tapes when the series was shown many years ago on the “Action Channel,” and more recently, I recorded the series again on DVDs when it was shown on “Me TV.” The picture quality of my old VHS tapes is actually much better than that of my more recent DVDs, but watching shows on VHS tapes today is not nearly as convenient as using DVDs. For several years now, I have been interested in buying the subject DVD set, but there were many customer reviews in past years which cited various problems with the set. In the past year, the customer reviews have been virtually all positive, so I again became interested in getting the DVD set. Wanting to get the convenience of modern DVDs as well as hopefully getting a better quality picture, I finally decided to purchase this “Combat!” DVD set.

When I put the first DVD and started watching the first episode, I could not believe how good the picture quality was. I was watching it on a high definition TV, but the picture was simply much better than that of my old VHS tapes when viewed on the same TV. If you watch a “Combat!” episode on “Me TV,” the picture quality is not anywhere nearly a good as the quality of the subject DVD set. The picture quality of this DVD set really is remarkable. Thus far, I have just completed watching the second season, and all of the episodes I have seen are the same high quality sharp picture.

The set consists of forty DVDs – eight DVDs per season for five seasons, four episodes per DVD, and some DVDs include additional video material. Each DVD has one or more voice interviews with various people associated with the show, and there are also several videos of some of the actors being interviewed many years ago. Most of the DVDs include a commentary by the director of one of the episodes featured on that DVD. Each episode also includes notes on that episode provided by Jo Davidsmeyer and titled “Notes, Oddities, and Bloopers.”

As some reviewers have noted, the DVDs are difficult to get out of the snap holder the first time, and you really do have to be careful as you lift up and pull each one off the snap holder. Once the DVD is removed the first time, it seems the DVD does go back in the snap holder properly, and it is no longer so difficult to remove the DVD from that point on.

There were several old reviews which complained of poor picture quality, but this is not the case with the DVD set I bought. The picture quality is absolutely great. I have to wonder if the folks who had poor quality might not have purchased knockoff copies rather than an original set as advertised?

Another person stated the episodes were missing scenes because they were less than sixty minutes. All of the episodes run about forty-seven minutes because each episode is shown without commercials. There is even an old interview with Vic Morrow where he is asked about making a one hour show each week, and Morrow corrects the interviewer and clearly tells him the shows actually are designed to have a run time of forty-seven minutes for the one hour time slot. This was also the case with the episodes when they were shown on the “Action Channel” which ran them without commercials. Each episode was almost exactly forty-seven minutes.

It was also noted the set does not have closed captioning, and I have found this to be true thus far. Another person said there is closed captioning, but it does not work if you use an HDMI cable instead of a three-wire cable to feed the TV. I have not tried a three-wire cable as yet, but I hope it does work because I find closed captioning useful at times. Remember, there was no closed captioning when this show was first aired.

One person noted there were a few episodes where the show just stopped at some point and would not continue. Another person said he was missing all the DVDs from one of the season’s box. I also have had three episodes where the show just stopped, and I had to skip over a portion. I wrote to the vendor about the problem and received a prompt standardized reply. It listed some procedures to attempt to fix the problem by cleaning the disc. At the end of the letter, it clearly stated they would replace any discs that were truly defective, and I would assume they would also replace missing discs. Since the reply I received was a photocopy of a “How To” disc fix, I assume they do get some defective discs in a forty disc package. That does not bother me as long as they do replace the discs if they are truly defective.

Did I mention the shows in this DVD package have absolutely great picture quality? They really do, and I am truly enjoying the convenience of watching this great “Combat!” series with the convenience of DVDs. The next thing I would like to do is see if I can get them to show closed captioning, and then I would like to copy the shows to a hard drive that I can connect to a TV and watch them without having to switch DVDs.

I watched “Combat!” when it first aired. By the second season, I was married, and my wife and I watched each week with her brother (a WW2 infantry vet) and his wife. It remains my favorite TV show of all time.

Best wishes,
Dave Wile

DVD Wholesale Main Features:

Actors: Vic Morrow, Rick Jason, Pierre Jalbert, Jack Hogan, Dick Peabody
Directors: Bernard McEveety, John Peyser, Robert Altman, Sutton Roley
Format: Box set, Black & White, Color, Dolby, NTSC
Language: English
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only.)
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number of discs: 40
Rated: NR-Not Rated
Studio: IMAGE ENTERTAINMENT
DVD Release Date: November 12, 2013
Run Time: 7260 minutes
ASIN: B00EEEHL9G