Ripping Wonder Years DVD set - proper format?

[jimbodeanny]

Hello!

I recently picked up the complete "locker" 26-disc set of the Wonder Years, and I'm in the process of ripping all of the discs so that I can add them to my plex library as well as backups. So far, the process has been straight forward with MakeMKV. However, I've been a little confused with regards to the framerate/format of these discs. The DVDs themselves play at 29.97fps as I'd expect from just about any NTSC DVD, and when I look at the MKV files that MakeMKV creates, they are also ripped as 29.97fps interlaced files. Again, that doesn't surprise me, as I figure these came from old tape masters that were originally telecined for broadcast. In other words, I expected these to be originally 23.976fps that were telecined to play back at NTSC 29.97fps. But when I play the DVDs as well as the MKV files, they look like straight up 29.97fps footage which appears to be too smooth and "video like", not cinematic like I recall the show looking.

When I watch the Wonder Years on a streaming service (in this case Hulu), the show looks proper and the way I remember it at a framerate that resembles 23.976/24p.

After doing some digging, I figured that I simply needed to de-telecine/inverse telecine the MKV files through something like Handbrake. However, when I run them through Handbrake with the detelecine turned on (set to default), it doesn't really do much. (I end up with a file that has a slightly lower framerate, something in the 29.6**fps range).

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but I can't seem to figure it out and it's driving me nuts. I've studied some footage inside VLC (with deinterlace off) and went frame-by-frame, and it looks like there are no repeating frames I can see. The only frames that are obviously interlaced are frames between scene changes. Again, it baffles me. I was certain this show was originally shot at 24/23.976fps since it was shot on film. And it doesn't help that Hulu seems to display it properly.

Maybe I'm wrong, losing my mind, but can anyone else confirm any of this and/or provide some insights? Am I going about this the wrong way?

Thanks!

-Jim

[jimbodeanny]

I posted an example clip in this thread, along with one I screen captured off Hulu to demonstrate the framerate difference. Not sure if that helps. I could be crazy I suppose, but this is driving me nuts lol.

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/413 ... ost2724671

[dcoke22]

I couldn't find a reliable source of technical details about the The Wonder Years DVDs. All the discussion ends up being about which songs were cut and what they were replaced with. I did find, however, that the UK release by Fabulous Films has all the original music. http://www.fabulousfilms.com/products/282

And I saw one person claim on a forum that the UK release was at 24fps. I couldn't find verification of that. Certainly, a 24fps release of a TV in PAL format would be unusual, but anything is possible I suppose.

[jimbodeanny]

Update: Well after doing a little more digging, I am now more confused than ever. I analyzed 5 different episodes for telecine and interlacing and there was absolutely zero consistently. Each episode fell into one of three categories.

1) There was telecine through the entire episode. (3 progressive frames, followed by 2 interlaced frames.) However, the intro title appeared to be 29.97/30p (or in other words 29.97fps with each frame unique and no combing. )

2) Some scenes were telecine, some were not (and instead appeared to be 30p)

3) The entire episode appeared to be 30p.

I'm so baffled as to why there's such inconsistency with how this DVD set was mastered. It makes no sense to me, but I'm nearing the point of just giving up. I basically have two easy choices: A) Watch them as is and be distracted by the extra smoothness or B) Watch them on Hulu, have what appears to be the proper framerate, but worse quality and less original music.

Ugh.

[dcoke22]

I assume you have North American release. I wonder if the inconsistency has to do with all the editing and re-editing of the episodes over the years as the various songs were replaced as the licensing expired?