1978 HD LIVE!!!

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This topic has 34 voices, contains 122 replies, and was last updated by  single-8 3561 days ago.

March 29, 2014 at 6:10 pm Quote #34445

VOODOO
(2374)

mrmojohalen: There are other bands on the YOUTUBE channel like Def Leppard & Lynyrd Skynyrd that have been

given the same remastering. They must have everything that DJ ever recorded & have cleaned it up.

What their intentions are remain to be seen.

Knowing the time, effort, energy and cost of remastering film, I can’t imagine they would go to the trouble of restoring all of this footage, releasing teasers and then putting it in a box. ;)


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March 29, 2014 at 8:58 pm Quote #34455

PT5150
(6280)

From VHND.

HUGE Van Halen news regarding old concert footage! Yesterday, out of the blue, newly upgraded footage of Van Halen’s 1978 and 1979 performances at the Selland Arena in Fresno, California appeared on Youtube. There’s five video clips, all of them obviously nothing more than teasers. And teasers they are! These new INSANELY GREAT Fresno upgrades are by far the highest quality audience-filmed footage of early van Halen!

The new Youtube channel boasts that the footage has been “remastered Frame by Frame HD Uncompressed…from my original Fuji single-8 films.”

Four years ago, we featured the 2010 upgrades of this footage, which was better than the ultra-blurry stuff that was previously circulated among collectors. But this new stuff is MUCH better, and it’s straight from the master reels.

Just don’t hope for the complete shows to come out, because the original taper didn’t film the complete shows. (He filmed only around 25 minutes of each of the two shows.)

This amazing footage shows what an unstoppable force the band was in the early years. Granted, these clips are only short teasers, but when you watch any of the old VH footage, you see that no rock band was EVER as fierce, energetic, and as entertaining as these four boys from Pasadena. There’s precious little footage that proves this, making these teaser clips a real treat! So crank it up, crack open a beer, set your setting to widescreen and 720p, and ENJOY!

Read more: http://www.vhnd.com/2014/03/29/unearthed-van-halen-video-fresno/#ixzz2xP4CsO2a


EDDIE’S fingers aren’t fingers they are muscle-powered pistons that hammer guitar strings to the fretboard with the force of a rivet gun”.


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March 29, 2014 at 10:03 pm Quote #34467

ffoner
(1085)

This is pure speculation on my part -

I wonder if these guys were working with “DJ” (was that even his real name?) to transfer these films before he passed away (is he really dead?) and now they’ve acquired them, one way or another, maybe from his family or maybe the films were already in their hands before he died.


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March 29, 2014 at 10:53 pm Quote #34469

VHND
(15)

Hey guys! Jeff H. here. Love this site. And this footage is KILLER.

Some random thoughts…

1) Even though this guy uploaded old footage from several bands at once, it’s interesting that 99% of the views & comments that the clips are getting is on his Van Halen clips.

2) Two of his clips are evidently of local bands that never went anywhere. It’s probably a bad sign for us that those clips are much longer than all the other clips. (If he knows its a band that nobody wants it, he puts out the whole thing (or at least much longer clips), but if he knows it’s a band that people want, he doesn’t. (So far, at least). Hopefully he’s not holding out for money, and is just dangling the carrot just for fun, before he puts it all up. I don’t think the footage is worth much money, as it is illegal for anyone other than the band to sell it.

3) Lots of comments are from people saying “Wow! They did a great job cleaning up this footage!” I wonder if people realize that you can only “clean up” old footage so much. The only reason why this looks much better than the stuff that was previously circulated is because these are obviously straight from the master reels. (Of course, he did some cleaning up afterwords). But the source makes ALL the difference.

4) Weird how DJ Johnson always claimed that he taped these, and now the clip’s credits say that some other guy did. DJ said that the master reels were lost in a house fire, and that his VHS backup was all that he remained. That definitely was not true! Who knows what happened there…


Jeff – VHND.com


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March 29, 2014 at 11:09 pm Quote #34470

ffoner
(1085)

VHND: Hey guys! Jeff H. here. Love this site. And this footage is KILLER.

Some random thoughts…

1) Even though this guy uploaded old footage from several bands at once, it’s interesting that 99% of the views & comments that the clips are getting is on his Van Halen clips.

2) Two of his clips are evidently of local bands that never went anywhere. It’s probably a bad sign for us that those clips are much longer than all the other clips. (If he knows its a band that nobody wants it, he puts out the whole thing (or at least much longer clips), but if he knows it’s a band that people want, he doesn’t. (So far, at least). Hopefully he’s not holding out for money, and is just dangling the carrot just for fun, before he puts it all up. I don’t think the footage is worth much money, as it is illegal for anyone other than the band to sell it.

3) Lots of comments are from people saying “Wow! They did a great job cleaning up this footage!” I wonder if people realize that you can only “clean up” old footage so much. The only reason why this looks much better than the stuff that was previously circulated is because these are obviously straight from the master reels. (Of course, he did some cleaning up afterwords). But the source makes ALL the difference.

4) Weird how DJ Johnson always claimed that he taped these, and now the clip’s credits say that some other guy did. DJ said that the master reels were lost in a house fire, and that his VHS backup was all that he remained. That definitely was nottrue! Who knows what happened there…

Good post Jeff.

I’d be surprised if he doesn’t try to sell DVDs to a few people at least before the torrents start. I’d have to think he’s out some money. From what I was able to find out, it’s about 100+ dollars per reel to transfer to HD. Look here: Rates

That said, maybe you are right Jeff and he will eventually let it all out for free.

The DJ thing is weird. I have a friend who used to trade tapes with “DJ” back in the 80s. I can ask him what he remembers about his dealings with him.


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March 29, 2014 at 11:14 pm Quote #34471

ffoner
(1085)

Here’s something from DJ:

https://www.youtube.com/user/video64/discussion >

If you would have just asked, I would have sent you the Original Footage on DVD to do the correction. It looks much cleaner than any of the YT postings, including mine. I purposely posted it in very low resolution so the DVD would keep moving.

Is it possible that DJ’s is the one behind all of this just released footage?


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March 30, 2014 at 2:27 am Quote #34476

Gilligan
(1518)

The mystery and speculation is almost as fun as seeing the HD footage! Someone should make a documentary of this a la The King of Kong. Call it “Quest for On Fire”.


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March 30, 2014 at 5:10 am Quote #34478

Cut2TheCrash
(816)

I find it interesting he had a Def Leppard video up from 1980 and now its gone


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March 30, 2014 at 6:02 am Quote #34485

PT5150
(6280)

Some good points from TB at links.
Sorry if that is someone here.

T.B.
I’d guess the owner of this footage is looking for money for the full reels, judging by a few of his replies to comments on the clips. Interestingly, all his clips come from late 70′s Fresno, CA area shows.

Regarding the Montreal 1984 show, that was shot on standard def vhs like numerous other shows (including the VH and Roth solo ’86/’87 shows there) from that arena from a few year span during the early to mid 80′s. It’s not going to get much better if the original master shows up somehow then the best quality that’s been out up ’til now.

The reason this “new” upgrade of the 78/79 footage looks so comparatively good is because it’s shot on actual film at the behest of the band and/or record company, even if it’s 8mm and if stored and cared for properly, it won’t degrade as badly as video tape (especially commercial vhs) does over a 30+ year period. This guy probably spent some decent money to have a lab transfer to video the footage from the master film and do some minor color correcting or else he nabbed it from someone who did.


EDDIE’S fingers aren’t fingers they are muscle-powered pistons that hammer guitar strings to the fretboard with the force of a rivet gun”.


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March 30, 2014 at 7:09 am Quote #34486

vhrob
(1727)

Well well keep our fingers crossed. Maybe we will see some of this stuff.


vhtrading member since 2000


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March 30, 2014 at 12:00 pm Quote #34487

thismusicsux
(578)

Gilligan: The mystery and speculation is almost as fun as seeing the HD footage!Someone should make a documentary of this a la The King of Kong.Call it “Quest for On Fire”.

Totally. That is part of the fun. Tracking down the lost footage or bootlegs. But this one is getting a little painful. Pristine lost footage of the mighty VH sitting there on YouTube just to torture us. Haha


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March 30, 2014 at 1:26 pm Quote #34488

ffoner
(1085)

PT5150: Some good points from TB at links. Sorry if that is someone here.

T.B. I’d guess the owner of this footage is looking for money for the full reels, judging by a few of his replies to comments on the clips. Interestingly, all his clips come from late 70′s Fresno, CA area shows.

Regarding the Montreal 1984 show, that was shot on standard def vhs like numerous other shows (including the VH and Roth solo ’86/’87 shows there) from that arena from a few year span during the early to mid 80′s. It’s not going to get much better if the original master shows up somehow then the best quality that’s been out up ’til now.

The reason this “new” upgrade of the 78/79 footage looks so comparatively good is because it’s shot on actual film at the behest of the band and/or record company, even if it’s 8mm and if stored and cared for properly, it won’t degrade as badly as video tape (especially commercial vhs) does over a 30+ year period. This guy probably spent some decent money to have a lab transfer to video the footage from the master film and do some minor color correcting or else he nabbed it from someone who did.

T.B’s right about almost everything, except DJ was not filming at the behest of WB (the record company), obviously.


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March 30, 2014 at 2:56 pm Quote #34491

VOODOO
(2374)

Thought I’d add the rest of the clips in case others missed them. I think this is all of them.

Page one has:
VanHalen 9 22 78 HD
VanHalen 3 25 79 HD
VanHalen 9/22/78 end

Here are the other two clips:

VanHalen 9 22 78 HD intro

VanHalen 3 25 79 HD.2


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March 30, 2014 at 4:42 pm Quote #34498

slimbrspickins
(337)

Thanks for the heads up on the links. This footage is amazing! Hopefully the entire show, or what was shot comes out soon. I remember hearing about the 78 stuff on here a long time ago but gave up on it coming out.


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March 30, 2014 at 5:16 pm Quote #34499

mrmojohalen
(6377)

The high quality audio make these a real treat.

I see there’s new stuff up today (The Cars, Nugent)


When you turn on your stereo, does it return the favor?


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