NBC releasing Carrie Underwood SOM on DVD

NBC has just announced that they will be releasing the live broadcast of The Sound of Music on DVD on Dec. 17. While this is not totally unexpected, does anybody else question the turnaround time in production? This is supposed to be a live broadcast on December 5. The article states that the DVD will be released just 12 days after the initial broadcast. It will have to undergo editing, duplication and have to then be shipped to stores around the country within this 12 day timeframe? This just seems like an impossible turnaround.

They have pre-recorded a cast album to be released the same week that the show airs. This all just makes me wonder how "live" the telecast will actually be. Do you think they're pre-recording much of the show? Does anybody have any insight or thoughts on this?

So this is NOT a concert, but it's also not just a filmed staging a revival or a film remake... what is this going to be like exactly?

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It really isn't that difficult. Because it's a live production, they probably won't edit it too much. Maybe just clean some stuff up like the sound, though hopefully that won't really be needed. And making duplicates of dvds also doesn't take too long. Remember, this is a professional crew, so they have great equipment to do all of this stuff. Chances are, they probably will do a run through of stuff for the cameras and other crews so people will do everything right when it airs.

I think part of the reason for recording the music is to have something to put on commercials for the show. Like if I heard they were doing The Sound of Music and heard no music in their advertising, I would question that.

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Oh nice! I am looking forward to this even more now.

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Here is an example for you,Broadwayphreak- It is a clip of Mary Martin in Peter Pan back in 1955. They actually did that one a few times in the 1950s and I think a last time in 1960, all were live on television. Another example I can think of is Amahl and the Night Visitors.
http://youtu.be/hcBsKLJgKOY

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The 1950s are filled with examples of this.

I really wish that Wonderful Town would be released by the company that released the 1950s live TV versions of Kiss Me Kate and Anything Goes. It's, IMHO, better than those, and all in all pretty great.

It's an insane turnaround.

They can put the rest of the disc together in advance, menus, trailers, FBI warnings extra features, etc. And those can all be QC'd ahead of time.

But after this airs, they will need to compress the master video and audio. There probably won't be multiple audio streams (like a 5.1 and a 2.0 mix) because there wouldn't be any time to mix them. As far as QC'ing the picture and sound? I doubt there will be much of that, if any. So if something is glitchy or goes wrong, forget it.

And subtitle streams? No time for that. A fast turnaround on creation, timecode, QC, etc. would be a week.

If they hire multiple vendors to help with the replication, they could probably have a few thousand ready to go by street date.

My guess is that it will either be "slightly" delayed or if enough people order it right away, it will go on "backorder" until they can make enough copies.

Also, if anything goes wrong during the broadcast, they won't have time to go back in and tweak it --- like a mic cutting out, or a bad camera shot, or a flubbed line. A lot of times, for later releases, they will tweak stuff like that. But not with a 12-day turnaround.

As far as check discs and QC time? Forget it.

I'm glad I'm not working on this project! I'll have to ask around and see if I know anybody who is.

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I'm sure they will perform the show LIVE on December 5th, but I suspect that what will be released on DVD will be pre-recorded.

Time will tell, if someone flubs a line or a lyric on the live broadcast and then it doesn't appear on the DVD version that will surely give it away.

At least on the websites, they're calling this The Sound of Music Live! Obviously no DVD is a "live" video broadcast, but that could be one reason why the sets and costumes are ready now (for the most part).

Still, I can tell you that even a one-month turnaround on something like this is scary and unwise. It comes down to compression, mastering, mixing, and QC.

If you don't allow enough time for those things, you end up with an inferior product.

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I read somewhere that the 1957 Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella DVD is actually from a dress rehearsal and not from the actual live broadcast. I don't know if it's true, but that's one heck of a dress rehearsal. Therefore, even if the DVD ends up not being the live broadcast, I'm sure it'll still be a really good dress rehearsal. I trust Zadan/Meron and NBC to present a superb product.

best12bars, you beat me too it. That is what I was going to say.

AlbertoCarlos, who's your avatar?