©1977 Universal Pictures. All rights reserved.

Catalog Number 10-010
Format Standard Play CAV
MPAA Rating
Mono
Running Time 114 minutes


Pressing Location DiscoVision Carson
Label Color Blue
Year Issued 1978
Side Frames Running Time
1 36,151 25min 06sec
2 31,514 21min 53sec
3 32,352 22min 28sec
4 31,458 21min 51sec
5 33,176 23min 02sec
164,651 114min 20sec
Dead Side Various
Ratings
Video Transfer
Audio Transfer
Replication
Packaging
Large Open-Top
Open-Top
Side-Open Sticker
Printed 
Price History
Silver Catalog $15.95
November 1979 $24.95
May 1980 $24.95
August 1980 $24.95
October 1980 $24.95

Pressing Notes

A highly available title, the quality of the video transfer on Airport '77 is quite good. The colors are bright and strong, with only minor hints of a contrast problem. The Pan & Scan presentation is terrible however, making us all sea sick from watching the horrible composition. There is a mastering error in the 3/2 pull-down on all 5 sides causing nearly every frame to flicker when a still frame is requested. This was typical for many of DiscoVision's feature film transfers. The audio is quite good as well, containing some interesting frequency response. There are parts which have quite a dynamic range, and others which sound like a 2-inch AM radio speaker.

Some copies of side 2 have exhibited 20 Frame Skip. At least one mastering of side 4 has an anamorphic end bumper, where the spiral is the correct height, but is overly wide, cutting off the sides. Specific copies of Side 5 (W10-010E2-3) have an automatic picture stop at frame 27305. There are numerous occurrences of random laserlocks during the first 1000 frames of side 1. This particular trouble can vary from player to player. Sides 3 and 5 are the most difficult to locate good copies of. Side 5 is especially difficult if it is mated with a Glue Spray side.

To illustrate how different some production runs could be, I've included two front cover scans of Airport '77 to document the variance in colors used during a titles production. The greener version is the correct one. Upon close inspection, it appears that other than the actual title art, there is no red color to the picture at all, which would account for the overly blue appearance.

Known Dead Sides

Release History

Airport '77 was issued in 1987 by MCA Home Video (Catalog #: 10010 / ID5118) in a package deal with several other titles through Image Entertainment. This edition was pressed by Pioneer.

MCA DiscoVision Home Page
Updated: September 5, 2022
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