Miniature used to be one of the banned episodes like The Encounter.

The 1/2-hour episodes are generally better but there are some GREAT hour-long episodes (The Parallel, The New Exhibit, Death Ship, Miniature, He's Alive). The New Exhibit, starring Martin Balsam (Psycho), is one of the scariest TZ episodes ever made. Plenty of really bad hour-long episodes too e.g., The Bard and I Dream of Genie.

Nobody prefers the hour long episodes. At least I’ve never known anyone say that they did.

They could have easily made an hour long show with two half hour stories.

Here is the reason why they went to an hr.
“Ours is the perfect half-hour show. If we went to an hour, we’d have to fleshen our stories, soap opera style. Viewers could watch fifteen minutes without knowing whether they were in a Twilight Zone or Desilu Playhouse.”
That was Rod Serling speaking, a couple years before The Twilight Zone spent one season as, yes, an hour-long show.
Why? Primarily because Twilight Zone was briefly off the air following Season 3, then brought back as a mid-season replacement — and the show it was replacing was 60 minutes. Besides, if the show was a hit at 30 minutes, why not expand it to 60 and give the audience twice as much show?
It soon became clear why: Fantasy stories, especially ones that depended on a twist ending, were more ideally suited to the half-hour format. In 30 minutes, they could get in, set up an intriguing premise, and then deliver the payoff. But when you double that length, the effect is ruined. The longer the expected payoff was delayed, the more the suspense and tension was dissipated.
Take “The Thirty-Fathom Grave,” for example. It’s a story about a modern Navy ship discovering a sunken World War II submarine — and hearing a mysterious tapping sound coming from inside. For the sake of those who haven’t seen it, I won’t ruin the ending, but suffice it to say that the story, despite the usual quality touches you’d expect on a TZ, is simply too padded. Several other Season 4 episodes were also stretched out a bit too long.
You can read more here which includes hr. long eps. the blogger likes:
https://thenightgallery.wordpress.com/2012/05/31/tz-the-best-of-season-4/

Yes, they were often still working with basically half-an-hour of story material. But I think the padding, which is often excessive, gives the hour-long ones an unfairly bad reputation. There are still some good eps among them.
"The Dig"
http://cinemarchaeologist.blogspot.com/

I prefer the half hour episodes. The hour long episodes tend to feel needlessly padded to fill out the longer running time.
You've seen Guy Standeven in something because the man was in everything.

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Yeah, I can sit there and watch the half hr. at one go while I feel like I need to take breaks from the hr. long ones.
I have both on the DVR and put off watching the hr. ones until later.

Yeah, the half an hour episodes are my favorites.
I have the blu ray box set, but I honestly don't find myself watching the hour long episodes nearly as much as the half an hour episodes.