The quality looks more like it came from a 720p master, which was more in use back in the 2000 era as 720p was seen as a bridge between standard definition (Enhanced Definition - EDTV)and (in 2000) the future high definition standards. Plus back then studios were also producing shows in standard definition, but shooting them with the ability to upres the image to 720p for broadcast (just look at what Warner brothers did with Smallville Season 1, originally the show was aired in 4:3, but everything was edited in standard definition 16:9, and even now the standard definition 16:9 masters have been upressed for 720p broadcast and Internet download---but the quality is not fit for Blu-Ray. Also Warner's offers to TV stations HD versions of Babylon 5 that are HD versions of the DVD's, but the HD versions have existed since at least the beginning of Season 5 as TNT aired the show in HD.). So the aliasing issues could be from
Not that it proves anything, but that info was put up by Bill at the Digital Bits. His info is usually pretty solid.
Lucas had written into the sale contract that the original film releases will not be sold by Disney. It's a pretty convoluted ownership scenario anyway.
No, he's right. They're 1080i. I know, because I still have the HDTV MPEG-2 Transport Streams for I-IV, VI & VIII. In virtually every respect they look much better than the Blu-rays (sans II) because they don't have DNR applied and their grain structure is intact. You can see glimpses of these original 1080i masters at the beginning of the Captain's Summit interview on the last disc of the set.
So basically we have to wait for Lucas to die. I can wait. I'll have to. I can't bring myself to buy, or even watch, the "improved" versions.
I think it will make it onto HD at some point for sure, if only because eventually Syndication will demand it.
I doubt that, do you have a source? I know that Disney don't own Star Wars (A New Hope) because Lucas never owned it, it belongs to 20th Century Fox. They also control the distribution rights to Empire and Jedi till 2020, after which it will revert to Disney.
http://io9.com/is-disney-really-releasing-the-unaltered-star-wars-tril-1622812966 1: 20th Century Fox owns Ep 4 forever, in any media. So for Disney to release the other two unaltered they're going to have to get on the same page as 20th. 2: But, since 2CF currently owns the rights to all three of the originals and there's currently zero plans or rumors to re-release them, I doubt there's any plans to ever release them. They could do it now. They could've been doing it for years. If there was really a market for it they would've given Lucas the finger and say "Tough shit, George. We own distribution. You don't. They're happening." Why not?
They could have been doing it for years but while Lucas owned Star Wars it probably wouldn't have been a great idea to piss him off. Now he has no control they can do what they want, they probably will at some point because there is a market for it. George didn't have it written into any contract though.
Well Im no business expert but I dont think pissing off the person who decides whether you keep one of your biggest distribution licenses would be a great idea.
But he isn't going to die - he has more than enough money to be frozen in the weeks before his death, being de-iced to object whenever anyone proposes a sensitive restoration for HD of the true original trilogy.
I'm assuming your transport streams came from OTA, Cable or Satellite? I would have to ask how you know that they truly originated from 1080i masters? I question it because there have been numerous times where 720p HDTV broadcasts that are upconverted to 1080i. Here in Canada, back in February, the Canadian broadcasters of the Super Bowl were airing it in 1080i, ven though their originating feed was from Fox's 720p non-branded feed. Also, I believe ABC broadcasts 720p, but here Canadian Channels upconvert the 720p feeds/tapes to 1080i. So just to say that you have a HDTV 1080i feed raises some questions. So the movies may've been transferred in 720p, but the current masters are just upressed versions, and the Blu-Ray producers decided to apply noise filters to make the movies look more like 2. We know that Paramount was going to release the theatrical version with Robert Wise's approve color-timing (as Darren Dochterman noted on the 2009 audio commentary), but for whatever reason Paramount went back after the commentary had been recorded and released the 1979 Color timing. So Paramount is known for not using the best masters for whatever reason.
The TOS movie DVD's and Blu-ray's both come from 1080i masters that were made around 2000. I'll have to see if I can find the article.
There's no such thing as a "1080i master" for a film. Films are not interlaced and people often misunderstand what interlacing actually means. Video is only interlaced if there is temporal displacement between fields. For films, this is what happens (in 50 Hz countries): 1080p/25 video ---> broadcast as 1080i/25 ---> TV notices 2:2 cadence in signal and applies weave deinterlacing to display 1080p/25 It works in a similar way in 60 Hz countries: 1080p/24 video ---> broadcast as 1080i/30 ---> TV notices 2:3 cadence in signal and applies 2:3 pulldown deinterlacing to display 1080p/24 Those Star Trek 1080i streams contain 1080p video with no interlacing artefacts if they're played back properly. Of course the source could be 1080i with interlacing artefacts but I don't even see how that's possible with a film, even in the hands of someone incompetent.
Wow, you're right...I just checked. But the DE of that film isn't as much of a leap over the theatrical cut as TMP is, amirite? Meaning: The DE of TWOK just has a few minutes of extra footage. It doesn't have any actual new effects, like TMP's director cut does?