Just Watched “What We Left Behind”. Why is HD DS9 footage in 16:9? Is CBS interested in HD DS9?

I'm sure someone will fix it someday...

 

As I’ve predicted in other threads, I think eventually some motivated fans will make the HD DS9 that we all want. It’s just a matter of time and technological advancement.

 

I think so as well. The fans have far more investment in this than CBS does at this moment in time and are willing to invest time and money without expecting a return.

 

The excuses for not upgrading all the old series make increasingly less sense. The new CBS-Paramount amalgamation has said that Star Trek is the jewelry in their crown. Not having all the series available at the highest quality will stick out.

 

This guy's Star Trek channel is one of my favorites. He does a good job explaining this....

 

It costs too much.

 

I believe that excuse is implicit in my first sentence. My point is to argue that CBS-Paramount's stance about spending on Str Trek has clearly and dramatically changed in the last few years, an effect of the it being a property they want to highlight (unlike during the late 2000s and 10s). Saying they don't want to spend much on Trek these days is just plain silly.

ETA: Les Moonves is gone. His thinking about Star Trek no longer applies.

 

I think the point is they would rather spend millions of dollars on new Trek series with a potential of making more money than on remastering old shows that likely won't turn a profit. If the TNG sets had sold better, we probably wouldn't be having this conversation.

 

Thank you for posting this. As much as I love these shows, I do get tired of the endless flood of complaints about why CBS is so cheap in their failure to "just remaster them."

 

Sorry, but I've been here a long time. I read all the arguments, both from users and people who worked on the show. My point, the one that apparently you don't understand, is that circumstances are changing. There is every reason to ask that CBS rethink its decision. Converting these series is no longer THE SAME financial burden, the platform for the converted series would not be the same, and the company has invested in Star Trek as its foremost, most public franchise rather than seeing it as a burden. CBS-Paramount need not be fossilized in its thinking. Neither should we.

Eta: Let me add that David Zappone, who has worked with upgrading footage in his documentaries and has an active relationship with CBS, has suggested that the conversions seem evermore likely.

 

It's sort of muddy in the streaming space out there. It seems to be hard to stand apart. Here's an easy card to play for franchise owners. "Easy" meaning they have the series/films and the AI technology is improving and becoming more efficient by miles.

 

This isn't a small amount of money. And no guarantee of return.

 

If a full remaster of the whole series is out of the question, could we at least have a four-episode sample pack (perhaps two each from DS9 and VOY)? Even a series of short clips, preferentially choosing scenes with no CG or composite shots, would be a nice way to see the characters and sets in HD.

 

"Duet" jumps to mind.

 

I think it's muddy by the fact that you would have to be willing to play and extremely long game in terms of investment to seeing an eventual return. And, while I think that Viacom/CBS will eventually see that as a viable possibility in terms of this will benefit the franchise over all I do not think the cost of processing the film makes financial sense right now. It could very well in the future if they can make a reasonable projection of how profitable it can be for them.

As much as I hear fans state on the Internet they will buy it the action is rarely the same as the talk.

 

I always wonder why some shows get remastered on HD like "Lost in Space" but others like DS9 don't. Did not realize that the effects would have to be rebuilt.

 

How about this.
They're losing zero money by not doing this. Ds9 is still there. It's watchable. And it exists well enough, but isn't a draw to Paramount+, especially as time marches forward. It may not be the SAME financial burden, but money is still money. So why bother dumping any money into something with zero returns when the future of the franchise isn't with DS9, but with Lower Decks, Strange New Worlds, Discovery, Prodigy, Picard and everything else new they can put the money into instead and see actual returns on. Heck, because of Prodigy AND Picard I can see more urgency in going back to Voyager than DS9.

Star Trek may be invested in, but DS9 is not the face of this investment. It's barely the toe, unfortunately.

 

Yup. You're talking a huge investment for little return.

 

At this point alI I want is a decent upscale so it's watchable on Crave or Netflix (I'm in Canada). Got the Dvds but it's a task to be always be digging them up. I came across a clip of a fan edit upscale ftom YouTube and played it on my 50 inch 4k TV. Astonishing how much better it looks than anything from streaming services. The fan upscale could pass as "bad HD" IMO .Day and night compared to Netflix or Crave..

I would guesstimate it would cost them in the "thousands" of dollars range to at least improve DS9 to "bad" HD quality using AI upscaling. If private individuals can afford it, so can Paramount

 

Did Babylon 5 get remastered for HBO Max? I guess Warner Bros. have more money than Paramount.