No, it's 50i. It's just a crap upscale of the DVD master with no involvement from the usual Restoration Team guys, an absolutely pointless release. Your player probably does a better job upscaling the DVD.
New Classic Who Blu-Ray Sets (2021 edition)
- Thread starter Nightowl1701
- Start date
After all the whiny reviews regarding it in particular on YouTube, the first disc I popped in was "The Android Invasion" so I could whine with the rest'n'best of them...
Yeah, there are telltale signs and I don't think the 16mm prints survive as there's no way that the exterior footage would be so clean yet with oversharpened elements, the type of "grain" in the background, and other telltale signs. Add in "phasing" fabric wrinkles, scratches and other marks that disappear and/or reappear, etc, and it's clearly had upscaling settings set way too high. Indeed, the closest allusion is the end result being as much a giveaway as what painting a big circular target bright pink with neon yellow center will do for archers trying to make their bullseye that much easier. Unlike the androids in this story who keep missing so often on cue (which is a sign of bad scripting unless it's that one scene from Blake's 7 where Avon points out that the guards were SUPPOSED to miss because of a bigger plan in mind, but I digress).
Is it all that terrible? Honestly, not really, it isn't. But it's not good, the previous season sets still do look more consistently better, and it is fairly obvious to anyone even remotely knowledgeable. Especially when previous season sets didn't look so obvious with the technologies used. Or are we supposed to say "tech" now... plus, the DW stories in their mix of videotape and telecined 16mm film elements are largely all that exists. (pay attention to when the real film elements were found and reinserted and the difference is night vs day. All of season 19's stories have their 16mm prints surviving, miraculously.)
The set is still worth getting and new technologies are invariably going to be tried out, with this season set being an early release making use of it. Either a couple of enhancement settings were set too high, they ran out of time to refine a re-processing, or they're using a different upscale package.
That said, previous seasons also had a lot more manual work to complement the AI routines. And it shows. And was too often the better for it.
On edit: I nailed it, where's my Kewpie doll, as "The Android Invasion"'s 16mm films do not exist and the blu-ray release: https://chuckipedia.ca/index.php?title=Surviving_16mm_Film_Inserts_in_''Doctor_Who''
Also, why does "Kewpie" remind me of "cowpie"? Oh well...
Yeah, there are telltale signs and I don't think the 16mm prints survive as there's no way that the exterior footage would be so clean yet with oversharpened elements, the type of "grain" in the background, and other telltale signs. Add in "phasing" fabric wrinkles, scratches and other marks that disappear and/or reappear, etc, and it's clearly had upscaling settings set way too high. Indeed, the closest allusion is the end result being as much a giveaway as what painting a big circular target bright pink with neon yellow center will do for archers trying to make their bullseye that much easier. Unlike the androids in this story who keep missing so often on cue (which is a sign of bad scripting unless it's that one scene from Blake's 7 where Avon points out that the guards were SUPPOSED to miss because of a bigger plan in mind, but I digress).
Is it all that terrible? Honestly, not really, it isn't. But it's not good, the previous season sets still do look more consistently better, and it is fairly obvious to anyone even remotely knowledgeable. Especially when previous season sets didn't look so obvious with the technologies used. Or are we supposed to say "tech" now... plus, the DW stories in their mix of videotape and telecined 16mm film elements are largely all that exists. (pay attention to when the real film elements were found and reinserted and the difference is night vs day. All of season 19's stories have their 16mm prints surviving, miraculously.)
The set is still worth getting and new technologies are invariably going to be tried out, with this season set being an early release making use of it. Either a couple of enhancement settings were set too high, they ran out of time to refine a re-processing, or they're using a different upscale package.
That said, previous seasons also had a lot more manual work to complement the AI routines. And it shows. And was too often the better for it.
On edit: I nailed it, where's my Kewpie doll, as "The Android Invasion"'s 16mm films do not exist and the blu-ray release: https://chuckipedia.ca/index.php?title=Surviving_16mm_Film_Inserts_in_''Doctor_Who''
Also, why does "Kewpie" remind me of "cowpie"? Oh well...
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Great question. If they took the time to correct the framerate to PAL, as well as correcting the audio pitch... It's the same problem for some US shows bought in region 2 (e.g. ALF's German release was uncut but often had sped-up video and sound because a setting wasn't enabled during some of those conversions) Heck, a mundane VirtualDub setting can correct all these issues in very little time. Just be sure to use uncompressed video between edits to not introduce artifacting that takes away more needed detail, as re-smoothing causes more problems down the road. It's like reverse standards conversion used on some Jon Pertwee stories to take the NTSC conversions back into PAL, albeit with a few telltale visual hiccups. But combine the RSC conversion for color with the comparative detail in the telecine film prints and adjust the former to match the lens distortion on the latter and voila - an almost pristine end result is made... though I wish they remembered to re-color a flower purple in "Planet of the Daleks" pt 3 that otherwise required a double-take as the methods including frame rate re-adjustment were marvelous and that's a type of AI too, wheeeeeeeeeeeee!
. Its also referenced on Millennium Effect.
That article might explain some things. Not all of season 13's film inserts exist, surprisingly little in fact - unless the article is so out of date (?). It also explains why "Terror of the Zygons" part 1 looks worse. Even then, I'm getting the impression any found film was cleaned up to try to match the videotape elements as opposed to being consistent with previous seasons' releases. The waxy problem with digital noise added prevailing, of course, this release is an interesting experiment but if this is the new standard, I wish seasons 13 and 24 were reversed in terms of release order.
Supposedly, the last three sets shifted to whatever AI software they're using and yet I don't recall seasons 7, 25, and 15 looking as inconsistent. But a lot of it wasn't on film to begin with, some film work was already restored and remastered with only "The Invasion of Time" needing work done, and what was telerecorded in would be stuck that way with no additional resolution or color gamut. Then again, I don't recall season 22's exterior filming scenes looking as unusual as season 13's and none of those survives, save for "The Two Doctors" and rumor alleges the films are owned by a fan who wouldn't lend them out for scanning. A shame, but it's amazing how much exterior filming DID survive, with season 19 being the pinnacle in that regard.
The Two Doctors film did exist in the early 2000s, but was sold and whereabouts is currently unknown. There's no guarantee it's been kept in good condition even if it does exist.
The Zygons film had noticeably faded since they were last scanned in SD for the DVD in 2013 so grading was tough according to Peter Crocker in his interview.
on.soundcloud.com
The Zygons film had noticeably faded since they were last scanned in SD for the DVD in 2013 so grading was tough according to Peter Crocker in his interview.
442: The Making of Season 13 on Blu-ray (part one)
The countdown has begun - there's less than a week until Season 13 arrives on Blu-ray in the UK. As ever, we preview this eagerly-anticipated release by speaking to some of the people involved in the
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....at last, some new Dr Who. 
But it ends on a cliffhanger!
^^^^Always leave them wanting more. 
They still have the AI upscaling knob turned up to 11 judging by that trailer.
Maybe take the money spent sending the cast on a boating holiday and put that to improving the quality of the episodes instead?
Maybe take the money spent sending the cast on a boating holiday and put that to improving the quality of the episodes instead?
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What a great set this looks like being.
I loved season 20s extras particularly the road trip so Look Who's Boating is likely going to be my first watch on this set.
Great to see three more In Conversations plus 48 hours of Fielding and such incredible Behind The Sofa line ups.
Loved the trailer as well.
I loved season 20s extras particularly the road trip so Look Who's Boating is likely going to be my first watch on this set.
Great to see three more In Conversations plus 48 hours of Fielding and such incredible Behind The Sofa line ups.
Loved the trailer as well.
This was basically a minisode, wasn't it?
Judging from this, maybe McGann's "shooting" is gonna be comparable to this.
Judging from this, maybe McGann's "shooting" is gonna be comparable to this.
Camber Sands is historically the inside of The Matrix on Gallifrey. So it’s a nice possibility for bridging the generations of Who with a mini side for his Doctor. Especially if, as rumoured, Pete McTighe is taking over any new series.
It’s also of course where Time Lords go for enforced mandatory PowerPoint presentations, and basically the Masters personal Occulus Rift, except when the Valeyard cribbed admin rights.
I wasn't referring to that one, I was referring to when McGann cancelled a convention appearance for a supposed shoot.
Glad to see I'm not the only one who couldn't figure out how they did the hex-pattern pixelation for the Dalek PoV shots.
Two separate things.
First a claim of McGann shooting on a beach somewhere by himself.
Then the faked photos of him and Piper in the studio.
Davison and Fielding shot that trailer very recently as there were real photos of them doing it. So McGann also shooting something (for the 30th anniversary of the TVM?) is not unbelievable.
I love how the minisode is directed and scored just like a classic episode!
I love how the minisode is directed and scored just like a classic episode!
I think it’s re-used motifs from resurrection. I wonder if the interiors are studio or location.
I enjoyed the six minutes of this more than anything since Power of the Doctor. I literally said ‘thats Turlough!’ Out loud.