The Problems of Remastering TNG, DS9 & VOY

[Harvey]

Well, that's just it, you wouldn't have to re-do the effects in that case.

Yes, it would probably look terrible (about as bad as the difference between visual effects and other footage on the BABYLON 5 DVDs, in fact), but it would be an easier and cheaper way for CBS Paramount to release the series on Blu-Ray than redoing the visual effects.

I'm not sure, upon reflection, if CBS Paramount would treat the series like that, however. I certainly wouldn't want to see a release along these lines, but it might be a serious possibility if CBS Paramount decides they don't want to invest the money into the series that would be required to recreate all the visual effects.

 

[ichab]

TNG, DS9 and Voyager will all get a blu ray release, it's inconceivable that they would pass up this chance. It's my bet that it will be some kind of upscaling though. Most people wont even know the difference anyway.

Oh, I think they will. And that's why it won't happen.

Why should Paramount go through all the trouble of releasing the shows on Blu-Ray without making them HD? Doing so would give exactly the same result as if the standard definition DVDs are played on a Blu-Ray player. (Remember, all HDTVs upscale all standard definition content anyway.) So why would they bother re-releasing the shows in a manner that will not give them anything new?

Because they are Paramount and they love milking a franchise whose fan base buys up anything with Star Trek on it?

We ARE talking about the same company that released TOS three times on DVD.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ THREE times? I'm aware of the original DVD releases that had two eps per disc, and then the season boxed sets. What else was there? And in any case, the season sets gave an obvious advantage - the convenience of having a whole season in one box. There can be no similar advantage here for DS9, TNG and Voyager, since they are already available in standard def season sets. The only possible way they could make those better would be to actually redo them in HD.

 

[Harvey]

1. TOS 2-episodes per volume sets.
2. TOS season sets.
3. TOS-remastered season sets (on DVD and BLU-RAY).

 

[Therin of Andor]

We ARE talking about the same company that released TOS three times on DVD.

CBS is supposed to let TOS on DVD fall out-of-print?

New customers going into DVD stores expect/demand to see freshly-packaged DVDs to buy, not old, dusty sets that have been on shelves for years, or in packaging that looks antiquated when compared to non-ST new releases.

 

[Tosk]

As much as I would like a properly remastered TNG/DS9, at this stage I'd settle for them being released again as-is, provided the bitrate is much higher than it is on the DVDs. TNG is not too bad, but so many eps of DS9 feature low bitrate 'smearing'. So take the master tapes (NOT the DVD releases themselves) and throw the seasons onto a couple of Blu-rays with higher bitrates...I'll be the first sucker lining up to buy them again.

Heck, if Highlander the series can get released on Blu-ray, why not video-era Trek?

 

[jefferiestubes8]

I imagine they will go ahead and future proof it by doing the digital masters in 4k resolution.

To do visual effects for a Blu-ray release and future syndication in HD would happen in 1080p not 4K. Only tentpole feature films get a 4K pipeline due to the additional rendering needed and storage. Most feature films are still mastered at 2K. Sure I'd love to see Trek at 4K but 1980s TV series Trek is just not going to happen. Be realistic.

 

[BillJ]

I imagine they will go ahead and future proof it by doing the digital masters in 4k resolution.

To do visual effects for a Blu-ray release and future syndication in HD would happen in 1080p not 4K. Only tentpole feature films get a 4K pipeline due to the additional rendering needed and storage. Most feature films are still mastered at 2K. Sure I'd love to see Trek at 4K but 1980s TV series Trek is just not going to happen. Be realistic.

Well... Paramount has already been burnt once by not "future proofing" Star Trek: The Motion Picture Directors Edition, rendering those effects at 480p.

I imagine 4k resolution will be the home video standard by about 2030. And we'll all be sitting here taking our Geritol, bitching that Paramount only did 1080p masters back in 2012.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

Paramount has already been burnt once by not "future proofing" Star Trek: The Motion Picture Directors Edition, rendering those effects at 480p.

Paramount was already producing ENT mastering in 1080p in 2001 when the ST:TMP DE was released to DVD. They knew then...

 

[BillJ]

Paramount has already been burnt once by not "future proofing" Star Trek: The Motion Picture Directors Edition, rendering those effects at 480p.

Paramount was already producing ENT mastering in 1080p in 2001 when the ST:TMP DE was released to DVD. They knew then...

I'm pretty sure they only rendered the Star Trek: Enterprise special effects at 480p as well.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

ENT visual effects & HD

I'm pretty sure they only rendered the Star Trek: Enterprise special effects at 480p as well.

BillJ see this post for details:
Enterprise visual effects season 1 upconverted from standard def.
http://www.trekbbs.com/showpost.php?p=3466327&postcount=23

 

[BillJ]

Re: ENT visual effects & HD

I'm pretty sure they only rendered the Star Trek: Enterprise special effects at 480p as well.

BillJ see this post for details:
Enterprise visual effects season 1 upconverted from standard def.
http://www.trekbbs.com/showpost.php?p=3466327&postcount=23

So, if I read it right, it was a slow evolution with the effects being completed at standard definition early on then slowly moving away from SD as they got better at creating and rendering the effects.

 

[JarodRussell]

I thought we all know by now that you can just upscale the blurry DVDs to HD quality using fancy algorithms.

 

[Sparky]

I thought we all know by now that you can just upscale the blurry DVDs to HD quality using fancy algorithms.

It's true! I spent over a year looking at screenshots on my 1000 line Apple monitor. Even my unemployed friend agrees with me.

 

[milo bloom]

I have to agree with the idea of a re-release simply for a better bit rate. We've been watching TNG on a 46" LCD, played on our PS3 (which upconverts to 1080p), and it looks like crap. There are so many instances of sections of people's faces not moving with the rest of their head and it's very distracting. Even dumping the 480p video masters on Bluray with a higher bitrate would be a massive improvement.

 

[RAMA]

I have to agree with the idea of a re-release simply for a better bit rate. We've been watching TNG on a 46" LCD, played on our PS3 (which upconverts to 1080p), and it looks like crap. There are so many instances of sections of people's faces not moving with the rest of their head and it's very distracting. Even dumping the 480p video masters on Bluray with a higher bitrate would be a massive improvement.

I think this answers some of the issues I've seen on this thread. There's even a prediction it could be done at a faster pace than TOS-R

http://www.dvdtown.com/messageboard/topic/8274/3/0

RAMA