I compared how well my OLED 4K TV upscales DS9 and B5 played directly from MKV rips of the PAL version of DVDs. The B5 video appears to my eyes quite a bit sharper and detailed than the DS9 one apart from the CGI sequences in B5, which were cropped to create a widescreen format. I believe this might be because the PAL DVDs for DS9 were converted from the NTSC versions, whereas the PAL DVDs for B5 were taken from the original PAL scan of the film created back in the 90s. IIRC both PAL and NTSC scans were done for B5 - I might be imagining this, however.
Not sure about B5 but DS9 was definitely standards converted from NTSC masters. IIRC the first two seasons of TNG looked horrendous in the UK because the BBC ended up with some appalling conversions. It was much better from season three, but the blu-ray of season one was a genuine revelation for me.
Not quite. As I recall for TOS they did try to search out the best possible film masters (as some of the masters were in poor shape, as could be seen in "Court Martial" when they arrive on the bridge for the test and, even after the remaster, that scene is lighter in Colorado than the rest and on pre-remaster DVD's there was also a crease in the film), but in some cases they had to use film that was printed for SD distribution, and the seperate elements for the SFX. It was only after not finding the SFX that they went with CGI, because of the poor, SD quality of the SFX (also apparently the original SFX were shot on 35 but composited on 16 and then blown up to 35 for the final 35mm master). Also TOS & TNG were both remastered for syndication (I looked up CBS's original announcement for TNG, and while the Blu-Rays were mentioned, CBS also said that TNG HD would "eventually" enter syndication.). So it would make good business sense for CBS to Remaster DS9 and Voyager for Syndication. And Syndication doesn't just mean airing on traditional networks but also on online sites. i was just wondering about how here in Canada Bell acquired the exclusive rights to all the Trek series, but I wonder if the negotiated contract had DS9 & Voyager thrown in for free or very little because of their SD status. CBS sure can't demand high prices for either series, so they are probably losing profit on both series.
They were different animals because TNG required entirely re-editing every scene and recompositing every SFX from scans of the original film footage. This was not required for TOS. It was at least an order of magnitude more work/expense. This is all very well documented.
I continue to pray to Roddenberry that DS9 and VOY are eventually remastered up to the same standards as TNG. I know it won't happen any time soon, but I still have hope. Imagine watching The Way of the Warrior or Year of Hell with the veil of muddy, blurry SD videotape lifted.
You guys don't pray to the Great Bird for deliverance? You're lucky you don't get smited or something.
As I recall the original idea for TOS was to recomposite the original SFX, and in 35mm, not 16mm, and try to clean up the opticals. However when they couldn't find the original camera masters for the SFX, the decision was made to do the CGI in order to present a cleaner version (remember in the later episodes, some of the Enterprise shots have it nearly white from generation loss, plus how many times did we see that dirty over the saucer shot in the series?). The original purpose of TOS-R was to get it in its best form for re-entering Syndication after having been on SCI-FI or another network for 15 years. And remember with TOS-R CBS did not release the HD versions right away. Even now, how many stations are airing TOS-R from Digital Betacam or another SD format? CBS can do the same with DS9 and Voyager.
If stations aren't using the TOS-R masters it's because they didn't want to pay for them. That doesn't bode well for DS9.
And the one station who airs TNG remastered doesn't seem to want to pay for seasons 3-7...never been able to figure that one out. So, unless they GIVE away DS9/Voyager to stations (which defeats the purpose of them making money) I don't think anyone here would bother. You don't have to future proof things that won't air in the future.
Um, y9ou're leaving out all the local UHF stations (in the L.A. area we had quite a few.) <--- It was almost like a pre-cusor to cable in that there were 10+ more channels with nothing much on.)
I left them out because they didn't amount to much. In reality, Stanley Spadowski's Clubhouse didn't rate too well.