Quick question - remastering differences between DVD and Blu-ray

[Gary7]

Other than resolution, are there any other notable differences? Did the Blu-ray remastering take care of those annoying dirt flecks / specks we can see in various scenes and almost always in the credit stills at the end of each episode? I've watched TOS on-line at what seems to be higher resolution than DVD and still see those artifacts. If it's true that they're still present on the Blu-ray, that's a shame. They spend all that time and effort to remaster, and it looks terrific, but then these dirt flecks are left behind... something that shouldn't have been hard to take care of.

 

[Kor]

Other than resolution, are there any other notable differences? Did the Blu-ray remastering take care of those annoying dirt flecks / specks we can see in various scenes and almost always in the credit stills at the end of each episode? I've watched TOS on-line at what seems to be higher resolution than DVD and still see those artifacts. If it's true that they're still present on the Blu-ray, that's a shame. They spend all that time and effort to remaster, and it looks terrific, but then these dirt flecks are left behind... something that shouldn't have been hard to take care of.

Yes, there are definitely notable differences with the remastered version of TOS. The word "remastered" had a somewhat broader scope with the TOS-R project, in comparison to other remasterings of movies and TV shows.

The "remastered" versions of the TOS episodes have many of the original special effects and matte paintings replaced with CGI. The opening credits sequence was redone in this manner too. Here's a good example of some of the differences in visuals, from Trekcore: http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/thumbnails.php?album=58&page=53

Also, the main title theme music was rerecorded with a new orchestra and vocalist. The end credit stills were not replaced. I would have to watch again to see if they cleaned up dirt and other imperfections. Supposedly, the dirt had already been cleaned up to a certain extent for the 1999 DVD project. I'm not sure if this carried over to the blu-rays, though, or if a different print source was used.

The blu-rays also contain the original versions of the episodes, with original visuals instead of CGI. I'm not sure what amount of traditional cleanup-type remastering (if any) was done for those.

I think others have described certain issues with the audio mixes. I'm not familiar enough with that to really offer any comments, though.

Kor

 

[Gary7]

Thanks, Kor. Yes, I was aware of the CGI replacement, and digital refinement, which was all included in the DVD's. I was just hoping the Blu-ray version went a bit further and cleaned things up more.

I guess one could look at the dust specks as a kind of fingerprint left behind, telegraphing that this was a restoration and enhancement.

 

[Kor]

The dust specks are even clearer in high definition!

Kor

 

[BillJ]

They are cleaned up, to a degree. They are most noticeable is freeze frames where they are effects inserted, like on the viewscreen.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

In "The Paradise Syndrome," the remastered DVD changes the Obelisk deflector beam to orange, even though the dialogue specifically calls it "the blue flame." The Blu-ray version changes it back to a blue beam.

That said, I found the remastered DVDs to be extremely good-looking. On a 720p TV set, they look almost like true HD. But I still bought the Blu-ray box to have everything, especially the original fx option.