TNG in HD

[Jon1701]

Vulcanian said:

jon1701 said:
I still dont think this will happen any time soon, if at all.

I just dont see the demand. We are not exactly crying out for an "up rezzed" version of TNG. Also, its going to take forever. They are currently knocking out the TOS at the same speed that they produced the original show. One a week.

Are we going to wait another 7 years for the TNG stuff to be remastered?

I think not.

Thank you, that was well said.

Assuming they finish TOS remastered in 2009, we can expect the box set of TNG-HD to debut sometime in the summer of 2016.

DS9 will follow in 2023, but by the time Voyager arrives on HD (in 2030), DVD's will be replaced by a 3 dimensional media player installed in a chip on the back of your hand. Entire seasons can be downloaded instantly by touching a special panel on the back of your PC. This will process the signal directly through your fingers, up your arm and into your brain.

 

[Salinga]

Pls, you can make things quicker by getting more people work on it the same time. If there is really interest and the market seems to promise profit, they just hire some more people to do the job quicker for the project.

 

[Outpost4]

Exactly. I see this as a growth industry. What's happening now with TOS-R is experimentation, one episode at a time.

Also who is to say CBS will do all the series? TNG is arguably Trek's most successful franchise. As much as we here like DS9, the general public, who has to embrace remastering for it to be financially successful, has never warmed to Sisko and company. It might well never receive HDTV treatment. It just depends on how much it would cost versus how much money CBS can make on the project.

 

[Cyrus]

There is really not much choice. They either create HD versions of their shows or kiss substantial future revenues goodbye. The price of HDTVs are coming down and more and more HD channels are being added (DirecTV is adding more than 100 HD channels soon to their lineup).

 

[Malleus]

I posted on this stuff awhile back, and the only thing I'm concerned about is the dimensional factor (ie, is there any original set footage actually shot on widescreen)? I don't want to see croppings like they did in TATV (the replicator).

Avilos said:
Of course once they start it is going to take a lot longer than TOS will. Just due to significantly larger number of episodes TNG has. The price will be higher too. I wonder if they would take the same approach in terms of the order of the episodes. Working on the favorites first.

One advantage this would have is many of the people who did the effects and editing on TNG are still around to consult.

What about those old TNN/Spike marathons? As you said, the favourites can be worked upon months in advance, and then aired.

[This coming from a guy who doesn't own any TNG video at home. ]



Here's one new effect I hereby suggest: what about CGI shots of the Ent-D's MAIN shuttlebay? [Probably better, then, to replace those mediocre shots in "Cause and Effect," as realistic as those shots were when compared to ILM's outdated work.]

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Anti_Drone said:
^ No.

Why not?

Then you won't care which format you get. It's like your computer: Does it have a DVD recorder? Any decent one will handle both DVD+R and DVD-R. These days most people don't even know which of those they're buying...

 

[Cyrus]

Hammer said:
I posted on this stuff awhile back, and the only thing I'm concerned about is the dimensional factor (ie, is there any original set footage actually shot on widescreen)?

I don't believe any of the filmed Trek shows, other than ENT, were shot in widescreen. There were some talk that some of the later VOY seasons may have been shot in widescreen, but I haven't seen any confirmation of that.

 

[WalkinMan]

Two thoughts...

1) Hopefully TNG can be done faster, fewer shots have to be redone like in TOS-R? Quite frankly I have very few problems with TNG's EFX, save S1. Plus TNG was more story-driven then EFX extravaganzas.

2) Widescreen issues. That's my qualm with these remastering ideas...can they make it widescreen? If not, why bother...

 

[benny]

Babaganoosh said:
Why not?

Then you won't care which format you get. It's like your computer: Does it have a DVD recorder? Any decent one will handle both DVD+R and DVD-R. These days most people don't even know which of those they're buying...

Wrong answer. AFAIK, there is not a dual format player currently on the market which is as good as standalone HD and Blu Ray players. Further, the one just announced from LG does not become available until February, 2008. And even more than that, this new player does not play interactive content on HD-DVD discs. The whole story, from MSNBC. A Samsung model is not on the market until September, 2007.

Not being available is a perfectly valid reason, don't you think?

 

[Cyrus]

WalkinMan said:
can they make it widescreen? If not, why bother...

6 times better resolution. That's a darn good enough reason for doing it.

 

[Harmon Bokai]

I agree this makes sense from a fiscal standpoint, in being able to syndicate ST-HD.

From what I understand, they would literally have to reedit each episode, after converting it from film to HD video. This was the process they used originally, a fairly new concept at the time. I'm pretty sure all of the effects were shot on film, and thus would not need to be redone.

As for 16 x 9, everything was shot on 4 by 3 stock, as far as I know, so it could be cropped, I suppose — unless it was shot with anamorphic lenses (which I wonder about...since I can't recall whether you see the little Panavision bug in the closing credits or not).

It will happen, and it will likely happen sooner, rather than later. By the time DVD-HD/Blu-Ray is an issue, players will be cheaper and the format war will likely be over.

 

[Salinga]

I guess it has also somthing to do with the coming death of 4:3 analog TV channels. The moment there are only 16:9 high definition (pay-per-view) digital channels left, they need stuff to run. I bet it is cheaper and quicker to convert a series from old format to 16:9-HD and put it on air than developing a new series.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

benny said:Wrong answer. AFAIK, there is not a dual format player currently on the market which is as good as standalone HD and Blu Ray players. Further, the one just announced from LG does not become available until February, 2008.

The one from LG is already out. (The article you referenced was written in January, 2007; it said February, *of that same year*. And besides, I have SEEN that player on the shelf in Best Buy.)

As for interactive content: Meh. All I care about is the film itself.

Besides, September 2007 is only a month or so away, so that's not too long to wait for Samsung's player...

Salinga said:
I guess it has also somthing to do with the coming death of 4:3 analog TV channels. The moment there are only 16:9 high definition (pay-per-view) digital channels left, they need stuff to run. I bet it is cheaper and quicker to convert a series from old format to 16:9-HD and put it on air than developing a new series.

The upcoming deadline has absolutely nothing to do with HD. It mandates all *digital* broadcasting. Not the same thing.

All HD is digital, but not all digital is HD.

And even then, the deadline only applies to OVER THE AIR broadcasts (i.e. antennae/rabbit ears). If you have cable or satellite, you will never notice any change, because the deadline does not apply to those.

 

[benny]

^ You're right. I misread that part of the article. If either of the combo players had the capability to play BD-Java content and I knew everything would work on them, I would have waited. But there are issues with the LG model, at the very least.

 

[AviTrek]

NJOberheim said:
That's awesome! I always heard that TNG, DS9, VOY and some of ENT were orginally shot on video instead of film and therefore made it impossible to upgrade to HD. I wonder what changed?

Nothing changed, they are testing how it looks upscaling the video since thats all they have of the finished cut with SFX.

Outpost4 said:
Also who is to say CBS will do all the series? TNG is arguably Trek's most successful franchise. As much as we here like DS9, the general public, who has to embrace remastering for it to be financially successful, has never warmed to Sisko and company. It might well never receive HDTV treatment. It just depends on how much it would cost versus how much money CBS can make on the project.

That's why they're experimenting with upscaling TNG first. Upscaling will be a lot cheaper than redoing all the SFX like they are doing for TOS. If the upscaling looks decent enough CBS will be more likely to release TNG/DS9/VOY in HD. If they need to redo the SFX and re-edit all the film then all 3 shows are a questionable with TNG being the most likely to be done.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

benny said:
^ You're right. I misread that part of the article. If either of the combo players had the capability to play BD-Java content and I knew everything would work on them, I would have waited. But there are issues with the LG model, at the very least.

AFAIK, the LG player supports every interactive feature of BluRay, but in HD-DVD it will just play the actual movies.

 

[Jon1701]

Salinga said:
Pls, you can make things quicker by getting more people work on it the same time. If there is really interest and the market seems to promise profit, they just hire some more people to do the job quicker for the project.

I was only partially serious but my point still stands. These things take time. No point in the throwing the episodes out, thats when the quality starts to slip.

TOS remastered is taking time, they are trying to get the episodes right. Of course the process is going to get quicker, but I honestly dont want a conveyor belt of TNG HD episodes.

Simply put :

1) There are more episodes
2) There are more fx shots per episode
3) They will probably have to re-edit the episodes from the original masters.

Plus, in my opinion

4) It doesnt really need doing

 

[RAMA]

About time...great news to come back to. I WILL buy these!

RAMA

 

[MarkKalz]

Cyrus said:

WalkinMan said:
can they make it widescreen? If not, why bother...

6 times better resolution. That's a darn good enough reason for doing it.

That has nothing to do with widescreen.

The whole point for widescreen DVDs is to preserve the original aspect ratio for theatrically presented movies. With TNG though, the original aspect ratio is 4:3. To convert it into widescreen would be to chop up the screen ala pan n' scan.

 

[Snaploud]

MarkKalz said:

Cyrus said:

WalkinMan said:
can they make it widescreen? If not, why bother...

6 times better resolution. That's a darn good enough reason for doing it.

That has nothing to do with widescreen.

The whole point for widescreen DVDs is to preserve the original aspect ratio for theatrically presented movies. With TNG though, the original aspect ratio is 4:3. To convert it into widescreen would be to chop up the screen ala pan n' scan.

Not quite...I'm fine with the idea of original aspect ratio, but you may be able to get more of the image out of the original film (which was cut to produce the 4:3 image). This is based upon the fact that These Are the Voyages appears to have a larger image with the widescreen version of TNG footage.