With a COVID-19 related "Trek drought" coming, is it time for CBS to crank out remasters?

[The Wormhole]

Sarcasm aside, I get you. I actually kept my VCR around for longer than most mainly because I was stubborn about switching to a DVR and found a VCR's timer more convenient to get shows I wasn't around to watch. But now that I have switched, I couldn't imagine going back.

 

[fireproof78]

Sarcasm aside, I get you. I actually kept my VCR around for longer than most mainly because I was stubborn about switching to a DVR and found a VCR's timer more convenient to get shows I wasn't around to watch. But now that I have switched, I couldn't imagine going back.

It just depends on the show for me. Right now its streaming but that's because of moving not because of preference.

 

[NCC-73515]

It's all a matter of perspective, what you like and what you enjoy. A lot will depend on your set up as well, VHS probably looks more then acceptable on a HD TV, and if you are not a picture critic don't become one, trust me you don't want to go down that road.

Once you move into 55" 4k territory even DVD starts looking blurry and crap. Last night I was watching TNG in bed on a 40" HDTV and decided to see what Voyager looked like on it, the colours were horrible, the resolution so low it looked blurry.

At the end of the day it's what you enjoy that's most important. Fans like me are always going to wish for the best, regardless of whether something is feasible, viable or economical.

Seeing those few clips of DS9 in WWLB just wet the appetit.

I watch DS9 and VOY on my phone

 

[N-121973]

I still have a VCR, well its a DVD recorder with a VHS slot. I'm not sure the mechanism for the VHS still works though. Anyway until 3 years ago I had all of spin-off Trek on VHS, only the 10 films and TOS were on disk, then I was able to buy ENT, TOS & TNG on Blu-Ray box set and I just got rid of all my tapes, including DS9 & VOY. I came close to buying the latter for £24 for the Full Journey box set on Ebay, but held back from doing so because I had visions of buying it, only to find out it was coming out on Blu-Ray. What's more in the UK at least, its very hard to find the DS9 Full Journey box set which has me wondering if there's something happening on that front.

 

[MrPointy]

Someone's been posting 4K Voyager mockups to Youtube:

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I was actually tempted to give this a go myself, but the program needs 12-13 hours on my PC to do the first upscale, and then 2 more passes with the AI to make it look as good as that.

I don't really want to spend 2 days upscaling Threshhold.

 

[Captain Moe]

VHS pah! I have every Star Trek movie, TV show and a number of documentaries all on disc. I then rip all of those including commentary and special features and put them on a NAS and use Plex to serve me the ultimate Star Trek experience. Star Trek in HD resistance is futile.

 

[fireproof78]

HD is overrated.

 

[Captain Moe]

Yep totally overrated, just look how hideous that HD footage looks with its crisp life like colours, pin sharp without jaggied blurriness. It's horrendous, who would want that?

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[Daddy Todd]

Yep totally overrated, just look how hideous that HD footage looks with its crisp life like colours, pin sharp without jaggied blurriness. It's horrendous, who would want that?

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Yeah, and scratchy old vinyl sounds better than digital music!!!

 

[Tracer Bullet]

Yeah, and scratchy old vinyl sounds better than digital music!!!

I have 40 year old records that sound great. If you take care of vinyl there's no reason for it to sound "scratchy"

 

[Captain Moe]

Yeah, and scratchy old vinyl sounds better than digital music!!!

Honestly my post was just tongue and check, it was more for people to look at the embedded video. Vinyl v Digital can be a complex debate. Debating SD v HD there really isn't a comparison one is vastly superior to the other.

Although if you are watching on a phone, laptop, small TV the difference is probably marginal.

 

[EnderAKH]

Yep totally overrated, just look how hideous that HD footage looks with its crisp life like colours, pin sharp without jaggied blurriness. It's horrendous, who would want that?

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I don't believe he is saying there isn't a difference, merely that the amount of difference does not significantly change the amount of appreciation he has for a show or movie. I get that. I have a 1080p in my bedroom and a 4k in the living room, I can't really tell a difference in casual viewing.

 

[Captain Moe]

I don't believe he is saying there isn't a difference, merely that the amount of difference does not significantly change the amount of appreciation he has for a show or movie. I get that. I have a 1080p in my bedroom and a 4k in the living room, I can't really tell a difference in casual viewing.

Please can I ask you to look one post up from yours, I stated my post was in tongue and cheek and I just really just wanted people to watch the comparison clip. Thanks.

Edit:

Hold on are you saying you can't tell the difference when watching SD content on a 4K TV? There is either something wrong with your configuration, you don't have a HD/4K source so watch everything in SD, or it is time for an eye check. I don't mean any of these disparagingly, but watching SD on a 4K screen should magnify the limitations of the low resolution content.

 

[EnderAKH]

Please can I ask you to look one post up from yours, I stated my post was in tongue and cheek and I just really just wanted people to watch the comparison clip. Thanks.

Edit:

Hold on are you saying you can't tell the difference when watching SD content on a 4K TV? There is either something wrong with your configuration, you don't have a HD/4K source so watch everything in SD, or it is time for an eye check. I don't mean any of these disparagingly, but watching SD on a 4K screen should magnify the limitations of the low resolution content.

No, I'm saying I can't tell the difference between HD content on a 1080p vs 4k set. I understand he was referring to SD, I was using a different circumstance to make the same point: to some people, the quality difference just doesn't matter.

 

[Kor]

To me, standard-definition content that was mastered on videotape looks like pure garbage when watching on a modern HDTV. Muddy colors, aliasing, motion artifacts, yuck.

The digital upscale videos that people have been posting on Youtube look nice, but they are really just making things look smooth instead of jagged and muddy. There's no way to actually add more detail that way. There would be a fan uproar if CBS gave the shows this kind of treatment and released it on blu-ray.

Kor

 

[Replica Picard]

If there is a production "drought", CBSAA should maybe cut a deal with the folks that made Star Trek Continues and put it up under a Fan Efforts header? There's probably other stuff they could work with like that, too.

It's also occurred to me, and not just for Trek, that next season of a lot of shows could be animated and just have voice acting submitted remotely by the usual actors. Heck, production values might go UP on some shows that way.

 

[Warp Coil]

One might think that ViacomCBS would consider re-mastering DS9 and VOY as a longevity play given how they view Trek as their crown jewel and that as technology and distribution models change, having these series available for HD (or possibly even 4K) can help to make these old shows more appealing to future audiences watching on future platforms.

 

[fireproof78]

Yep totally overrated, just look how hideous that HD footage looks with its crisp life like colours, pin sharp without jaggied blurriness. It's horrendous, who would want that?

It is not additive to me. It is a story that I am enjoying, characters I am engaged with, and plots that I am following. Yes, it is a visual medium and for some that's important. It isn't important to me.

Sorry.

 

[Dukhat]

If there is a production "drought", CBSAA should maybe cut a deal with the folks that made Star Trek Continues and put it up under a Fan Efforts header? There's probably other stuff they could work with like that, too.

CBS will NEVER back a fan production, especially after the Axanar debacle.

It's also occurred to me, and not just for Trek, that next season of a lot of shows could be animated and just have voice acting submitted remotely by the usual actors. Heck, production values might go UP on some shows that way.

Being a voice actor myself, I will tell you that no two recording studios sound alike, so you'd be getting a noticeable patchwork of sound quality which would detract from the show. They could do some processing to the files, but that's annoying and time-consuming.

 

[Replica Picard]

Being a voice actor myself, I will tell you that no two recording studios sound alike, so you'd be getting a noticeable patchwork of sound quality which would detract from the show. They could do some processing to the files, but that's annoying and time-consuming.

Or, as long as there's good stories to tell and the audio is at least clear and understandable, the 2020-2021 television season could be known as "the year everyone had to chill out and lower their expectations because we were all dealing with some stuff, mmmkay?" season. If we can have good writing and new stories and good voice acting, I'll watch a season of Trek even if it has to be presented like the old Picture Pages children's show with audio and narration sent in mono and people doing the special effects by shaking the page and making beep beep and boom noises with their mouths.

When did we get so very bougie? Some of the best stories ever put to film were done on a shoestring budget, and viewers engaged their imaginations. I don't love TOS any less for being able to see the wires sometimes.

A lot of shows have puppet or cartoon or stop-motion or musical episodes as a gimmick and viewers eat them up. Just think of it like that. But for all the shows. And for a whole year.