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New TV but...

KeyanKeyan Ranger
in Zocalo v2.0
Threw in a B5 DVD...man I wish it was possible for them to remaster the CGI. First Ep of season three (just what I grabbed) and the CGI is horribly jaggy and muddled looking in some places.

Although being able to watch it in 16:9 and have it fill the whole screen is niiiice.

Oh well, the story is still the same :)

Wonder when/if there will ever be a HD version of it...dunno if Warner would be that committed to it though.

Comments

  • croxiscroxis I am the walrus
    Are you talking about babylon 5? If so there is the other forum for that stuff ;)
  • KeyanKeyan Ranger
    I know, but it appears to be mostly dead :)

    And it's B5-ish, new TV-ish, no who knows :)
  • croxiscroxis I am the walrus
    Its not dead if you post in it!
  • Vorlons in my HeadVorlons in my Head The Vorlons told me to.
    Wasn't B5 actually filmed in HD format and widescreen expecting it would someday be standardized? The CGI was actually done in 4:3 and modified for the widescreen versions. I think it would just be a matter of them just realeasing them in the new HD formats.
  • RubberEagleRubberEagle What's a rubber eagle used for, anyway?
    B5 was filmed on film, in widescreen.
    To film in HD would require digital cameras, which didn't exist until B5 was well over...
  • Vorlons in my HeadVorlons in my Head The Vorlons told me to.
    [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by RubberEagle [/i]
    [B]B5 was filmed on film, in widescreen.
    To film in HD would require digital cameras, which didn't exist until B5 was well over... [/B][/QUOTE]

    I seem to remember a statement by JMS a long time ago saying they filmed in widescreen and film specifically to capture all the extra detail and be able to take advantage of the better resolution of film for HD at some point. It would be a matter of remastering the film into digital. Shooting in film is unusual for TV shows. Particularly back then. It just took a lot longer than they expected for HD to take off. Film already offers a better resolution than the HD so it should be no problem. Its a matter of getting the negatives and doing the remastering. If there was the demand to merit the cost I'm sure they'll do it.
  • Vorlons in my HeadVorlons in my Head The Vorlons told me to.
    Did anyone know that originally there were apparently were renderings for the CGI done in widescreen? When the series ended all the stuff had to be turned to WB. When they did the widescreen version WB had lost all the widescreen CGI footage and they had to use the original 4:3. They also lost all the CGI files so rerendering the scenes now is pretyt much impossible without redoing everything. Thats probably the biggest problem to bringing B5 to HD. There's no way to update the CGI since there is only inferior footage of the CGI left.
  • Vorlons in my HeadVorlons in my Head The Vorlons told me to.
    [url]http://dvd.ign.com/articles/509/509543p1.html[/url]

    "IGN's reviews of earlier Babylon 5 sets noted the problem: Babylon 5 was originally shot in 16x9 with high-definition TVs in mind from the start, but to save money, the computer graphics were shot in the standard TV ratio of 4x3 since no one had HDTV back then. "



    [url]http://www.worldsofjms.com/usenet/post/060905b.htm[/url]

    Subject: Re: JMS: Any thoughts on High Definition television and B5?
    Date: 5 Sep 2006 01:58:30 -0700
    From: [email]jmsatb5@aol.com[/email]
    Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated

    [email]shabaz.x@gmail.com[/email] wrote:
    > JMS,
    >

    > Star Trek: The Original Series is getting a
    > makeover for the HD era (more info can be found on their website here:
    > [url]http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/news/article/23775.html[/url] ). The
    > show is being remastered for High Definition video, and the effects
    > scenes are getting a CGI makeover. I had a twofold question about such
    > an HD makeover, if I may. A deal with the Sci-Fi Channel got us a
    > widescreen version of the show. How realistic is it to expect a similar
    > HD treatment for original B5, maybe when HD has become as common as
    > colour television now, after another network or syndication deal?
    > Possibly with the CGI re-rendering we never got because WB lost the
    > computer files?
    >

    That's a studio question, far outside my expertise. I suppose it's as
    possible as anything else.

    > Second, is it _technically_ possible to do an HD version of original
    > B5? Does the Super 35 film that I believe the live action was shot on
    > offer the option of re-scanning for HD? For the live action / CGI
    > composited shots, are the live action parts of those still stored in a
    > format that would allow rescanning into a higher resolution and
    > different aspect ratio? And last, with new CGI assets being created for
    > The Lost Tales, would that make it in any way easier for the CGI to
    > finally be re-rendered at some future point in time, even with the
    > original files missing?
    >

    Yes, you can up-rez 35mm to HD fairly easily, especially since we had
    to deliver film negative masters to WB...but again you'd have to crop
    the CGI if you wanted it in wide. We tried experimenting with
    up-rezzing Jeremiah to HD and it looked fine.
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    Unfortunately for the "remaster from the negatives" idea, WB didn't exactly take good care of them. Several of them were apparently eaten by rats or something along those lines.
  • Vorlons in my HeadVorlons in my Head The Vorlons told me to.
    Yes the negatives for The Gathering were stored in a cracked vault and chewed up by rats. Hopefully I think that was the extent of the damage.
  • Random ChaosRandom Chaos Actually Carefully-selected Order in disguise
    Also, as I recall the original models for ships were also lost, and therefore they can't redo the CGI without remaking all the ships.
  • JackNJackN <font color=#99FF99>Lightwave Alien</font>
    leaving anything to WB for archival purposes is basically a "it's fucking lost" situation...

    :(
  • El-DiabloEl-Diablo Ranger
    Well since they remodel stuff for The Lost Tales(models) there's a chance to use the new look with the old footage.

    [I]We're also re-engineering the look of B5, the starfuries, various alien ships and the like -jms[/I]
  • Vorlons in my HeadVorlons in my Head The Vorlons told me to.
    [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Random Chaos [/i]
    [B]Also, as I recall the original models for ships were also lost, and therefore they can't redo the CGI without remaking all the ships. [/B][/QUOTE]

    Maybe someday we'll find some employee who worked on the CGI just happens to have an illegal "backup" tape in his house no one knows about :D. Anyway, I think thats as good an excuse as any to redo the CGI from scratch for an HD special edition with all the latest effects ;) If it just wasn't so impossibly expensive...
  • Entil'ZhaEntil'Zha I see famous people
    Yeah, but i just finally bought seasons 4 and 5 to complete my collection, i can't afford to buy them all over again!


    You can definately see the limitations of what was filmed on the DVD, but i love seeing it on my widescreen in 16x9
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