HD syndication: Seinfeld and Jeopardy
Starting on March 27th Sony
will start to syndicate HD versions of some of the most popular syndicated shows on Television, including Seinfeld,
Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. Syndicated shows are one of the last to go HD mostly because of the challenges involved
in distributing the content. Unlike most network content syndicated shows are downloaded to the affiliates via satellite and saved for later when they will be shown and commercials spliced in. This poses all new challenges for networks and content providers. The other problem is that many shows that are syndicated today were originally aired before HD was widespread. Lucky for us most of these shows were originally produced with film, which makes it possible to go back to the source and remaster it in HD, since film has more resolution than HD does. But unfortunately as we have seen with DVD, not all transfers are created equally.
No word yet on which networks will take advantage of the new HD programming, stayed tuned for more and please let us know of sightings.
Before you ask; Seinfeld was 4x3 and HD isn't going to change that.
As a TWIHD reader once pointed out, not all HD is 16x9 and not all 16x9 is HD.
via [AVSForum.com]
Filed under: Programming, OTA
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Buzzcut @ Mar 22nd 2006 9:15AM
The $64,000 question is is Seinfeld remastered or upconverted? I'm guessing the later.
Ben Drawbaugh @ Mar 22nd 2006 11:04AM
Sony started remastering these a few years ago, when they released the first season on DVD some complained because the DVD advertised "remastered in HDTV" even though the DVD's were not HD. NBC even did a HD Seinfeld special at the time of release. The show clips looked great in 4x3 and the interviews etc were all 16x9 HD.
Remastering shows in HD is the current rage now, most of the content owners see it as a way to future proof their library. They can remaster in HD and use it as a master for all their other distribution methods, like SD cable, VHS and DVD.
Buzzcut @ Mar 22nd 2006 1:50PM
Question for the uber-geeks out there: can a show that was shot on tape really be remastered?
All the stuff being remastered into HD up to this point has been old stuff shot on film. The original film can be remastered into HD in such a way that its detail is enhanced.
Can the same be said of something like Sienfeld, that was originally shot on tape. What is there to be remastered? Sure, you could clean up the tape. But is there any extra detail to be captured? Or are they really just upconverting?
BTW, I haven't seen the Seinfeld DVDs, but the Soprano DVDs are crap. It's like watching analog cable. Not much in the way of remastering there.
Ben Drawbaugh @ Mar 22nd 2006 1:59PM
Shows originally recorded to video tape and not be remastered, only filmed shows can be.
Seinfeld and the Sopranos were both filmed. There is a member of the AVS forum named mmost that is in the biz and has confirmed this. He often joins the discussions of film vs video and anytime a shows original format is in question.
MrSatyre @ Mar 22nd 2006 3:26PM
Some TV shows which were shot 4:3, were also framed by the director of photography so that the characters would fit nicely into a 16:9 frame. Watch Law & Order SVU's older season episodes in HD and you'll see what I mean. They look pretty damned spiffy!
Ure A Kunt @ Mar 23rd 2006 12:09PM
What's the point of having a TV show on 16mm, in HD? You can't squeeze any more out of it than what you shot with in the first place...... Unless they spent a lot of money cleaning up the image, all you're going to see is how low-res that 16mm show really is.
Ben Drawbaugh @ Mar 23rd 2006 1:36PM
Ure A Kunt,
16mm still has a higher resolution than SD. Some Fox shows like "The OC" are still shot with 16mm as well as "Veronica Mars" and both look better than SD and Fox Widescreen.
It would be great if everyone used 35mm but 16mm is better than nothing.
UAK @ Mar 23rd 2006 3:51PM
"16mm still has a higher resolution than SD."
Nope, it isn't.
Motion picture, whether it's 16mm, 35mm, or whatever, when considered "motion picture" - is shot as 24 Frames per Second (fps).
SD - standard definition - TV, that is, Television VIDEO, is 30fps.
In order to transfer from 24fps to 30fps, a process called "3-2 Pulldown" is used, whereby those 6 MISSING frames are adapted to meet the frame rate so we don't get flicker and/or stutter-rapid motion in the picture......., so that the motion is smooth, as if the frames would be projected on a movie screen with a 24fps projector.......
Unless a DIRECT film-to-HD transfer is conducted (as compared to film-to-SD), the quality will always be inferior when the SD is up-converted to HD - it's going to look like crap, kinda like what you see now when you watch a SD broadcast on an HD monitor as you flick through the channels.... I am sure you have noticed..... and it will still be immensely inferior to 35mm - because the 16mm frame is that much smaller than the 35mm frame and has less information on it.... compare this the pixel counts in your digital cameras - it's the same idea.
Ben Drawbaugh @ Mar 23rd 2006 3:58PM
UAK,
For starters who is talking about frame rate? There is no direct relationship between resolution and frame rate.
It doesn't matter if you are using 35mm or 16mm you still have to do a 3-2 pull down if you are going from 24fps to 30fps.
16mm mastered to HD using a telecine will look better than SD TV period, upconverted or not. It is not hard to see. Watch "The OC" on fox which is filmed with 16mm film and compare the SD channel with the HD channel. The HD channel is hands down better.
Bottom line is 35mm is better than 16mm and either will look better than SD or DVD when mastered in HD, regardless of the frame rate.
UAK @ Mar 23rd 2006 11:55PM
Why repeat everything I said?
I said IF they do a direct transfer from 16mm to HD - sure it will look better!
Who said anything about the OC?
We're talking about those old Seinfeld episodes here, aren't we? Are they going to go back and re-transfer from the 16mm originals?
Ben Drawbaugh @ Mar 24th 2006 8:05AM
The oc was an example of a new show that is shot in 16mm and looks better in HD than it did before.
Yes they are going back and remastering them from the original 16mm. The DVDs that are available today are from the remastered HD masters.
UAK @ Mar 24th 2006 1:39PM
"The DVDs that are available today are from the remastered HD masters."
But that doesn't make those DVDs HD, unless they're HD-DVD or Blu-Ray, right?
So, when they actually begin the HD-broadcast as it says in this article in question - are the broadcast footage going to be the NEW, 16mm-to-HD transfer? Or are they going to be using those HD master of the DVD that you mentioned, simply broadcast on an HD channel (up-conversion)?
Ryan @ Mar 26th 2006 5:54PM
Seinfeld was shot on 35mm film, so it makes a great HD transfer
Robbin @ Mar 28th 2006 7:48PM
Hey, go easy, I'm a beginer. I thought HD had to be on the 16X9. Someone here said HD can also be on the 4X3. The morning news in the Chicago area has a 4X3 format and the TV labels it as a HD Broadcast. I thought that was just a fluke. So is it really possible to have HD broadcast on 4x3?
Bill @ Apr 3rd 2006 9:04PM
That is correct. SEINFELD was shot on 35mm film -- Sony spent MILLIONS re-transferring all of it from the original camera negative, then re-doing all the post-production in HD (it was previously posted in SD on 1-inch, and later, Digital Betacam). That meant literally re-doing EVERY edit on EVERY episode!
Unfortunately, if you read the thread in the AVSFORUM, not one person has reported seeing these being aired in HD in their market.