Star Trek on Blu Ray

filmbuffboy

Ok, so far we have been given all the TOS & TNG films on blu ray, as well as all three seasons of TOS.

Ive been unable to find any links about a possible future release of TNG, DS9, VOY or ENT on blu ray.

On a 56 inch HD plasma an 80's tv show on dvd doesnt look very good on the screen.

Does anyone know if we will ever have the rest of the trek universe in HD?

the_monkey

Unfortunately for TNG as it was filmed on digital tape it is not suitable for HD release - this is also why the DVDs look a bit crap - the source is crap.

Paramount took the cheap way back in the late 80's and early 90's while filming it, TOS was filmed on 35mm film which has excellent source quality
(even better then 1080p).

So no blu ray for TNG - wouldn't be a point if you were to upscale that ****e source it would still look ****e...

as for ENT and VGR,DS9 I'm not sure - Possibly ENT has decent source....

filmbuffboy

Its a great pity because TOS looks AWESOME in HD. ENT as far as I know was filmed in HD too so there may be a release of that in the future.

BUt the thought of never seeing TNG series in HD makes me sad!

Myrddin

the_monkey wrote: »

Unfortunately for TNG as it was filmed on digital tape it is not suitable for HD release - this is also why the DVDs look a bit crap - the source is crap.

Paramount took the cheap way back in the late 80's and early 90's while filming it, TOS was filmed on 35mm film which has excellent source quality
(even better then 1080p).

So no blu ray for TNG - wouldn't be a point if you were to upscale that ****e source it would still look ****e...

as for ENT and VGR,DS9 I'm not sure - Possibly ENT has decent source....

Wow, what a monumental c**k up that was :mad: Whatever about TNG (late 80's filming), but for DS9 & VOY to suffer the same fate?

So basically the source material that those shows were filmed on, cannot provide more than it's already doing?? That's pretty gutting. There is one bright side though, Wesley in 1080p would have been bad...very very bad.

Voodu Child

If im not mistaken, TNG was shot in 35mm, same for Voyager and DS9.

They were edited on tape. And the effects compositing was done on tape also (but using elements that had been shot on 35mm originally).

So it would be very laborious to do a Bluray release. But technically possible.

Myrddin

Voodu Child wrote: »

If im not mistaken, TNG was shot in 35mm, same for Voyager and DS9.

They were edited on tape. And the effects compositing was done on tape also (but using elements that had been shot on 35mm originally).

So it would be very laborious to do a Bluray release. But technically possible.

So that last post wasn't our last hope? (Don't say "No, there is another" )

filmbuffboy

The day we have the entire star trek canon in glorious HD will be awesome.

Granted, some of the sfx shots in TNG would have to be updated like they did with TOS. But I could live with this as long as it was faithful to the original.

I laugh when I think about it because I remember having loads of the next generation episodes on VHS back in the day. I swore Id never again spend a penny on them once I got the entire series on DVD. Now HD....what next? Holographic versions in twenty years? lol

Goldstein

I'm saving for the holo-novels

Myrddin

Goldstein wrote: »

I'm saving for the holo-novels

I preordered Vulcan Love Slave last week.

Beefy78

Voodu Child wrote: »

If im not mistaken, TNG was shot in 35mm, same for Voyager and DS9.

They were edited on tape. And the effects compositing was done on tape also (but using elements that had been shot on 35mm originally).

So it would be very laborious to do a Bluray release. But technically possible.

I believe that is right. I'd have thought that the thing stopping an HD rerelease isn't technology but is cost. It's hard to imagine them getting their money back on upgrading hundreds of these shows.

Beefy78

Happened to just read a cracking post elsewhere on this subject which I'll copy below:

OK, I had to register just to try and help clear some of this up. You guys seem to have a grasp of the problem, but some weird ideas about the technology.

The "container" format for Bluray is .m2ts. It can contain video in 1280*720p or 1920*1080p. This content can be compressed using several different MPEG variants, VC1, MPEG4 H.264 AVC and MPEG2.

Now DVD's used MPEG2 at varying resolutions with the highest being 720*480 widescreen I believe.

Theoretically, if you had a BD player that wasn't too picky about standards you could put a whole season in SD MPEG2 on a Bluray. But I have a feeling quite a few players would freak out when there was a 50gb disc with 480p content.

These old eps were shot in 35mm analog fim, which can be HD digitized pretty easily. The problem is that the final, edited copy of the eps with cuts and scene changes, music score attached and effects in place.

That was all done on extremely high-end professional magnetic tape made specifically for TV editing. Where the original film contains all this information that was extraneous to the original process but we can make use of now, the edited tapes contain ONLY what was intended for broadcast. So it's all 480i analog stereo.

Even the digital effect in VOY and late DS9 was printed to film and brought in to this process.

Digital effects don't fare much better. Lucasfilm had completely lost the Norway, Sabre, and Steamrunner from First Contact when Foundation Imaging asked for them and had to rebuild the Sovereign from scratch at least once. I can't imagine the TV ships fared better. Foundation and Digital Muse had two different digital Defiants with completely different deflectors. Now, imagine going back ten to twenty years later and CBS digital wants the source files... half the companies that worked on the effects don't even exist anymore.

If this happens, it's going to be a huge project that will have to be paid off through not just disc sales, but also sindication through a major outlet. Big money. Syfy under Comcast would barely have this kind of money around in this economy. Only if it's going to be a headline show.

But then... why not just a Star Trek network?

http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=103007&page=2

filmbuffboy

ooooh star trek channel on tv would be sooooo cool.

FGR

What I'd give for DS9 on Blu Ray. Class.

Myrddin

Yeah, and imagine Fair Haven too...it's be class....oh no, hang on a minute