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Why do pre-HD TV programs look so good broadcast in HD?

  • 10-06-2013 8:24pm
    #1
    househero
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,094 ✭✭✭


    Just been watching Father Ted kick the bishop up the arse on RTE 2 HD, it looked great and just as funny as I remember, but why does it look so good compared to the same broadcast on standard RTE? They couldn't have had HD cameras to film it did they


Comments

  • #2
    The Cush
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,848 ✭✭✭✭The Cush


    househero wrote: »
    but why does it look so good compared to the same broadcast on standard RTE? They couldn't have had HD cameras to film it did they

    SD material is upscaled for transmission on RTÉ2 HD. Upscaled SD material won't look as good as true HD material but will be better than an SD channel due to the higher bit rate of the HD channel, approx 6 Mbps for RTÉ2 HD compared to approx 2 Mbps for the SD channels.

    The SD channels transmit at 544x576i resolution and RTÉ2 HD at 1440x1080i resolution.

    See this thread for an explaination http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=69109133


  • #3
    Sam Russell
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 20,138 Mod ✭✭✭✭Sam Russell


    househero wrote: »
    Just been watching Father Ted kick the bishop up the arse on RTE 2 HD, it looked great and just as funny as I remember, but why does it look so good compared to the same broadcast on standard RTE? They couldn't have had HD cameras to film it did they

    You have a better TV than you had before. Less noise in the picture, better colour balance and better contrast. That is what digital processing does for you.:)


  • #4
    zg3409
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,030 ✭✭✭zg3409


    Also Father Ted was not originally filmed in SD quality. The probably used studio quality cameras and editing facilities. Even the non-HD cameras in RTE are better than SD.

    I am not sure of the old specs used for filming and editing, but presumably a lot was "film" or cinema quality, with such a fast frame rate they could slow down footage and zoom later without losing much quality.

    So as such it means they can re-play the show in the best quality they have. It's a bit like "digitally remastered" music that was on vinyl. The actual recording was probably on tape, so as such they convert the master tapes to CD, rather than converting the vinyl to CD.


  • #5
    marno21
    Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 14,522 Mod ✭✭✭✭marno21


    SD looks so bad these days that upscaled material on HD channels nearly looks like HD in comparison. The RTE channels on Saorview and Sky in SD look like pure garbage especially when sport is on


  • #6
    telecinesk
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 617 ✭✭✭telecinesk


    fr Ted was either recorded and edited on BetacamSp or Digibeta.So the SD quality is more than nice to start with. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betacam#Betacam_.2F_Betacam_SP
    Also agree,sd sourced material on HD feeds look nice.


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  • #7
    micks_address
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,998 ✭✭✭micks_address


    a lot of people equate HD quality pictures to the advent of HD camera's

    What most people dont realise is the 35mm native film is way higher than that what we had been viewing in the pre HD tv days - anything shot on 35mm or higher will look better if broadcast in HD. 35mm film equates to about 4k resolution (4000 lines) - Full HD tvs display 1080 (2K) lines. Now of course a lot depends on the quality of the film stock used and if its degraded over time etc. Also quite a few tv shows were shot using Video camera's rather than film due to video being much cheaper. If thats the case the quality is never going to be great. A good quality scaler can make pictures look good, but its like polishing a turd in the end..


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