05-09-2008, 07:47 PM
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#9 of 10 
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Adam_S
Member
Location: Marina del Rey, CA
Join Date: Feb 2001
Local Time: 05:10 PM
Local Date: 10-13-2008
Posts: 5,031
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Re: TCM In HD --- When?
Quote:
TCM plays all movies in OAR to settle one question also to answer the big question about availability of HD films.
way back in ancient times BDVD(the time of laserdisc.) Most films transferred in WS were transferred on to tape using a D1 recorder.
It's specs are superior to HD and if restoration was done, it was put back on to a D1 0r 2 machine as a new master with specs better that HD. those masters were kept and would still comprise a HD source just as they were used for DVD an dare available for BluRay transfer in full HD as would the 1080i version for TCM.
Even old B&W movies thta were restored would be mastered for D1or2
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But there is the stock cost, time factor (labor) and deck rentals associated with bumping a d1/d2 to SR or D5, additionally those widescreen masters were probably done in 4x3 letterbox rather than anamorphic, so they will need to be properly unconverted to an anamorphic (the pro decks would have an upconvert card if you pay for it, such as the fit_H upconvert setting on a dvcpro 1700 deck) image, unfortunately this would result in some vertical cropping on a 1.66:1 film. Likewise all films with a native aspect ratio of 1.33:1 would need to be upconverted into a pillarboxed anamorphic tape.
So basically you're looking at making new tapes for every movie that plays on TCM. since their air masters are probably just digibetas, this would be a long and expensive process for them. If TCM does go HD I could see them doing it as a channel with a separate programming schedule with only a library of their 1000 most popular films (casablanca etc) that they keep in heavy rotation and it would probably skew towards the 70s-90s rather than the 30s-50s the current scheduling tends towards. Of course the problem with a separate programming schedule is you need an entirely new minimum staff to run it. And it's not as though TCM is selling a lot of advertising to pay for all of this.
if we do see a TCM HD channel I imagine it would have to be a pay premium, ala HBO, 10$ a month or so.
Last edited by Adam_S : 05-09-2008 at 10:02 PM.
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