Will TV shows on DVD ever go to a high definition format

Nelson Au · 03-12-2007, 02:02 PM

I'm curious if HD versions of TV shows has been discussed here yet. It's something I was pondering last week.

As far as I can tell, TV shows coming out now will continue as standard definition format. Older shows that are out now and are continuing to release new seasons, are in standard definition. For example, Mission: Impossible and Hawaii Five-0 are pretty new releases in SD. It seems likely they will continue, assuming sales are good, as SD releases.

With HD and BD hardware slowly making it's way into homes, will the thinking at the studios be that TV shows can continue to be released as SD knowing that HD and BD players are able to play them still. Not sure how much penetration it has, seems low still.

We know that Star Trek TOS is being re-issued as HD and later BD. But this show is different. It seems to keep coming out in new re-issues! I suspect not many TV shows has this kind of legs in the eyes of the studios. So for example, I bet X-Files, Alias, M*A*S*H, Frasier or Friends may stay SD and never be re-issued in a high definition format.

But new shows like Desperate Housewives or CSI broadcast now in HD, will they make a transition to a high definition home video format?

Does anyone have anymore information or insights?

Daniel-M · 03-12-2007, 02:32 PM

Several shows is already released, like Smallville and Sopranos. and i bet X-files will see a release within 2 years

Jason Seaver · 03-12-2007, 02:41 PM

Well, there are already seasons of Smallville and The Sopranos out on HD DVD and BD, and Universal has all-but-announced Heroes and Galactica for HD DVD release. There's been rumors of 24 and Lost too.

I think it'll be a bit slow, though - adoption of the HD disc formats has been pretty sluggish and those relatively pricey boxed sets appeal to a smaller segment of a the niche audience. There's also little evidence that anyone will re-buy TV series; the only example I can think of where a show got a new edition for anything other than slimmer packages is Star Trek, and that's a special case.

I wouldn't be terribly surprised to see Fox start to put some of their more evergreen titles out sometime this year, though. They release on BD, and they have a number of titles that might appeal to PS3 owners(*) - I almost expect to see them test the waters with something like Firefly or Buffy's short first season (if a decent HD transfer can be made from its 16mm source).

I don't know about stuff like Frasier and Friends, if only because their early seasons were probably shot on tape and HD might not be an option. I think a lot of people are going to wind up watching Star Trek,Galactica, and those hypothetical Fox releases to see how much interest even the hard-core fans have in repurchasing for HD. I strongly suspect that the stuff with die-hard fanbases who traditionally buy a lot of merchandise will start coming out this fall, but more mainstream programs may wait for some kind of tie-in, and sell sluggishly then.

(*) I sort of get the feeling that the BD-only studios are leaning this way anyway, at least in the early days - lots of action movies from the last ten or so years coming out, not as many catalog or boutique titles as are showing up on HD DVD. But the number will probably say I'm wrong.

Nelson Au · 03-12-2007, 03:24 PM

Quote:

I think a lot of people are going to wind up watching Star Trek,Galactica, and those hypothetical Fox releases to see how much interest even the hard-core fans have in repurchasing for HD.

That's a good point that I left out of my post. I doubt I will rebuy any TV other then Star Trek TOS.

I must be way out of the loop on HD, I didn't realize Smallville and Sopranos was out already in HD!

Daniel-M · 03-12-2007, 04:29 PM

Weeds has also been announced for BD, with a PM 7.1 track nontheless

**HTF Ads**

TravisR · 03-12-2007, 04:57 PM

There was a rumor that 24: S5 was going to be released in HD last year. Obviously, that didn't happen and I'm sure that when/if Fox does release 24 in HD, it will only be the most current season instead of starting at S1.

All that being said, I see high def TV releases being a very small niche of the already small niche HD market for a good number of years.

BradD · 03-12-2007, 05:05 PM

There's no reason studios can't release shows on HD DVD/Bluray, that were not shot in HD, in order to get an entire series on fewer discs.

Ric Easton · 03-12-2007, 05:41 PM

Quote:

There's no reason studios can't release shows on HD DVD/Bluray, that were not shot in HD, in order to get an entire series on fewer discs.

I thought this was not going to be the case. Since an HD signal would take up more room on a disc... isn't it a wash, or close to it?

Anyway, I would assume newer shows that were already shot in widescreen for HD broadcast probably have a better shot.

MatthewA · 03-12-2007, 06:39 PM

All TV can be divided into the following categories:

—Shot and edited on film: Shows like I Love Lucy, Gunsmoke, Leave it to Beaver, The Twilight Zone, Bewitched, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Green Acres, Hawaii Five-O, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Columbo, M*A*S*H, The Waltons, and Dallas (until 1986) to name a few would only require them to be remastered (and, if necessary, restored) from the original film elements. In theory these shows should gain something from HD transfer.

—Shot and edited on tape: Shows like Sesame Street, All in the Family, Sanford and Son, The Jeffersons, Welcome Back Kotter, The Facts of Life, Gimme a Break, Family Ties, The Cosby Show, The Golden Girls, Married with Children, Roseanne, and The Nanny, plus all soap operas and game shows and most news were shot on various formats of SD tape such as 2", 1", and Betacam. They will not gain picture info that is not there but they can fit more episodes onto an HD-DVD or Blu-Ray disc. These also have problems of the availability of machines to transfer the old tapes to a non-obsolete format.

—Shot on film, edited on SD tape: A recent development which covers shows like Matlock, post-1986 Dallas, post-1985 Cheers, Designing Women, Star Trek TNG, The Simpsons (at least the early years), Seinfeld, Mad About You, Frasier, and probably every filmed show from 1986 to the early 21st century. These will require going back to the original negatives, recreating the edit lists (unless the negatives were conformed at the time), and recreating the credits for HD. This was done for the Seinfeld DVDs.

—Kinescopes: Many live and taped shows only exist as 16mm or 35mm kinescopes. Since they were using film to capture SD material, I don't believe that mastering in HD would make much of a difference, but I have seen no examples of this.

Anything shot on HD would be no problem, nor something shot on film and edited on HD.

Jason Seaver · 03-12-2007, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BradD

There's no reason studios can't release shows on HD DVD/Bluray, that were not shot in HD, in order to get an entire series on fewer discs.

There's not exactly much reason to do so, though. Even if it's on more discs, the multi-DVD version is just more useful to more people.

Corey3rd · 03-12-2007, 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ric Easton

I thought this was not going to be the case. Since an HD signal would take up more room on a disc... isn't it a wash, or close to it?

Anyway, I would assume newer shows that were already shot in widescreen for HD broadcast probably have a better shot.

Wasn't the idea that they would use the HD disc and put DV video on it since it can hold 10 times as much stuff - you can put an entire season of an hour long show on a single disc.