Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Any Plans For a Remaster?

Re: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Any Plans For a Remaster?

No idea, but the picture quality does improve with season 4.

Re: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Any Plans For a Remaster?

I don't know of any plans but my guess it that it won't happen immediately, if at all.

My guess, as has been mentioned before, Star Trek TOS and Enterprise are both HD ready. TOS is well on the way to blu-ray after it was remastered in 2006 and 07. Enterprise was filmed in HD as I understand it, so it should be easy. Though the DVD's look pretty good.

And just to go over it once more, The Next Generation was done on film with effect post production on video at 480 resolution. That series will be very difficult to remaster for a TOS style effort, should they want to CGI the effects. The only times TNG had really poor effects was in the first year or 2. Still, from what others have already written here, TNG remastered, the existing effect may not hold up to even SD resolution. I'm sure the more learned will chime in to better explain it.

DS9 and Voyager are newer, but I don't know how the effects were done in post production, traditionally on film or digitally. I suspect DS9 did benefit from some CGI (Odo transformations too) as Voyager did. So these shows could be remastered as they are without any tinkering of the effects. The effects were all very well done and stands up today. But of course, some of the work could look dated.

So my guess based on popularity and interest is that DS9 and Voyager are at the bottom of the list at CBS for a re-issue with remastered elements. TOS is hot now. So the focus has been there.

I suppose there could be someone at CBS with the right kind of thinking that Star Trek is wonderful goose and they should be thinking long term. Once TOS work is done, they could move onto the other series. Perhaps if TOS does well on BD, the next logical step is re-issuing each series on BD rather then SD, but that's a guess!

Re: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Any Plans For a Remaster?

DS9 like many pre HD era TV shows was shot on film but edited on video. Not just the effects. Meaning The masters are on video. The best resolution you will get is 480i. They would have to go back and found ALL the original film footage, rescanned it in HD and redid ALL the FX. What would they do if they can't find all the footage? Just upscale the missing bits? Would look awful and mismatched.
Star Trek TOS was shot and edited on film so the original masters for that show (unlike all the later Treks save Enterprise) are on film which has a higher resolution than even HD. That's why TOS has been remastered in HD. They didn't have to re-edit the shows save for inserting the new FX. It is possible to redo DS9, TNG, Voyager but will cost alot of $ and take alot of time. It still took 2 years to redo TOS and that was just for 3 seasons. Ds9 ran for 7.

Re: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Any Plans For a Remaster?

From what I hear TNG remastered is going to happen/is already happening, and is getting the full treatment; going back to the original footage and incorporating newly created CGI VFX.

I would imagine TNG could have gone either way though, I just can't see the same kind of money being spent on DS9. But even if it never gets a true HD release, it's only a matter of time before all the studios look at how they can translate all that SD material from the 80's and 90's to an HD format. Whatever happens I'm sure we'll get something better down the line.

Re: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Any Plans For a Remaster?

Which is a shame considering it's the best of all the Treks.

Re: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Any Plans For a Remaster?

Zack, I think what was reported was that they were "testing" the show for HD.

My Two Cents - Archived Posts (8/7/07 - 7/26/07)

"...They further revealed that tests had been done for a possible future Star Trek: The Next Generation - Remastered effort..."

Not a done deal yet.

Re: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Any Plans For a Remaster?

My LCD HD telveision is off limits when it comes to Trek. My old 27" Sony Vega television still makes those shows look beautiful. On my LCD.....not so much. Some shows were just meant for the world of standard television.

Re: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Any Plans For a Remaster?

It's just bittersweetly ironic that some of them are shows that take place in the 24th century...

Re: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Any Plans For a Remaster?

I think it's just cost cutting and short sightedness.
Isn't it odd that a show like The Twilight Zone from the early-mid 60's can look utterly gorgeous and easily be HD ready but almost every show from the 90's is Screwed right now? Unless they undertake a massive project.

Been watching my Box set of the restored TZ's and they look damned impressive.

Re: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Any Plans For a Remaster?

Yeah, I've chimed in on that issue a few times as well.

I did a bit of experimental viewing with upconversion. Watching DS9 on my PS3 upscaled on my LCD television makes the image look much closer to the quality of a CRT television. Grain makes it more film-like, and the aliasing isn't nearly as distracting. On a plasma, even closer than that. Of course screen shape is another issue, but watching Trek on an upconverting player of some kind could potentially be a quick-fix answer for viewing on HDTVs.

Re: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Any Plans For a Remaster?

I think everyone is missing the point ... The Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, High Definition was unheard of during the production of these shows. I have to say that while I do enjoy TOS and TNG, they're not exactly on my list of shows to own. These costs are just too prohibitive.

If I were Paramount, I would lower the prices on the sets of the original releases for TOS, TNG, DS9 and Voyager and have a promotional sale of $20 a pop and clear out their inventory. Not many are buying these sets now because stores have refused to keep them in stock, even long before this recession became a problem.

I purchased all seven seasons of DS9 and Voyager through Columbia House and it was the best purchase I ever made.

While Star Trek is Paramount's Goose Egg, re-releasing the sets are just going to cause Paramount to raise the retail on the sets once more. What's even more disturbing is that Paramount still refuses to release any of the Star Trek shows in the thinpack format ...

Re: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Any Plans For a Remaster?

Before the HD wave, Video was the wave of the future, especially in cutting down production costs. Most 80s and 90s shows will wind up never being HD because of the shoot on film, edit on video practices of the time.

And don't give TZ a 100% grade yet... when you make it to season 2 of TZ, you'll see about half a dozen episodes that look kind of crappy (in comparison) because CBS experimented with shooting TZ on videotape. They're easy to spot.

Re: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Any Plans For a Remaster?

Agreed, they are too expensive - but I have to own them ...some day...



...I couldn't agree more.


Well, you lost me here. There are many problems with the release of these shows, but the type of packaging is REALLY low on my list of issues (YMMV). I can always buy thinpacks and print out any covers I want - it's the discs I need at a reasonable price.
____
Hey, I think I just thought of a solution - While I think that the time and expense of remastering STTNG and DS9 in HD is prohibitive and may never happen, we could always perpetuate a rumour that it IS happening. That way everyone sells their SD discs cheap on ebay and I can pick them all up for a song! Who's with me! ............. so, I heard that remastered STTNG will be on BluRay by April 2009 with DS9 by September. Really. I have a very reliable source. You may want to sell your discs while you still can....

Re: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Any Plans For a Remaster?

Yeah, they shot six episodes on video but the other 150 episodes were shot and edited on film so they can go to Blu-ray far more easy than most shows that are 30 year younger (which I think is Dave's point). The 6 episodes shot on video are never going to look much better since the source is video.

Re: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Any Plans For a Remaster?

Paramount does distribute several of the series mentioned in Slimline editions. However, I don't know if these are synonymous with thinpack editions. Personally I don't like the slimmer editions for a variety of reasons. In any event, these are available from Amazon.co.uk. Region 2 may come into play, of course.

Amazon.co.uk: star trek slimline

Re: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Any Plans For a Remaster?

Forget Region 2, the PAL speedup is bad enough.

Re: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Any Plans For a Remaster?

I appreciate Region 2 a lot, and I have absolute pitch. For my own part, the annoying aspect has more to do with definite rather than indefinite pitch, so speech is (for me) less of an issue than other aspects that may be altered by speedup.

Re: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Any Plans For a Remaster?

You have to remember that most of us are in the U.S. and we want our thinpack releases ... no Region 2 crap. :lol:

Re: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Any Plans For a Remaster?

Mark,

Yeah, I know. I too am in the U.S. I must say that I do love my code-free DVD player, though.

I just completed my torpedo-cased VOY series (Region 2 U.K. releases); some went for $150 a pop, but others were around $50.

Re: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Any Plans For a Remaster?

It is a shame about thos video eps. they did. One of my faves is "Night Of The Meek" with an amazing performance by Art carney. Such a shame that that was one of the "budget" eps.
As of now, all the others have new HD masters that IMAGE made. I can only imagine how they look after watching the SD dvds

Re: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Any Plans For a Remaster?

No it's not. The 4% speedup is hardly noticeable at all. What is noticeable is the poor quality of NTSC with its 480i vertical resolution and horrible 3:2 pulldown effect in motion scenes.

PAL all the way for me.

Re: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Any Plans For a Remaster?

It's more to do with music than anything else for me.

Re: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Any Plans For a Remaster?

Nicholas,

I think this would bother me more if I knew the music well enough to begin with (other than the main theme), which I do not. Since I lack a reference point in this case, hearing something (e.g.) in B-flat rather than A -- or a perceivable number of cents +/- to that effect -- does not make a difference to me at this point. But perhaps you know the music well enough for it to matter.

Is there any way mechanically that you can slow it down? I know of no way at present.

Re: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Any Plans For a Remaster?

I own two PAL region 2 DVDs, 'Bicentennial Man' and 'Glory'.

I purchased both discs from Amazon UK because of their isolated music score tracks, not available on their region 1 counterparts.

Because the isolated tracks were basically complete scores, I made CDs out of them, and in the case of 'Bicentennial Man', made a DTS 5.1 CD.

I had to take the Dolby AC3 tracks and convert them to WAV format, cue by cue, changing the sampling rate from 48000 Hz to 46033 Hz, then save the files as 44100Hz for CD use.

That changed the PAL speedup pitch without adding artifacts to the sound that a pitch shifting program would have.

Now that is too big a process to do an entire film's audio track, and the encoders out there that just pitch correct the audio compromise the sound quality too much. The same can be said for software DVD players that have a PAL "true speed" option.

Re: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Any Plans For a Remaster?

The PAL Lord of the Rings EE's have been pitch adjusted. I have them and they look much better. On non-pitch adjusted tracks you are getting a 1/2 step increase in pitch. Now, if you know music well, that's a big deal.
Tocatta in D minor at the beginning of ROLLERBALL becomes Tocatta in E flat minor. To a classical musician, (like my in-laws, one of whom Plays that piece on the organ) that's heresy...

Re: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Any Plans For a Remaster?

Nicholas,

Goodness, that seems like quite a lot of work. You are to be commended.

I'm good to about ten cents. (By this, I mean 100 cents to the half step.) With anything smaller than that, it becomes to my ears relatively negligible. But by the sounds of it, your range (i.e., the Hz differential) is quite a bit wider than this.

I own an adjustable-rate turntable, so when I play LPs of 'like' works recorded by different American and European orchestras that do not necessarily use the same 'A,' I can adjust to my satisfaction. Perhaps one day a device will be invented that will allow for Region 2 (or whatever region) DVDs to play at different speeds without compromising the sound quality.

Yes, a half-step higher for a work of that stature would be annoying to me. I could live with the pitch being somewhat lower, but not higher. As we move back further in time, the 'standard' of pitch becomes more ambiguous, and therefore not quite as imperative to me in works from earlier periods. In other words, we don't know (e.g.) what an 'A' of ca. 1450 sounded like.

Re: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Any Plans For a Remaster?

I think the real deal-breaker is the scope of the FX. I mean, with TNG you could do four shots of the Enterprise, and and that'd be half the FX shots for the entire series. There are a few episodes of DS9 that would require as much FX work as an entire season of TNG.

Re: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Any Plans For a Remaster?

Well, it may be hardly noticeable to you, but a little presumptious of you to say it's hardly noticeable "at all". Clearly there are people who do notice pitch changes (and I'm one of them).

And PAL's extra resolution is irrelevant when the original source material is 480i, as it is with the series in question.

Edit: seems the white-on-black nature of the forum when it was in Dark Knight mode made my post transparent.