MASH and HD (1 Viewer)

[crowe-t]

How do the MASH DVD's look on a 4K TV? Do they up-convert nicely?

 

[PMF]

How do the MASH DVD's look on a 4K TV? Do they up-convert nicely?

Today is Day-Two for crowe-t.
Welcome to H*T*F.

 

[crowe-t]

Hey thanks!

 

[Dave Scarpa]

So any chance Fox would bring the HD Mash 16x9 or 4x3 to blu Ray ?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I’d like it if they did but I’m not optimistic. They just reissued the complete series on DVD at a super cheap price point, I’m guessing just to burn through extra stock.

Fox no longer releases Blu-rays for their new shows that were in HD to begin with.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

How do the MASH DVD's look on a 4K TV? Do they up-convert nicely?

I just ordered my first 4K TV and I’m currently in a MASH DVD binge. When the new TV arrives next week I’ll be able to answer that question.

 

[crowe-t]

I just got a 4K TV a couple of weeks ago. I got a Sony XBR X900F and a Sony X700 4K Blu-Ray player. I've been watching my DVD movies and most look better then they ever looked on a CRT. I have The Odd Couple Seasons 1 and 2 on DVD and they look fantastic. It's the best they ever looked. The don't need to be on Blu-Ray. They up-convert really nicely but they seem to be very good transfers to begin with. I have MASH episodes I recorded from METV with a Panasonic DVD recorder with a built in hard drive which enabled me to edit the commercials out and burn to DVD-R's but they don't look so great up-converted on the 4K TV.

I have a couple of DVD-R copies of a couple of discs from the MASH DVD set that a friend gave me to try. I'll see how they look when I have some time. I don't think they'll look as good as the Odd Couple DVD's. Those are from nice transfers. I'd be happy if Fox would remaster MASH and put all the seasons on DVD again. I'd love them on Blu-Ray but I'll take new re-masters on DVD at this point. If they were cleaned up they will look great on a 4K TV.

I've been re-recording MASH from the METV HD channel on my PC but they really don't look better than the DVD's I had made. I suspect METV is just up-converting their SD shows to HD and aren't using HD masters.

 

[darkrock17]

Sundance seems to air HD remastered episodes, where as MeTV would love to air the HD remasters, but Sundance could have the broadcasting rights to show the HD episodes presently, so MeTV might have to wait until their time is up before they could get the rights to air them next.

 

[crowe-t]

Unfortunately I don't have Sundance on my cable service. The episodes on MeTV don't look that great.

 

[Worth]

Just noticed that MASH is now available to purchase in HD on iTunes, either as individual seasons or complete series.

 

[crowe-t]

Just noticed that MASH is now available to purchase in HD on iTunes, either as individual seasons or complete series.

How much are the episodes?

 

[Worth]

Individual episodes are $3.50, seasons are $20 and the entire series is $125 - but I'm in Canada, so the US prices are probably lower.

 

[crowe-t]

I see they are in 16:9. It's hard to tell without comparing them to the originals if they are cropped from the 4:3 or newly made from the original film.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

They are based on new scans of the original film. Slightly more detail is revealed on the sides, but the top and bottom are also cropped as well.

The entire series in HD is on Hulu if you want to sample it before buying from iTunes. The Hulu version does not include the option to listen without the laugh track. Not sure if iTunes offers this but I would suspect not.

 

[crowe-t]

I wish they would release the whole series on Blu-Ray but it's most likely never going to happen.

 

[Robert Crawford]

How much are the episodes?

In the US, it's $2.99 per episode, $19.99 per season and $99.99 for the complete series.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

How do the MASH DVD's look on a 4K TV? Do they up-convert nicely?

I just ordered my first 4K TV and I’m currently in a MASH DVD binge. When the new TV arrives next week I’ll be able to answer that question.

Just got the new TV and watched a couple MASH episodes last night from the DVDs.

I think we're probably all in agreement that the DVDs never looked great to begin with. I think they were based on older broadcast masters, rather than being new transfers from the original film elements. There's no way any TV, especially a TV with greater resolution, could ever make those DVDs look great. But that wasn't really what I was aiming for.

I'm happy to report that the DVDs look fine on my new TCL 4K set. They look basically the same as they did on my 1080p set. So while viewing these discs on a 4K set isn't going to upgrade the image in any way, it didn't make them look any worse either.

I'd call that a win. Bottom line is that I can still enjoy the DVD versions, with the laugh tracks turned off, which is the most important feature for me when it comes to this show.

 

[MatthewA]

Those DVD masters were the same ones made in the 1990s that they touted in syndication as "M*A*S*H: The Remastered Edition"; by that time most TV stations had gotten rid of film chains.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

the laugh tracks never bothered me as thats the way i saw them originally. I've been binging the Hulu shows currently on Season 3, they look good, the cropping isn't terrible i'd wish they were 4x3 but oh well. I bought the pilot on iTunes and they look about the same maybe a tad better. I'm waiting for a deal sometime for the complete series, hoping for a $49.99 deal somewhere down the line

 

[Worth]

The entire series is now $50 on iTunes.