So how does high definition work?

[daibhidc]

Someone recently posted on rec.arts.drwho.moderated asking if Doctor Who was going to be released on Blu Ray. One of the replies was that there really isn't much point in creating a high-definition copy of programme that was recorded in ordinary definiton.

This got me thinking: Sky are hyping up their new Sky Movies HD channel, and are particularly focusing on the opportunity to see classic movies in HD. Does the same thing apply? Isn't there a limit to how high-definition a film that's been copied from actual celluloid can ever be?

(Or is the idea that once your giant plasma screen lets you see every crackle in the film, it'll be just like being at the cinema?)

Comments

[gordon-r-d.livejournal.com]

Dunno abut upper limits or anything, but from what I have read and seen, stuff filmed on 35mm film can look pretty amazing in HD. I seem to remember the only reason they replaced the special effects in the HD Star Trek:TOS releases was because ll the effects shots were on 16mm and would look awful compared with the 35mm stuff.

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

Apparently 35mm can be pulled to somewhere between HD and IMAX without pixilation, if the people doing the conversion know their stuff.

[supermouse.livejournal.com]

There's a computer technique that sharpens fuzzy images, so long as they are moving images. For example (the example I was shown), if there's a coke can on the table, which in the original film is just a red blob with white specks, then the computer checks to see which bits of white speck stay in the same place throughout the clip and keeps them white - and the fuzz clears and you have a coke can with writing on the side. Despite the original film being too low-res.

I'm simplifying (probably wrongly, too), but the technique is out there. Filming in low res doesn't mean having to stay in low res. It's an intensive, expensive process though.