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Gale era in HD (and colour)
Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2022 1:57 pm
by Allard
So this has popped up on YouTube, snippets from the Cathy Gale era in HD and also a colourized scene.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pngvpruMWo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ximexH76qM
Very exciting to see high grade picture quality version of the early episodes and the aspect ratio does not seem to be altered!
I disapprove of colourization, but will admit this is well done.
Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2022 4:16 pm
by paulh
Thanks for posting those links. They've done a great job. It looks really impressive!
Re: Gale era in HD (and colour)
Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2022 12:23 pm
by mousemeat
same attitude here..i.e. b/w & color...and yeah, the colorized scene does look very good...I'm picturing a whole episode done...
very tempting
Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2022 11:44 pm
by Brugeoise
I'd rather have the original monochrome, but the result with colourisation is quite impressive. Though Steed and Cathy's faces look a bit odd and perhaps the opening titles' colour palette isn't the "right" one, it's still a nifty effort.
Is it just me or did the remastering process give the Bullseye clip a bit of "soap-opera effect"? I don't think it's been Vidfired, but it looks rather fluid to me.
Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2022 12:43 am
by Frankymole
VidFIRE wouldn't show on YouTube because it can't do interlaced video. It's possible they did something like VidFIRE (which I think is a proprietary process of the BBC restoration team, though they have been hired out on commercial projects) and then the frame rate jiggered about with (technical term) to get that smoothness onto the YouTube version.
Re: Gale era in HD (and colour)
Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2022 12:57 am
by Frankymole
The "HD" on the
Bullseye clip really isn't. You can see the corduroy ribbing on Judy Parfitt's jacket appear and disappear, so it's obvious they haven't done anything clever like scanning the telerecording negatives frame by frame as you'd have to do (not that I think they'd get much more detail out of them - the original filming in the telerecording process only captures so much, and it's from a 405 line screen anyway, however sophisticated and 'flatter' than usual TVs the telerecording ones were). My guess is some kind of upscaling which is only partially successful - seems better where there is little movement and gives the software a chance to "stabilise".
Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2022 3:10 am
by dissolute
I was going to say it's a simple upscale, it was actually worse than my video player, PotPlayer, playing back my ripped and compressed copy from the last DVD set.
Re: Gale era in HD (and colour)
Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2022 11:55 am
by mousemeat
Frankymole wrote:The "HD" on the
Bullseye clip really isn't. You can see the corduroy ribbing on Judy Parfitt's jacket appear and disappear, so it's obvious they haven't done anything clever like scanning the telerecording negatives frame by frame as you'd have to do (not that I think they'd get much more detail out of them - the original filming in the telerecording process only captures so much, and it's from a 405 line screen anyway, however
sophisticated and 'flatter' than usual TVs the telerecording ones were). My guess is some kind of upscaling which is only partially successful - seems better where there is little movement and gives the software a chance to "stabilise".
good point.....then again, they only had the original source material, and it wasn't high quality, to begin with..right ? unlike U.S. NTSC
Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2022 9:45 pm
by Allard
Agreed the quality doesn't blow you away. But keeping track of where technology is going is worth wile. I remember some time ago posting about some automated software or something upgrading early bits of film. If a.i. can improve material without adding to it, I'm interested,we are watching on HUGE screens compared to a sixties tv-set. (I'd wish the makers of The Avenger could see this.) It seems to be beneficial to keeping it enjoyable on HD screens.
Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2022 11:05 pm
by cyberrich
I'm not a fan of colourizing original b/w footage, but I have to admit this clip doesn't look bad. Colourizing the Cathy Gale episodes might have it's uses as some people refuse point blank to watch anything black and white. This might attract new viewers.