When's the Blu-Ray !?

[Triple F]

As I canÆt post on jms facebook page.

I noticed thereÆs a question about the conversion of the CGI up to (widescreen) blue ray standards again, and the usual replies. ThereÆs one other thing that will be a problem that most donÆt know. So if anyone cares to mention it. : )

ôAll the plates we got for comp was in 4:3. As you know the live action was shot "Protecting" for widescreen, so that later they could zoom in on the film and re-transfer. Trouble is the DP shot it in such a way that the grain is awful.ö


DonÆt need to link to where that came from but itÆs another reason why a blue ray release is unlikely, and which those who know about such things may find of interest.

[Jan]

I think I was posting a link to the explanation JMS posted last year (which is copied in this thread) about the time you were posting your thread. I've gone ahead and merged your post with the Blu-Ray thread. Somebody posts the BR question at least every week or so.

One thing, though...if any of us were to add that quote to the FB thread, I know that I, at least, would never consider doing so without at least knowing who is being quoted.

Jan

[Triple F]

Thanks for moving it, I wasn’t thinking. ; )

It comes from Thornton. Though I never checked with Kevin Kutchaver (who did the early rotoscope stuff and PPG blasts) or Eric Chauvin (who did a lot of composit work and matte paintings), but they almost certainly got 4:3 plates as well.

http://www.themadgoner.com/B5/B5Scrolls/B5Scrolls.htm#Screen1_01_5

It’s part of the same Q&A sequence where he reveals why the CGI and comp shots were created in 4:3 to begin with. It wasn’t a limitation of the technology as jms has said (but then he didn’t know that at the time).

The widescreen conversion thing was executive short sightedness at it's finest!!! We offered to do ALL of Babylon 5 in widescreen mode if Warner Bros would buy us a reference monitor so we could check our output. (only $5000 at the time) Ken Parkes (the "Business affairs" guy) and Netter (penny wise, but pound foolish) said no! So we did everything so it could be CROPPED to be widescreen! Each blamed the other by the way. Doug Netter said, "Ken Parkes said no". Ken Parkes said, "Doug Netter said no". SHEESH!!! So for $75 an episode they could have had AWESOME near Hi-Def. Bet Joe never heard about that!!

It was due to a short sighted money saving exercise on the part of Doug Netter and Warner who then deliberately misled Joe. As jms confirms here.

http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=169358099765728&id=139652459402959

And yes, the interview is correct: no one told me about the decision that prevented us from making the CGI in 16:9. Because they knew that if they had, I would've gone apeshit. Hell, I would've happily paid for it out of my own pocket. Instead, they told me that it couldn't be done, and stupidly, I believed them.

It’s interesting stuff, and the results of those decisions have been behind some of the things that’s bugged many fans for years. It’s just a pity that this info will most likely never become widely known.

[Jan]

As time's gone on, it appears that JMS has discovered that he was lied to a number of times about various things by people in various capacites. All water under the bridge at this late date.

Jan

[Sidrack Marinho]

Well, if they are not going to remaster the series, I don't think it would hurt to remaster the movies. I am watching some now and they suffer badly with the amount of grain and pixelization, for example.

Would it be possible to do such a thing without any complications?

[Jan]

Would it be possible to do such a thing without any complications?

I think the question is more whether WB would cough up the money to do so. They don't seem overly eager to exploit what they've got in B5.

Jan

[Commander Raiden]

If Warner-Bros don't want touch B5, someone should buy the rights off them so that ideas like creating a blue-ray or launching a series can be made a reality...though I doubt there's any fan out there that would seriously consider launching a bid to buy the rights of B5 from Warner.Bros, but as I see it that is the only way to bring it back from oblivion!!!

[Sidrack Marinho]

I have watched Farscape TV show on Blu-ray recently (still SD, just upconverted) and I have to admit while it's not HD, it's a good upgrade over the DVDs and the image looks better (at least for the last seasons) when compared to the old discs.

I think Babylon 5 would benefit from such release, considering that Warner messed up a little with the DVD releases. While it could remain in Standard-Definition I strongly believe there's a good chance we can extract more from the current tapes. That is, of course, if someone is willing to remaster them.

[pascalahad]

My question will perhaps sound stupid, but would it be possible to only recreate on CGI the left and right side of the CG shots? It would perhaps be cheaper than to recreate everything, while still being able to have a better definition of the CG shots.

That's a shame that jms didn't want to do other "Lost Tales" in that regard. It would not only have allowed Babylon 5 to stay in the public eye, but would also recreate bits by bits some of the CG templates that could eventually lead to a Hi-Def recreation.

[Sidrack Marinho]

Warner will release all 10 seasons from Friends this year. Now it's finally confirmed.

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=8976

Friends was aired at the same time as Babylon 5.

It's sad they are going to release this TV show and forget B5.

[Joe Nazzaro]

I'm not 100% sure about this, but I think Friends had just a few less computer-rendered spaceship shots for which the original digital elements are missing or unusable in a higher HD format. But that's just a guess on my part.

[Sidrack Marinho]

That kind of complaint would make a lot of sense if the entire episodes from Babylon 5 had special effects. How about releasing the rest of the footage in HD, uh? Is that too much to ask?

[Joe Nazzaro]

From Warner Bros? Yes. Yes it is. It really is.

[Triple F]

You've been at the drink again.

[Lope de Aguirre]

B5 on Blu-ray?

http://thewertzone.blogspot.no/2013/11/warner-brothers-considering-hd-update.html