WB considering HD update

[Looney]

I was watching some of this last night....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGrXO2RDzLg

I think we need to get them on Babylon 5 immediately. It is amazing, and a bit frightening, what people can do with visual imagery these days.

 

[Springer]

You may have seen, there have been some fan attempts to reformat B5 for HD, though obviously not to the same level as Star Wars fans, but it's a taster of what's possible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5LvOxIuu1c

https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2020/07/babylon-5-fan-re-renders-shots-in-hd.html

 

[Looney]

Yes I've seen them and it hurts to watch.

I sooooooooo hope Lyta's Shadow is right, but you know watching clips like these reminds me that WB likely won't put as much care or effort into any attempts they make.

 

[Ubik]

FYI, there's a fan project on Reddit, apparently upscaling the footage to 4k via AI techniques. Still early days.

https://www.reddit.com/r/babylon5/comments/g4unx4/the_babylon_5_complete_series_4k_hdr_60fps_ai/

There's already a full HD upconvert available done by a fan, again, check reddit for P2P links.

 

[Ubik]

Some example footage here, looks pretty good....

https://www.reddit.com/r/babylon5/comments/flecv5/i_upscaled_a_scene_from_midnight_on_the_firing/

 

[Looney]

I just feel like I would have picked a different clip. I mean the scene is fine, I've just always cringed at that "Oh boy" and the end. :guffaw: :guffaw: :guffaw:

Thanks for sharing Ubik.

 

[Ubik]

I just feel like I would have picked a different clip. I mean the scene is fine, I've just always cringed at that "Oh boy" and the end. :guffaw: :guffaw: :guffaw:

Thanks for sharing Ubik.

Who knows if they'll get it done, but seems like a good time when many are restricted in terms of going out and doing 'real world' stuff.

 

[Lyta's Shadow]

Just noticed that the icons for each season on Amazon Prime Video (UK) have been updated to say Remastered. They are still SD videos however so not sure what is going on.

 

[Springer]

Just noticed that the icons for each season on Amazon Prime Video (UK) have been updated to say Remastered. They are still SD videos however so not sure what is going on.

I noticed the same remastered branding is on the episodes on Apple TV/iTunes too, but like you from what I can tell it's still the usual low quality standard def versions. It's interesting that it's saying remastered on both Amazon and Apple, which suggests it's not some random thing and maybe something is coming not too far down the road?

 

[Looney]

Well I noticed that my Amazon streaming versions are all now full frame instead of widescreen. I mean we know I am crazy, but I didn't watch any episodes for about a month and I swear they were widescreen before. I wonder if Amazon is somehow sourcing them form iTunes or Vudu now?!

 

[Jan]

For those interested, here's a thread from JMS regarding some eps apparently having been upressed but not nearly all.
https://twitter.com/straczynski/status/1327907477342457861

 

[Springer]

For those interested, here's a thread from JMS regarding some eps apparently having been upressed but not nearly all.
https://twitter.com/straczynski/status/1327907477342457861

I've just gone back and watched a bit of Matters of Honor remastered. Holy cow! That's miles better! 4:3, and as JMS says, looks like up-rezzed broadcast versions. The quality is far, far better than the DVDs, the CGI looks sharp and I can play it full screen on my computer monitor and the picture doesn't look fuzzy or anything. It's not HD quality, but it'll do. Weird that not all episodes have been remastered - maybe it's a gradual project and eventually they all will. If they could release a new box set with these versions, I'd be made up.

One interesting thing to note, on the remastered versions they seem to have replaced the font used for the actor/character titles at the beginning.

 

[Looney]

HAHA!!!! Maybe I'm not so crazy after all..... :dancing:

 

[Bester]

Well I noticed that my Amazon streaming versions are all now full frame instead of widescreen. I mean we know I am crazy, but I didn't watch any episodes for about a month and I swear they were widescreen before. I wonder if Amazon is somehow sourcing them form iTunes or Vudu now?!

Forgive my ignorance, but does that mean if I buy all the episodes now, Amazon will upgrade them to the remastered versions automatically as/when they become available?

 

[Springer]

Well I noticed that my Amazon streaming versions are all now full frame instead of widescreen. I mean we know I am crazy, but I didn't watch any episodes for about a month and I swear they were widescreen before. I wonder if Amazon is somehow sourcing them form iTunes or Vudu now?!

Forgive my ignorance, but does that mean if I buy all the episodes now, Amazon will upgrade them to the remastered versions automatically as/when they become available?

I'm not sure about Amazon, but Apple has automatically upgraded the episodes I'd purchased on iTunes, I can either stream them or re-download them into my computer.

 

[Bester]

Thanks. I would assume Amazon is the same. Damn, now I'm wishing I would have bought the series when each season was £4.99 a few weeks back.

 

[Looney]

Don't get too excited. Reports are that things are VERY screwed up. From what I've read possibly more so with Amazon than iTunes. Missing scenes, mis-titled episodes, out of order episodes, is what I've seen so far. Hopefully someone is working to fix the mistakes.

 

[Springer]

Don't get too excited. Reports are that things are VERY screwed up. From what I've read possibly more so with Amazon than iTunes. Missing scenes, mis-titled episodes, out of order episodes, is what I've seen so far. Hopefully someone is working to fix the mistakes.

Interesting – I'll have to look out for those errors; I've only got season 3 and a selection of season 1 and 2 episodes downloaded on iTunes, but from what I'd heard, they'd included the correct credits sequences in Points of Departure and Revelations, and fixed some other errors from the DVDs. They've also changed the font of all the credit text, which makes it more difficult to read 'cos it's got this horrible drop shadow. Also gone has Harlan Ellison's voice-over at the end of each episode, which I miss.

One episode I'm particularly looking forward to seeing in 4:3 again is A Distant Star – in the DVD version, the Starfury that flies beneath the Cortez to provide a sense of scale is chopped off the bottom of the screen, showing just how much they zoomed in for the widescreen effect.

 

[Bester]

All references to the episodes being 'Remastered' have now been removed from Amazon UK. Very strange.

 

[Looney]

All references to the episodes being 'Remastered' have now been removed from Amazon UK. Very strange.

Oh wow! I wonder if it is because people are complaining about the mistakes. Makes sense that you wouldn't want to advertise them as "Re-Mastered" if there are big errors popping up.