Snarky Oracle!
Telly Talk Supreme
They did -- Travilla was now gone.
Travilla over-dressed them in Season 9. The costumes for Season 10 were ...... snazzy.
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Dallas To Get Remastered In HD
- Thread starter Garry
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They did -- Travilla was now gone.
Travilla over-dressed them in Season 9. The costumes for Season 10 were ...... snazzy.
Grangehill1
Telly Talk Fan
I didn’t realise Travilla was gone for ten. Yes his stuff was over the top in season 9 but 10’was woeful. I mean who put Deborah Winger in that hideous dress for the Oil Barons Ball?!!!
Rove
Telly Talk Warrior
If there was a time in human history when climate change began it was Mandy Wingers tin foil dress. Earth has never recovered.
Snarky Oracle!
Telly Talk Supreme
I would !!!
Matthew Blaisdel
Telly Talk Star
Oh boy ... sorry for interrupting this celebration.
I'm quite dissappointed they chose the way of AI upscale for season 10. I mean, it's almost no effort there. There are 2 year old clips on youtube where fans of Star Trek Voyager used the Topaz AI upscale video filter for some scenes of the old DVD release and the result is of similar HD quality.
But that's far away from what a scan of the original film elements could offer, let alone the loss of film grain and so much detail information in the picture.
As nice as it looks at first sight - in the end it is (and remains) just an upscale of again the old existing betacam stuff with a little color correction and new titles inserted. And I guess this is what we can expect with the later seasons of the other shows like Knots Landing and Falcon Crest as well, really a shame.
What they have done here, everyone can do by himself nowadays already at home with the old DVDs, the Topaz AI video upscaler, a fast PC and some waiting time, you don't need Warners to do that for you and you definitely don't need to buy a new box set for that.
Was that just an exception, or will they go this cheap route with all the remaining seasons?
By the way, the new font is exactly the same that was used for the last two remastered Dynasty seasons, so i guess they just went with some kind of standard font instead of looking for a font that would match the original.
This whole remastering project started out so well ... and now went downhill exactly at the point that would have gained the most, which is quite ridiculous imo.
What a letdown.
I'm quite dissappointed they chose the way of AI upscale for season 10. I mean, it's almost no effort there. There are 2 year old clips on youtube where fans of Star Trek Voyager used the Topaz AI upscale video filter for some scenes of the old DVD release and the result is of similar HD quality.
But that's far away from what a scan of the original film elements could offer, let alone the loss of film grain and so much detail information in the picture.
As nice as it looks at first sight - in the end it is (and remains) just an upscale of again the old existing betacam stuff with a little color correction and new titles inserted. And I guess this is what we can expect with the later seasons of the other shows like Knots Landing and Falcon Crest as well, really a shame.
What they have done here, everyone can do by himself nowadays already at home with the old DVDs, the Topaz AI video upscaler, a fast PC and some waiting time, you don't need Warners to do that for you and you definitely don't need to buy a new box set for that.
Was that just an exception, or will they go this cheap route with all the remaining seasons?
By the way, the new font is exactly the same that was used for the last two remastered Dynasty seasons, so i guess they just went with some kind of standard font instead of looking for a font that would match the original.
This whole remastering project started out so well ... and now went downhill exactly at the point that would have gained the most, which is quite ridiculous imo.
What a letdown.
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Oh boy ... sorry for interrupting this celebration.
I'm quite dissappointed they chose the way of AI upscale for season 10. I mean, it's almost no effort there. There are 2 year old clips on youtube where fans of Star Trek Voyager used the Topaz AI upscale video filter for some scenes of the old DVD release and the result is of similar HD quality.
But that's far away from what a scan of the original film elements could offer, let alone the loss of film grain and so much detail information in the picture.
As nice as it looks at first sight - in the end it is (and remains) just an upscale of again the old existing betacam stuff with a little color correction and new titles inserted. And I guess this is what we can expect with the later seasons of the other shows like Knots Landing and Falcon Crest as well, really a shame.
What they have done here, everyone can do by himself nowadays already at home with the old DVDs, the Topaz AI video upscaler, a fast PC and some waiting time, you don't need Warners to do that for you and you definitely don't need to buy a new box set for that.
Was that just an exception, or will they go this cheap route with all the remaining seasons?
By the way, the new font is exactly the same that was used for the last two remastered Dynasty seasons, so i guess they just went with some kind of standard font instead of looking for a font that would match the original.
This whole remastering project started out so well ... and now went downhill exactly at the point that would have gained the most, which is quite ridiculous imo.
What a letdown.
I agree with a lot Matthew Blaisdel said.
But it's not a simple AI upscale for everything. From what I understand, a simple AI upscale was only applied to the main title of season 10 (and also the following years).
The episodes themselves were remastered from the earliest available master, which is the answer print. The problem with seasons 10 (DVD count) and beyond, however, is that no classic answer print (in terms of a traditionally edited film elements) exists because Lorimar did all the editing on the Ediflex, an early video editing system, at the time. The AI software now used to digitize that answer print automatically improves the picture quality in a way that the result becomes visually comparable to a classic answer print. I agree with Matthew Blaisdel that digitizing the original film elements would have been a lot better because software-generated improvements will always lead to a loss of detail and make human skin appear softened while they create an artificial over-sharpness of the picture at the same time, hence the slightly unnatural overall look. It will be interesting to see what happens when it comes to details like newspapers placed as props here and there or license plates on picture cars. All these little details are legible quite well whenever the picture is remastered from a traditional answer print (like in the first nine seasons). From that standpoint, I do understand the criticism and also feel uneasy about the result.
However, since there is no traditional answer print available for these seasons, there's simply no other option. Okay, I hear some of you say, "the original picture negative is still available", but the OPN is unedited in this case because the editing was entirely done on video. The only way to treat seasons 10 and beyond for an equal result as the earlier seasons would have been to reconstruct the whole editing process from scratch... Even I, as a quality purist, see why this is not a viable idea. It is not only a super-lengthy and hyper-expensive process, but also a process in which hundreds of mistakes are more than likely to happen in each episode because the new editors would basically have to recreate every cut in every single scene. It is unrealistic to think that this could actually work. As disappointing as this may be in a way, the way of remastering WB chose for season 10 and beyond seems to be the only realistic option, at least from today's technical standards.
What also worries me, though, is that recreating the credits is also prone to errors, whether these be typos. the selection of the wrong font or the exact position of the text elements.
"Dallas" may be quite easy as far as fonts are concerned, though, because they are generic, but I wonder what will happen when it comes to remastering "Knots Landing" and "Falcon Crest". Both these shows used individually designed or significantly modified lettering at least for the show title in some seasons, which are hard to reconstruct, let alone the falcon logo from "Falcon Crest" with all its different shapes and color shades over the various seasons.
But we will see if that happens and what happens.
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Matthew Blaisdel
Telly Talk Star
No, the opening credits are just a normal, simple upscale, no AI involved there. The AI (adding cumputergenerized things to the picture, that weren't there before) was done to the episodes. And that's what the Topaz AI HD upscaler does - for everyone to buy for like 200 bucks.
Why they didn't even use that for the opening credits as well? Don't ask me, it wouldn't have cost them more, maybe a day or two extra rendering time, but the result would look much better than it does now with that "normal" upscale process.
But it was done with several other shows of that era already ... Star Trek TNG, The X-Files ... or even a minor popular show like MacGyver, which was completely edited on video for it's whole 7 seasons run and the elements were put all together again scene by scene and all seasons are available now as true film scans in HD. That process is available for some years now and i think Star Trek TNG started that and it became quite automated and much more affordable lately. The only obstacle that would make this expensive is, if Dallas was a sci-fi-show with many effect shots to be upscaled and recreated, but that isn't the case with those big primetime soap operas of the 80s.
Warner just took the cheapest and easiest way here, and i can't and won't excuse that for such a huge worldwide success show like Dallas.
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Matthew Blaisdel
Telly Talk Star
Here's an example of what Topaz AI HD upscaler can do.
The source material is the official regular NTSC-DVD release, so not even from an answer print or something like that.
That's what everyone can do at home today with standard SD material from blurry NTSC masters:
The source material is the official regular NTSC-DVD release, so not even from an answer print or something like that.
That's what everyone can do at home today with standard SD material from blurry NTSC masters:
The later seasons of Cheers, edited on video, were also reconstructed. But Dallas hasn’t had the syndication afterlife of a Cheers or a Star Trek, so I’m not surprised WB is taking shortcuts. I’m honestly grateful for what we’re getting (and yes, I’d prefer episodes reconstructed from the original film elements).
Rove
Telly Talk Warrior
No need to apologize Matthew. Your thoughts on this issue broadens the debate on this restoration process. While the end result may not be to everyone's liking I'll still be standing in line to purchase the boxset, if and when released.
Snarky Oracle!
Telly Talk Supreme
Well, the only way we'll know the solemn truth as to whether the new HD passes that universal, ultimate DALLAS test: does JR's arm still strobe in freeze frame at the end of "High Noon. for Calhoun"??
Luke_Krebbs_Ewing
Telly Talk Champion
Yeah I'll still be buying it too, I just hope season ten looks as good as those photo's that @Gary Ghoul has been posting because sometimes photo's don't tell the whole story when it comes to watching a DVD or a Blu-ray.
Garry
Telly Talk Fan
You'll just have to judge for yourself by watching the clips uploaded here.I just hope season ten looks as good as those photo's that @Gary Ghoul has been posting because sometimes photo's don't tell the whole story when it comes to watching a DVD or a Blu-ray.
Rove
Telly Talk Warrior
Watching this clip I'm reminded how much Dallas missed the character of Jock. Many argue the best stories evolved from his death - and they did - but when I watch this clip with Cliff entering the room I didn't appreciated the comical entrance and delivery by both the character and actor. This scene required a serious undertone especially so with Miss Ellie in the room. If Jock was still alive I bet this scene would have been played with drama. Unfortunately this is when that slap-stick humour began to creep into the scripts and Dallas was at its best when played straight.
Snarky Oracle!
Telly Talk Supreme
I see what you're saying, but Cliff is having an adolescent schoolboy "nyahh nyahh nyahh nyahh nyahh" reaction because he's finally gotten what he's wanted all of his life: a piece of Ewing Oil.
That said, Ken Kercheval did kind of camp it up this season -- in keeping with where the overall show was going.
Sometimes it worked and was funny (like when Pam tells Cliff that Parmalee is claiming to be Jock) and sometimes it doesn't (like at the beginning of the season when JR upstages Cliff at city hall and Cliff acts like a literal schoolboy).
Snarky Oracle!
Telly Talk Supreme
She's afraid Wes Parmalee will marry Donna Reed. And she'll be forced out of Southfork.
Rove
Telly Talk Warrior
One word from Miss Ellie and those adult men would have quivered. And let's be honest, JR trying to wrestle with Cliff Barnes was laughable. JR was best when he used his mind and the art of subtlety, something he clearly had forgotten as once told by Jock.
Billy Wall
Telly Talk Dream Maker
For the first time, she’s probably seeing just how obnoxious Cliff is and is surprised.