Isn't Star Trek owned by Paramount?

So are the HD versions actually decent video, or did Universal just run them through an upscaling converter to make money?

Is there a high-definition master for the TOS shows? I'm pretty sure that they were recorded in NTSC, and so there's simply not any more data.

Given that NTSC data can be stored at 1GB/hr or better, and given than a HD-DVD is >23 GB, shouldn't all of the episodes have fit on one DVD?

Are they doing something silly like storing 320-line video as a 1080 video? I'm pretty sure compression would allow that upscaling without a loss of quality.

Set phaser to geek!
Anyway, let's see if the old school Star Trek fans will bite. I cannot stand the first Star Trek, cuz I am a Next Generation and Deep Space geek. Get those out on HD DVD and I will set my phaser to new school geek.

The thing the Bluray folks dont realize... is consumers see value in multiple disk editions of shows and movies. So even if HD DVD could store 100GB, this would come out multidisk so the studios can charge more money and the consumers still see value.

Of course old school fans will bite... Kirk, Spock and Mc Coy: that's how we roll !!!

Just ignore Richards's post... cause he obviously has brain damage if he liked Deep Space Nine. Those losers didn't boldly go anywhere... they sat around on a space station. BORING!

I would imagine it is 5 Discs so they can fir all the episode on the DVD side, where the HD-DVD probably could have been a lot less.

Anyone seen top gun in 1080p, it wasn't shot in HD and it still looks unbeleivable

I believe this set is for the "Re-mastered" versions of the show that have been coming out slowly over the past year.

They've redone all the video, and added alot of special effects (the outside views of the Enterprise are all done in CG now). They've also tweaked a few scenes here and there, and everything is in widescreen now.

Check out http://www.startrek.com/startr...28095.html

Didn't it air in the fall of 1966? I'd rather wait til all three seasons come out on one massive package before buying it.

I believe the original trek was shot with 35mm film. The resolution of said film can yield quite a nice hidef transfer if it is done properly. Just because something originally aired on tv doesnt mean is was shot in ntsc mode. Remember in the days of early trek videotape was not king.

Star Trek was recorded on 16mm film, then converted to NTSC. Also, the "on-screen" display was done with film. That's why they need lots of noises (beeps, boops, etc.) to cover up the film projector noise.

TOS season 1 DVD on 8 disks. How do you get 10 with HD? Answer: You would feel ripped off if you bought all of them on one disk. Microsoft Math, make it look like you are getting more.

I caught a few episodes of th TOS HD that has been broadcast late night over the air. I would think that any of the TOS fans would enjoy what they have done to make it look good in HD. From a videophile stand point I love what the PS3 does to my DVD collection, which ends up making DVDs look better than upscaled broadcasts, but not quite as good at the HD remastered versions of the content.

For example, Enterprise looks almost like 720pHD on the PS3.

I hope when they do the TNG series on HD, they do Blu-Ray.

Guess i won't be buying that anytime soon 200 bucks for 1 season lol oooook.

Just goes to show you that hd-dvd movies are NOT cheap.

I can get 1st season of star trek on dvd for 39.95
and it looks great upscaled on my ps3.

"This promotion runs from the November release date to February 29, 2008, and it requires participants to purchase both the HD DVD set and the Toshiba player within that time frame."

Even the cheapest $199 HD-DVD player does a brilliant job of upscaling regular DVDs. If you've got an HDTV and a large DVD collection, it's worth it.

TOS was shot on film, but TNG/DS9/Voy were all shot on videotape, correct?

Does videotape have enough information in it that it could ever be remastered in HD?

[Technically, anything can be remastered in HD. The actual studio BETA tapes would have enough information, but regular videotape, it would look like a slightly enhanced version of the video. -Rick]

>Is there a high-definition master for the TOS shows?
>I'm pretty sure that they were recorded in NTSC,
>and so there's simply not any more data.

Hello...
☼-1968-☼.
TOS was shot on film (as was TNG. I assume DS9 and Voyager were also), likely 35mm. There's more information there than you can shake a stick at.

This is why one puts it on ones wish list and give lots of hints to others. :) It is definitely on this Trekkie's wish list. :)

[Trekker. Trekker. Say it with me. Trekker. -Rick]

Yes, this set is all remastered with new CGI effects, however the 4:3 ratio was left intact.
This set is not in 16:9 widescreen. If you went to see "The Menagerie" in its small theater run, you would have seen the commentary by Gene Roddenberry's son who stated that to preserve the original feel of the show and to avoid having to 'crop and stretch' the original image, the 4:3 ratio was left the way it was.
It does not state anywhere on that page you linked to about 16:9, so don't jump to conclusions.
The new effects shots are done in widescreen, so don't confuse that with the entire original footage being changed to widescreen.

Of course, if you really want the Widescreen, it was released in Japan in 16:9 for some reason, so you can go ahead an import it if you really want to.

This series was shot on film which, when remastered, should give a much better picture than original NTSC. Even if shot on 16 mm. It was only broadcast in NTSC; they used film to "film" it.

Same with Top Gun and a number of older movies. Any movies shot on video (from big production houses, at least) was shot on HD video so it will transfer nicely (e.g. Star Wars). Also as Rick pointed out Digital Beta, while not as good as shooting on an HD video format natively, would still give a much better picture than VHS, but DVD is pretty good with this stuff, so the difference between DVD and HD-DVD/BD may not really be noticeable.

Why on God's green earth would anyone go through all the trouble of remastering something so meticulously for HD DVD, and then present it in the old, outdated 1.33:1 or 4x3 screen aspect ratio? What, just because it was originally presented on old square TV sets? Baloney! All HD sets are widescreen, or 16x9 aspect ratio, and since the original series was filmed in Panavision, Paramount should give the series to us in widescreen or not at all! So I guess we can look forward to having to shell out another $200 bucks down the road when they re-issue the series on HD DVD a second time, only in widescreen? What a ripoff! Thanks for nothing Paramount!

"TOS was shot on film, but TNG/DS9/Voy were all shot on videotape, correct?"

No. Every season of TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, and ENT (except Season 4) was shot on 35mm.

"Does videotape have enough information in it that it could ever be remastered in HD?"

There are excellent hardware format converters that can do a pretty good job with creating HD-res video from SD sources, which DOES look better than the original, but not as good as something originating in HD.


"Why on God's green earth would anyone go through all the trouble of remastering something so meticulously for HD DVD, and then present it in the old, outdated 1.33:1 or 4x3 screen aspect ratio?"

Obviously, TOS was shot full-frame, and wasn't a center-punch (using a "frame-within-a-frame" method), thus not having anything on either side of the 1.33 frame to make a 1.78 frame with. Cropping and blowing-up the 1.33 frame to 1.78 would cut out pieces of the original, and wouldn't be a good thing to do. Basically, that's how it was captured on the film, so that's what you get. Don't look for widescreen Andy Griffith, either. :)

tim