[geeks] 1080p TV broadcasts?

[Andrew Jones]

On Mon, Jun 14, 2010 at 04:39:04PM -0700, Sheldon T. Hall wrote:
> Quoth Mike Meredith ...
>  
> > I don't know how much TV was originally mastered on film, but 
> > certainly "The Prisoner" (ok, that was ITV) was originally on 
> > 35mm film.
> 
> I was in a beer commercial that was shot on 35mm, in 1982.
> 
> -Shel

I'm not an expert; I only follow this stuff  because I want ever-better
DVD and HD releases of old TV shows.

Film was a big part of 50s-80s TV.  Some of it was cheap 16mm film, some
was almost cinema-quality.

TV started to be mastered on video in the 80s.  Most notably: There
are *no* good copies of Star Trek: The Next Generation.   It was shot
on video, edited on video, and aired from video.  The DVDs don't really
look any better than broadcast reruns.

There were still some holdouts into the 90s. Rumor has it that "Frasier"
and "Seinfeld" were both shot on film.  I hold out hope for HD releases.

Unfortunately, many things that were shot on film were edited or mastered
using either lower-grade film, or worse, cheap video.  For TV shows less 
"classic" than Star Trek: TOS or The Prisoner, there may never be the 
budget to go back to the original film, assuming it still exists.