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Babylon 5 has been fully remastered, by the way, available for purchase or on HBO Max. Just dropped last week, and it’s excellent. The previous DVD remaster was

Babylon 5 has been fully remastered, by the way, available for purchase or on HBO Max. Just dropped last week, and it’s excellent. The previous DVD remaster was an abomination. Warner Bros spent 6 years on the new remaster. It was reportedly a labor of love by those involved.

em-bee 6y ago
can you elaborate on how the remastering affects the quality? what do you see in the remastered version that you didn't see in the older version or the original?
- majormajor 6y ago
  I haven't watched the HBO Max version yet, just seen some comparison vids and shots, but the DVD conversion handled the special effects shots very poorly. The original show was broadcast in SD 4:3 which is what the effects were rendered at. The DVD conversion went to 16:9 widescreen, since that's what the film was shot at, but then decided to get 16:9 effects shots by zooming in and cropping the already-low-SD-resolution renders. So it's now basically half resolution, and then run that through an interlaced DVD and put it on a big HDTV, and it looks awful. The effects shots also include a lot of conversations and other shots with people, since they used quite a few virtual sets. From the comparison shots I've seen of the new version, they kept everything 4:3, and instead of cropping the effects shots, did a pretty decent job upscaling them instead. So it's not HD quality like if they were rendered in HD, but at least it's not sub-broadcast-quality anymore.
  - metabagel 6y ago
    That’s a very good explanation. Also, this: https://www.engadget.com/2018-06-22-babylon-5-digital-video-quality.html https://www.engadget.com/2018-06-22-babylon-5-digital-video-... There used to be a website which had examples of the CGI before and after the DVD remaster, but I can’t find it at the moment.
    - dreamcompiler 6y ago
      I knew Ron Thornton a little bit back when he was doing the CGI for B5 because of his use of the Amiga and Lightwave. I didn't know he had died until I saw this article. He was an amazing artist.
  - BerislavLopac 6y ago
    This makes me think - I suppose it should be possible to remake a series like B5 by literally rebuilding all the CGI scenes with modern technology...
    - metabagel 6y ago
      A fan did just that, but it's rather painstaking work. https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2020/07/babylon-5-fan-re-renders-shots-in-hd.html https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2020/07/babylon-5-fan-re-re...

em-bee 6y ago

can you elaborate on how the remastering affects the quality? what do you see in the remastered version that you didn't see in the older version or the original?

majormajor 6y ago
I haven't watched the HBO Max version yet, just seen some comparison vids and shots, but the DVD conversion handled the special effects shots very poorly. The original show was broadcast in SD 4:3 which is what the effects were rendered at. The DVD conversion went to 16:9 widescreen, since that's what the film was shot at, but then decided to get 16:9 effects shots by zooming in and cropping the already-low-SD-resolution renders. So it's now basically half resolution, and then run that through an interlaced DVD and put it on a big HDTV, and it looks awful. The effects shots also include a lot of conversations and other shots with people, since they used quite a few virtual sets. From the comparison shots I've seen of the new version, they kept everything 4:3, and instead of cropping the effects shots, did a pretty decent job upscaling them instead. So it's not HD quality like if they were rendered in HD, but at least it's not sub-broadcast-quality anymore.
- metabagel 6y ago
  That’s a very good explanation. Also, this: https://www.engadget.com/2018-06-22-babylon-5-digital-video-quality.html https://www.engadget.com/2018-06-22-babylon-5-digital-video-... There used to be a website which had examples of the CGI before and after the DVD remaster, but I can’t find it at the moment.
  - dreamcompiler 6y ago
    I knew Ron Thornton a little bit back when he was doing the CGI for B5 because of his use of the Amiga and Lightwave. I didn't know he had died until I saw this article. He was an amazing artist.
- BerislavLopac 6y ago
  This makes me think - I suppose it should be possible to remake a series like B5 by literally rebuilding all the CGI scenes with modern technology...
  - metabagel 6y ago
    A fan did just that, but it's rather painstaking work. https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2020/07/babylon-5-fan-re-renders-shots-in-hd.html https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2020/07/babylon-5-fan-re-re...