Alec Bray
The following was posted by Chris Long on Facebook:
A reminder that even in more recent decades, the quality of television images, especially scanned from film, has leapt ahead. The left picture is one that I took from the screen of our family TV – analogue 625 line b&w – exactly 50 years ago. This was considered good domestic quality at that time (1974). On the right is a photo from the 1080p digital transmission of the same film frame, two weeks ago. The film is THE SECRET BEYOND THE DOOR (1947) and the actress is Joan Bennett. EVERYTHING has improved – definition, grey scale, full rectangular image reproduced without the corners cut off by CRT overscan, horizontal linearity, more exact maintenance of picture ratio, the overall standard of telecine, and probably even the swap of 16mm film source material for 35mm. We take it all for granted – but the quality has come this far, even on old source material, in the last fifty years.
Nick Ware
I couldn’t agree more. Technology has moved on! Image enhancement and manipulation possibilities are almost unlimited. Even my Sony Alpha DSLR has all that built in, in the form of massively clever AI. Plus, of course, ever more advanced editing software. My gripe is that production, acting, lighting and sound operational techniques haven’t kept pace. What was corner cut-off on a CRT seems to have been replaced almost as a matter of routine with a black band top and bottom because some folk think it looks better if not shot 16×9 (the format of all TV’s, ffs.)
We watched and actually enjoyed The Jetty last week, and although we found the plot intriguing, the imagery and dialogue (even for a ‘dark’ drama) was pretty dire.
Not all technical advance is for the better if the human element can’t or won’t keep pace, I’m afraid, as the coming years will show.
Graeme Wall
Interesting comparison, also modern digital stills cameras get much better results than the panchromatic film of 50 years ago!
Sara Newman
That’s amazing !
Dave Newbitt
That really is a revelation Alec.
