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Janet Jackson put something about her videos remastered on her Instagram the other day. This is probably part of that.

A snip:

I watched some Billy Idol videos & Sabotage by Beastie Boys and I could tell the difference. Then I watched Control and it didn't look any better to me, maybe the sound quality was better.

I would bet "Control" hasn't bee done yet. "What Have You Done For Me Lately" and "When I Think Of You" look really clear and nice. I look forward to "Control" being clearer. I didn't check "Nasty" or "Let's Wait Awhile".

TrivialPursuit said:

I would bet "Control" hasn't bee done yet. "What Have You Done For Me Lately" and "When I Think Of You" look really clear and nice. I look forward to "Control" being clearer. I didn't check "Nasty" or "Let's Wait Awhile".

It says it's been remastered and you can click HD on it. I don't think it has any special effects in it, which would have most likely been edited on videotape, even if the original footage was on film. I've seen the short clip for the restored Michael Jackson Thriller 3D Imax on Youtube and there's really a difference compared to any of these Universal videos. Thriller was only show before a Jack Black movie for the first week only and the Imax version of the movie at that. So I guess not that many people have seen it. Many small towns do not have Imax screens, if they have a movie theater at all.

MickyDolenz said:

TrivialPursuit said:

I would bet "Control" hasn't bee done yet. "What Have You Done For Me Lately" and "When I Think Of You" look really clear and nice. I look forward to "Control" being clearer. I didn't check "Nasty" or "Let's Wait Awhile".

It says it's been remastered and you can click HD on it. I don't think it has any special effects in it, which would have most likely been edited on videotape, even if the original footage was on film. I've seen the short clip for the restored Michael Jackson Thriller 3D Imax on Youtube and there's really a difference compared to any of these Universal videos. Thriller was only show before a Jack Black movie for the first week only and the Imax version of the movie at that. So I guess not that many people have seen it. Many small towns do not have Imax screens, if they have a movie theater at all.

I've not watched "Control" in a browser, just on my FireTV. I'll double check the HD setting to be sure it's getting the right one. But it sure fuzzes out compared to the other two I mentioned. I think even the video tape is clearer than what's on YT right now. It's my fave Control-era video.

Janet Jackson's Instagram said "Control", "What Have You Done For Me Lately", and "When I Think Of You" are in HD.

Cinny said:

Janet Jackson's Instagram said "Control", "What Have You Done For Me Lately", and "When I Think Of You" are in HD.

The last time I saw "Control", it was widescreen. It ended there. The others are definite upgrades. I look forward to more.

Those videos don't look HD at all. They just took the standard-definition video and upscaled it, with some filter to counter pixilization. There was no remastering, look what difference an actual remaster looks like, when they did it to Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" in 4K resolution: https://www.youtube.com/w...9ApMdwmN34

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With that said, it's very possible that those late 1990s/early 2000s videos were shot on HD digital cameras, so it's not so difficult to get them in HD - even it it's not pristine 1080p quality. However, videos from the 80s in SD upscaled is just false advertising.

[Edited 6/29/19 5:09am]

Matthaus said:

Those videos don't look HD at all. They just took the standard-definition video and upscaled it, with some filter to counter pixilization. There was no remastering, look what difference an actual remaster looks like, when they did it to Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" in 4K resolution: https://www.youtube.com/w...9ApMdwmN34

Why is it letterboxed though? That wasn't done with Thriller 3D.

MickyDolenz said:

Matthaus said:

Those videos don't look HD at all. They just took the standard-definition video and upscaled it, with some filter to counter pixilization. There was no remastering, look what difference an actual remaster looks like, when they did it to Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" in 4K resolution: https://www.youtube.com/w...9ApMdwmN34

Why is it letterboxed though? That wasn't done with Thriller 3D.

I think it's just them being faithful to the scale they were shot in. I wouldn't want a square-shaped video restored with the image stretched like a rectangle.

Matthaus said:

I think it's just them being faithful to the scale they were shot in. I wouldn't want a square-shaped video restored with the image stretched like a rectangle.

I don't know. It looks like they cut off the top & bottom of the picture to me. The 1st is the original, the 2nd is the restored. I have Peter's music video compilation on DVD.

MickyDolenz said:

I don't know. It looks like they cut off the top & bottom of the picture to me. The 1st is the original, the 2nd is the restored. I have Peter's music video compilation on DVD.

Oh Maybe it's only in the trailer? I didn't have the chance to watch the whole video in 4K, perhaps then there's no loss of image.

I prefer having a vertical matte border than cutting off the top and bottom to fit current day (cinema aspect ratio) screens.

Anyone seen the reruns for A Different World? Everyone's fades are cropped off the top too!

Cinny said:

I prefer having a vertical matte border than cutting off the top and bottom to fit current day (cinema aspect ratio) screens.

Anyone seen the reruns for A Different World? Everyone's fades are cropped off the top too!

It's even worse when some TV channels stretch the picture on old shows and it's distorted. There'a a lot of that on Youtube too from people posting stuff they recorded on videotape. there's one Youtube channel that has old rap videos which stretches them. I'd rather watch the old pan & scan on VHS than that.

Some other examples of actual music video restorations:

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Oasis' "D'You Know What I Mean?":

Original from 1997: https://www.youtube.com/w...jwRIjrC4io

Restored in 2016: https://www.youtube.com/w...yJU2136ym4

In this case, it looks like the aspect ratio is corrected with the restoration. The original looks stretched sideways.

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David Bowie's "Life On Mars?"

Original from 1973: https://www.youtube.com/w...ZKcl4-tcuo

New version from 2016 (uses a different version of the song and adds outtakes): https://www.youtube.com/w...ipTt-qqZOE

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Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever", from 1967

Restored in 2015: https://www.youtube.com/w...tUH9z_Oey8

It was shot on film (as most of their videos) but only available in standard-def until restored.

They have put out a blu-ray compilation of those restored videos as well as television performances from them that were shot on tape - 60s tape, enhanced for HD screens.

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But after the fiasco of "Te Amo Corazón" in glorios 240p, I'd say 480p videos with less digital compression is always welcomed.

[Edited 7/4/19 8:02am]

MickyDolenz said:

Cinny said:

I prefer having a vertical matte border than cutting off the top and bottom to fit current day (cinema aspect ratio) screens.

Anyone seen the reruns for A Different World? Everyone's fades are cropped off the top too!

It's even worse when some TV channels stretch the picture on old shows and it's distorted. There'a a lot of that on Youtube too from people posting stuff they recorded on videotape. there's one Youtube channel that has old rap videos which stretches them. I'd rather watch the old pan & scan on VHS than that.

I know the one! Everyone's got the Paula Abdul "Promise Of A New Day" stretch on them, but actually they look wider.

Matthaus said:

Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever", from 1967

Restored in 2015: https://www.youtube.com/w...tUH9z_Oey8

It was shot on film (as most of their videos) but only available in standard-def until restored.

They have put out a blu-ray compilation of those restored videos as well as television performances from them that were shot on tape - 60s tape, enhanced for HD screens.

Videotape can't be restored or made into 4K though, can it?

Film can be enhanced to 4K but videotape can't.

Cinny said:

Film can be enhanced to 4K but videotape can't.

I have a DVD set of a 1970s PBS show called Black Omnibus which was shot on videotape. It says on the box that there's defects on the original tapes. The quality is not that bad, just occasional parts have audio/video defects. It's more the historical value of the show that's important. Even if this was on film, I doubt they would have restored it, because there probably is not much of a demand for the show to justify the expense. I don't think a lot of people know that the show exists.

MickyDolenz said:

Cinny said:

Never heard of the show. Official DVD?

Yep. I don't bother with bootlegs, the only ones I have somebody gave them to me and it's old Jackson 5 TV appearances and The Jacksons variety show. I doubt that any of that is going to get an official release. They just copied stuff recorded on videotape from TV to a DVD, so not really a bootleg. It's like making a cassette from an album or the radio.

MickyDolenz said:

Matthaus said:

Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever", from 1967

Restored in 2015: https://www.youtube.com/w...tUH9z_Oey8

It was shot on film (as most of their videos) but only available in standard-def until restored.

They have put out a blu-ray compilation of those restored videos as well as television performances from them that were shot on tape - 60s tape, enhanced for HD screens.

Videotape can't be restored or made into 4K though, can it?

In those cases, I suppose they digitally altered the contrast so that it wouldn't look blurry on an HD screen, but there's no new information on the image on putting it on blu-ray. So you could put 480p film on a huge 4K screen, it's just that it would not show any new level of detail - 480p is its maximum resolution. Some people who work with film/cinema would say that's wrong to work those things onto SD video, that it's akin to stretching out a small photograph, but anyway.

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It's like when you watch videos recorded with late-90s digital cameras, which were all SD-480p resolution, then compare it with something shot in the 60s/70s on 16mm or 35mm film. If you play all of those on a HD screen, they will all look super clear, but the level of detail on the videos shot on film will far surpass (in details level, at least) the digital video look.

[Edited 7/9/19 8:59am]

Since Universal lost a lot of original master tapes of music in a fire, I wonder did they keep the music video footage somewhere else. Since old videos were usually edited on videotape, many of these uploads might not actually be remastered. Like I mentioned, Janet Jackson's Control doesn't look very good. But Sabotage by Beastie Boys does. Thriller 3D was scanned from the original film footage and maybe the Sledgehammer video too. The difference is really noticable with those.

MickyDolenz said:

Since Universal lost a lot of original master tapes of music in a fire, I wonder did they keep the music video footage somewhere else.

I am pretty much wondering this with every reissue coming out now, especially any artist who was on MCA. Belinda Carlisle especially is busy reissuing her stuff, and has a new double CD of hits. Gotta wonder what library they are pulling these from. Apparently there are copies stored the world over.

Guilty feet and all.

https://www.youtube.com/w...wMK8JVWkBE