Let’s do more lines

Posted on November 22, 2004 by Gene

It’s ironic.
The quality of television resolution has increased over time, from rudimentary pictures at only 50 lines to today’s 1080-line HDTV. With changing standards, producers risk obsolescence of their shows when they make choices of production equipment.
The irony is this: the 1950s television show “I Love Lucy” was produced on 35mm film, which is a high resolution medium. It’s not locked into a certain number of lines of resolution. Thus, “I Love Lucy”, which was originally seen on flickering low-res sets in the 1950s, could easily be broadcast today on high definition receivers, showing all the flaws and details never seen before.
But a show made on videotape, say, “All In The Family,” is not only of too low resolution to broadcast in HD, the tapes themselves are in danger of being lost.
Thus, Lucy = high definition, Archie = low def.
A lot of programs today are being produced in high definition; the problem is that they are digital from start to finish, recorded on high definition video cameras. They look great now, but what happens 20 years from now when the tapes or discs are unreadable or the standards have changed? What will they look like on broadcasts of 3,000 lines or more? “Star Trek” will still exist, ready to be seen in ultra high def. But “Star Trek Enterprise” will be lost. Some people will probably think that’s the way it should be.
It seems to me that film is still the only way to go for longevity and quality.