Why do old 1080p tv show look like crap

[dxblord 0]

I have notice that all old 1080p video look fuzzy.

Video file can go up to 1 gb but all I see is fuzzy grainy mess,

it it a codec issue?

Title1080p HEVC

CodecHEVC

ProfileMain 10

Level120

Resolution1920x1080

Aspect Ratio16:9

InterlacedNo

Framerate24

Bitrate5,142 kbps

Color Primariesbt709

Color Spacebt709

Color Transferbt709

Bit Depth10 bit

Pixel Formatyuv420p10le

Reference Frames1

[RanmaCanada 345]

Because they are improperly upscaled, and interlaced to shit.  Most studios don't do the proper filtering that is required, and it shows.  Most old TV shows, unless they have been remastered, are better at their original release resolution.

Adding more pixels doesn't make something look better, as you can't magically make more information out of nothing.

[Luke 37065]

How does it compare to playing the file directly on the server machine?

[Happy2Play 8282]

Is the issue specific to HEVC 10bit?  All Clients?  External players?

[dxblord 0]

7 hours ago, Luke said:

How does it compare to playing the file directly on the server machine?

7 hours ago, Happy2Play said:

Is the issue specific to HEVC 10bit?  All Clients?  External players?

its even like this in VLC in my PC and I thought maybe maybe its codec or upscale issue. (that's why I didn't specify emby and wrote the thread in general discussion)

I have notice that a lot of old tv show like monk and the middle got an 108op with the same issue. 

I think Ranma canada have a point because I found an ep with less blurry image.

 

[RanmaCanada 345]

You have to remember that most "older" shows were recorded on tape.  Not film, but actual tape, think VHS to make things easier.  Now as time goes by, the tapes degrade and so does the picture.  The tape can also only "hold" so many pixels of information when they are rescanned and upscaled, so you are trying to take something that is 320x480 and trying to increase that to 1920x1080.  Old analogue TV was 440x486 (NTSC), and the way that tube tvs handled it was pretty good as they could interpolate the picture great.  You really need to know a lot of "useless" information to understand all this, or just be old and have experienced the shift.  Now much older shows were actually recorded on film, but that is a post for another time.

[Gilgamesh_48 943]

45 minutes ago, RanmaCanada said:

Now much older shows were actually recorded on film, but that is a post for another time.

It is actually quite amazing to see what was done early on. A lot of time the "choice" of media for recording TV was a matter of money.

Like Superman was the first TV show recorded in color (but broadcast in black and white) not because they wanted color but because it was a LOT cheaper to buy and use ends and pieces and, sometimes, they even got full rolls at reduced prices all acquired from the various movie companies.

The first TV show broadcast in color was "The Beverly Hillbillies" but "Superman" was filmed in color and today you can find the entire series in color. I found an entire box set in a "sale" bin in an independent video store that was closing because they could not compete with Blockbuster and then a year or so later Blockbuster went belly up because they could not compete with online services.

I wonder how many gems like I found are now relegated to storage facilities and the like? ripping the Superman series was a tedious process because of the fact that they did not really follow any standards for naming and they quite often combined two or three shows into one long video. I no longer find the old "Sale bins" because there is so little, other than the newest shows, released on DVD.

Edited December 12, 2021 by Gilgamesh_48

[RanmaCanada 345]

Yes and money is why they moved to tape, and why a lot of companies wiped the tapes after the season was over to re-use them, to "save money".  It is also why so much media is lost these days and will never be found again.  Essentially an entire generation of TV programs and history is gone because studios wanted to save a few bucks.

[Deathsquirrel 741]

From the media info posted in the screenshot, I'll offer another possible explanation.  You're downloading poorly reencoded rips.

A 22 minute sitcom at in H264 at 1080P runs around 3GB on disc.  You may be able to reduce that a bit by switching to a newer codecs but if you do a bad job reencoding the results look shitty.  Further, a lot of 'HD' content comes from a SD source and while there isn't a lot of interlaced blu-ray content, the amount is definitely greater than zero.

[RanmaCanada 345]

4 hours ago, Deathsquirrel said:

From the media info posted in the screenshot, I'll offer another possible explanation.  You're downloading poorly reencoded rips.

A 22 minute sitcom at in H264 at 1080P runs around 3GB on disc.  You may be able to reduce that a bit by switching to a newer codecs but if you do a bad job reencoding the results look shitty.  Further, a lot of 'HD' content comes from a SD source and while there isn't a lot of interlaced blu-ray content, the amount is definitely greater than zero.

The file they posted is 5mbit, more than enough for 1080p TV with HEVC (this isn't a 1mbit x264 YIFY).  There is also the issue that HEVC is still horrible when it comes to dealing with grain.

[ebr 14913]

I think this really comes down to the fact that there is no such thing as an old 1080p TV show .  So, any old TV content you have in that format has been converted in some way (and, perhaps not very well).

[Gilgamesh_48 943]

11 minutes ago, ebr said:

I think this really comes down to the fact that there is no such thing as an old 1080p TV show .  So, any old TV content you have in that format has been converted in some way (and, perhaps not very well).

Yes there are a few depending on how they were recorded. The old "Superman" series was filmed on pretty good color stock and it is possible to find the series remastered from the film and that is at least 1080p. But, mostly, you are correct as most were recorded on media that is well below 1080p in fact many seem at or below 240p.

[Deathsquirrel 741]

On 12/14/2021 at 1:54 PM, ebr said:

I think this really comes down to the fact that there is no such thing as an old 1080p TV show .  So, any old TV content you have in that format has been converted in some way (and, perhaps not very well).

Depends how old.  Lots of shows were recorded on actual film rather than tape and most of the film formats used were large enough to benefit from HD.  Once you get into shows from the 80s-90s there's a pretty good chance they were recorded on tape.  Even later shows on film, like ST:TNG or Stargate, had all the effects done at really low res and require basically starting over on the effects if you want a HD presentation.