What does it mean? "HD remaster"?

[KShinjo]

I was reading the description for the upcoming Macross: DYRL DVD release and it says "HD Remaster".

What do they mean by "HD Remaster"? IIRC DVD doesn't have HD resolution...right? I mean, this DVD release will still be NTSC-J... right?

Am I correct to assume that "HD Remaster" means that they simply went back to the original film or master tape and prepared a new master which would be compatible/ready for a HD media release (HD-DVD/Blu-Ray)??

[kakugo]

Bingo.

Basically they're starting with an HD master and then downscaling it from 1920x1080 to 720x480. Likely the results will still be a lot better than any prior release, especially if all versions before were from composite tape masters, but the DVD won't magically have any more resolution than any other DVD you own.

[nhyone]

I find the video quality from the previous release is already very good, except for its lack of progressive-ness. (And apparent inability to IVTC, according to someone who tried.)

I'll most likely skip the limited edition and get just the normal edition if the video quality is much better, although I don't see how it can be.

[Buster Darkwings]

Unfortunately, "HD Remaster" does not always mean A+ DVD video quality. Quite a few releases were apparently remastered at 1080i and then downscaled to 480p@24fps, causing aliasing. These include Nadesico, Card Captor Sakura, Patlabor (OVAs&TV), and probably some others.

Other HD Remaster releases have edge enhancement (and it's quite noticeable when displayed with my new Sony projector on a 100" screen), such as Gundam 0083, Gundam 08th MS Team, and Macross Plus OVAs (haven't checked out the movie version yet).

These artifacts should hopefully be corrected when a Blu-ray version is released, so if you have your eye on a particular release you might want to hold out a little while longer, at least until someone else checks it out.

[Mazinkaizer]

a HD DVD Remastered DVD will probably be better than a regular DVD release, which would be very good for those who didn't buy the previous release or are willing to double dip for a slight improvement, such as: Cowboy Bebop, Hokuto No Ken....etc

Yet IMHO, a true or at least much better improvement would only be on a Blu-ray release !

[raistlinmajere]

Unfortunately, "HD Remaster" does not always mean A+ DVD video quality. Quite a few releases were apparently remastered at 1080i and then downscaled to 480p@24fps, causing aliasing. These include Nadesico, Card Captor Sakura, Patlabor (OVAs&TV), and probably some others.

You mean they discarded a field and downscaled instead of deinterlacing then downscaling?

[Buster Darkwings]

Yeah. I guess it would be bobbed from 1080i to 540p and then to 480p for the DVDs.

[kakugo]

The Evangelion Platinum release from ADV has aliasing and other strange artifacts even after a proper IVTC, and we know for a fact that the Evangelion restoration was 1080p24. That's not to say that Sakura, Nadesico and others weren't mastered in 1080i, for all I know they were, just that the problem with some of these HD mastered titles may not quite be what we think it is.

[Buster Darkwings]

we know for a fact that the Evangelion restoration was 1080p24.

Where was this mentioned? I can rent the R2s so I didn't buy the R1s or R2s and therefore don't have access to any of the packaging or booklets.

[Skywise]

we know for a fact that the Evangelion restoration was 1080p24.

Where was this mentioned? I can rent the R2s so I didn't buy the R1s or R2s and therefore don't have access to any of the packaging or booklets.


In the booklet for the original R2 monolith. Mind you the encoding has the same bobbing problems as the other titles mentioned, so I don't think they used 24P throughout the entire chain.