# I pit DVD manufacturers

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-dvd-manufacturers/353351>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [April 19, 2006, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-dvd-manufacturers/353351 "2006-04-19T20:00:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-dvd-manufacturers/353351/41 "2006-04-21T20:32:26Z")

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> [@Dead Badger](#):
>
> The display technology really isn’t fundamentally that much more expensive than the old technology

So I guess all those four-digit price tags on HDTV sets are just typos? 😉

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**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-dvd-manufacturers/353351/42 "2006-04-21T20:35:26Z")

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> [@Stinkpalm](#):
>
> All these movies that we have right now, with the exception of some of the major digital cam shot movies, will NEVER look “HD” so why do I need an HD player? We’re NEVER going to see a HD version of any movies made before 2002 or so because the tech they were filmed with barely meets the rez of standard DVDs.

That is most certainly _not_ true. Even 35mm films from the thirties contain _much_ more detail than is ever transferred to a DVD, and by the sixties 70mm films with twice as much area and even better definition due to advances in chemistry were common.

Upscaling a DVD will get you a smoother picture, but it can’t replace the detail that was discarded when the negative or print was scanned for DVD transfer – and that’s a _lot_ of detail. You can scan carefully-shot 35mm film at about 5300 x 4000 and still be pulling out useful information. (Of course, when you’re dollying the camera around and stuff, you’re going to lose some detail.) It’s common for people who are working with digital film restoration of films from the '30s and '40s to scan at 4000 x 3000 if the aim is to print back to film, because there’s enough detail even in those old films that you can’t scan at a lower resolution without discarding too much information.

HDTV doesn’t come anywhere near chemical film when it comes to recording image detail. As long as the transfer is made from film that hasn’t degraded too much (or has been carefully restored) any film that’s transfered to an HD DVD format is going to look just as sweet on an HDTV as the latest episode of _The Sopranos_.

Hell, if twenty years from now video technology progresses to the point where the average consumer can afford a floor-to-ceiling wall-sized LCD display, people will _still_ be able to go back to antiquated film prints and rescan them at 4000 X 3000 for a huge increase in image quality for the new SHDTV standard. 😃

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**Author:** ![Dead\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-dvd-manufacturers/353351/43 "2006-04-21T22:43:09Z")

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> [@Mr2001](#):
>
> So I guess all those four-digit price tags on HDTV sets are just typos? 😉

Please don’t make me explain the difference between “cost” and “price”.

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