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The Great Tragedy of the 'Buffy' HD Remaster

Passion of the NerdCited 6× on HN, 2019–2024
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commentary · general · evergreen · 2019–2024 on HN

A critique of the HD remaster of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, walking through cropping, color and effects problems that damaged the original look. It also advises which versions to buy.

Used as the main example of bad HD restorations and aspect-ratio recropping of older TV shows.

6 comments from Hacker News

@upon_drumhead2024-07 · in “Sony Is Killing the Blu-ray, but Physical Media Isn't Dead Yet”

Not every HD redo is better. ▶ this video And honestly a ton of why dvds look so terrible is people forgot about deinterlacing. Toggle it on and things look a lot better.

Critical View on HN
@echelon_musk2024-04 · in “AI made these movies sharper – critics say it ruined them”

The automated HD 'remaster' of Buffy is the prime example of how badly this can go wrong. A great breakdown of the problems is on YouTube here: ▶ this video

Critical View on HN
@BiteCode_dev2023-12 · in “They want you to forget what a film looks like”

Agree. All those remastering are often done with more importance given to the economic side of things, instead of respecting the art. Some are destroying the original work. The first thing that pop into my mind is how they destroyed Buffy with the HD makeover: ▶ this video As a reddit commenter said about the cropping job: "All they had to do was nothing and they still fucked it up." It's a disgrace.

Critical View on HN
@Andrex2021-10 · in “‘Seinfeld’ Fans Upset That Netflix’s Aspect Ratio Cuts Out Jokes, Literally”

There are way more issues with Buffy on top of that too, and my Disney ire will forever be stoked until they rectify the situation (as the current owners of 20th Century Television.) link ▶ this video

Critical View on HN
@remram2021-10 · in “‘Seinfeld’ Fans Upset That Netflix’s Aspect Ratio Cuts Out Jokes, Literally”

Also the Buffy remaster, where interestingly they uncropped the footage, showing some of the filming crew, microphones, etc. ▶ this video (edit: already posted in this thread, oops: link )