# When Did TV Shows Begin Going HD? (Law and Order)



## Waimea (Mar 9, 2007)

When Did TV Shows Begin Going HD? (Law and Order)

Hi,

After watching L&O for many years in SD I was surprised to find that, when I upgraded to HD, that L&O has been filmed in HD for, apparently, many seasons. About when did HD filming begin? Or is the older stuff not actually HD: was it just filmed in 16x9?

BTW, I'm not talking about TNT's 'fisheye' effect: I mean L&O episodes actually shot in 16x9 at what seems to be high resolution.

I presumed that HD mainstream filming/broadcast began within the last few years, but L&O and other shows (Enterprise) indicate otherwise. I've also read that the last season of the X-Files was shot in widescreen (although not HD?).

Thanks


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

I can't speak for Law & Order specifically... but generally... Some shows were shot either on film or in HD even when they weren't originally aired that way. Shows around that time sometimes have more HD "in the can" than you know since they didn't air that way.

Anything shot on film has a superior resolution to HD anyway, so it is an "easy" conversion to HD after the fact... the only exception being shows that have special effects added digitally and edited on tape... Star Trek, for example... was shot on film but special effects were done on tape... so the conversion to HD requires not only rescanning the orignal film but also recreating the special effects.

Star Trek Enterprise was HD from the beginning, even though many (most) UPN stations never aired in HD... Star Trek Original Series is currently being re-edited in HD and should see HD-syndication or at least HDDVD (or BluRay) release in the near future.


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

Waimea said:


> When Did TV Shows Begin Going HD...?


Welcome to DBSTalk.COM, Waimea, and to the wonderful world of HDTV! :welcome_s


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## n3ntj (Dec 18, 2006)

...and when is Scrubs going to be shot in HD? That seems to be the only NBC Thursday night show NOT in HD.


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## lwilli201 (Dec 22, 2006)

L & O has been filmed in widescreen since 1996. Im always amused when some trash its showing on TNT as blown up or stretched when it has been real widescreen all this time.

There are those that advocate that anything on film that is shown in HD is not real HD since it has to be converted. Nothing on film is really shot in HD. The only thing shot in true HD is live or taped content done with a HD TV camera. There are those that like to split that hair.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

lwilli201 said:


> L & O has been filmed in widescreen since 1966.


I don't think Law & Order was on in 1966 

But seriously... What I am most curious about with Law & Order is... if the show has been filmed and thus capable of being in HD and widescreen even... then why does the studio keep releasing DVD sets that are in 4:3? I haven't bought any of them yet because I thought, as you said, that maybe it had been on film from the beginning.


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## lwilli201 (Dec 22, 2006)

HDMe said:


> I don't think Law & Order was on in 1966
> 
> But seriously... What I am most curious about with Law & Order is... if the show has been filmed and thus capable of being in HD and widescreen even... then why does the studio keep releasing DVD sets that are in 4:3? I haven't bought any of them yet because I thought, as you said, that maybe it had been on film from the beginning.


I guess they don't think there is enough people that will buy it because it is widescreen to justify the cost. It sounds like a business decision more than a technical problem.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

lwilli201 said:


> I guess they don't think there is enough people that will buy it because it is widescreen to justify the cost. It sounds like a business decision more than a technical problem.


But if they released them in anamorphic widescreen then everyone could enjoy them... As it is, if the show was filmed in widescreen it should be equally easy to produce widescreen DVDs as 4:3 ones... and by choosing not to do this, they are losing sales from a lot of folks I would think who keep waiting.

Oh well.


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## KurtV (Dec 21, 2006)

Most one hour drama series have always been filmed vice videotaped and can therefore be "downrezzed" to mere HD.


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## Cholly (Mar 22, 2004)

HDMe said:


> But if they released them in anamorphic widescreen then everyone could enjoy them... As it is, if the show was filmed in widescreen it should be equally easy to produce widescreen DVDs as 4:3 ones... and by choosing not to do this, they are losing sales from a lot of folks I would think who keep waiting.
> 
> Oh well.


It's all about the money.  Since most folks don't have widescreen TV's as yet, most programs (even those that are taped), are shot in 4:3. New programs that are being produced in both formats may one day be available on DVD in both formats, but until the market demands widescreen, I doubt that the production companies with bother to distribute in both formats. (but then I've been known to be wrong in the past). Movies are another story, because they're shot in widescreen and the studios do pan & scan editing to produce product for the 4:3 market. Being that they are shot in widescreen, it isn't too much of a problem for the studios to produce HD DVD or Blu-Ray product for the relatively few people who have HD players.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

I'm not asking for HD Law & Order... Just anamorphic widescren DVD releases. Again, assuming they shot on film, it has to be just as easy/expensive to release DVD widescreen as DVD 4:3. They either spend the money on the 16x9 image processing OR spend the money on cropping... Either way they have to scan and process... and it's a shame to be releasing 4:3 DVDs.

Even before 16x9 TVs people were buying letterbox VHS movies and then DVDs... so they have to know there is a demand for widescreen that goes beyond just the folks with widescreen TVs.


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## Cholly (Mar 22, 2004)

I worked in consumer electronics until 15 months ago, and the most complaints I got about DVD's were from folks who didn't appreciate letterboxing. They didn't understand that they were losing some picture content when they bought pan&scan product. Their big concern was those black bars at the top and bottom of their screen. Additionally, a lot of customers had no clue as to what a progressive scan DVD player was nor did they understand that progressive scan was not available on the composite or S-Video inputs of their TV's.


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## Poochie (Jun 8, 2004)

Someone behind the scenes at Scrubs explained that they shot the previous season finale in HD just as a test, and decided that they didn't like the way it looked, and so they will not do it again.


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