SD South Park Being Re-Rendered in Native 1080p

[smfoushee]

Sorry if this has been posted before (couldn't find a thread).

From an article on CreativeCOW:

... Although Comedy Central won’t be HD until January 2009, “South Park” episodes are already being produced in HD. An even bigger task is going back to re-render the first 174 episodes!

“We’ve always been digital pack rats, so we still have all the Maya (and before season 5, Alias PowerAnimator) scene files we used to create the show,” says J.J. “Since HD has become a real possibility, we’ve started re-rendering all those old episodes at full 1080p, which also means re-framing all the shots from standard 4:3 to full 16:9.

“It’s very labor intensive, but it also means that we’ll be the only animated show from the pre-HD world that will have its entire catalog of episodes in full native 1080p. It’s pretty sweet.”

This will be a set I'll gladly wait for.

[assydingo]

are they the most forward thinking people ever?

only animated show to have all HD out AND only show with every episode online

[sonnyworld85]

Pretty awesome stuff! South Park in HD looks very slick!!

[Stoudman]

Heh, comparatively to other animated shows considering the roots of South Park, I wouldn't imagine this would be difficult enough that it wouldn't make sense to do it. Milk the cow, it's still got some moo juice left.

[ryoohki]

It's great.. giving that most animated show out there have been done retardly without thinking much about the future. When the simpsons swapped for digital drawing in 1999, they didn't think and continue to do it in 4x3 at 640x480 until one month ago, 10 years after the switch. That make it IMpossible to redo in HD since it's handdraw, the cost would be astrononous. Same thing about Family Guy and American Dad witch were born in 16x9 Tv Era and still are 4x3 640x480 show and the creator have no intention of making it HD..

Render used in Southpark make stuff easy and the fact that they kept every single files shows that they are awere of the possibily that it might happen..

[master_8ball]

Good news, glad I held off on buying the DVD sets and stuck to watching them on tv and online...

[monkeyjb1988]

This is pretty cool. I'm glad they're going to the trouble of making all the episodes ready for HD. Definitely agree with ryoohki; early episodes of Simpsons, Family Guy, and American Dad probably won't make it to HD. Glad that South Park is doing it. Hopefully, Team America (from the creators of South Park) gets an HD treatment too.

[Todd Smith]

Originally Posted by smfoushee

Sorry if this has been posted before (couldn't find a thread).

From an article on CreativeCOW:



This will be a set I'll gladly wait for.

I would bet they are going to simply cut off the top and bottom of the picture to do the "re-framing" like they did with the first 7 episodes of season 12 for the BR release meaning cropped non-OAR I say dont waste your time if this is how it is going to be done since I wont buy it and would rather keep my SD-DVD OAR version. You can tell a dif from the cropped first 7 episodes of season 12 on the BR compared to the native 16/9 episodes 8-14 from my viewing of this set over the past week.

I just dont see any way they would go through every episode and ADD more content to the sides. No doubt they will simply cut off the top and bottom which sucks IMO and is a no sale for me. I will keep my SD-DVD's with OAR thanks.

[E_I]

Now, if they could do that for the Simpsons.

[raven1138]

The only problem is, are the visuals in South Park worth the price of a blu-ray set? I really don't think so. I like the show, but sometimes it is just more stupid than funny.

[ryoohki]

Originally Posted by raven1138

The only problem is, are the visuals in South Park worth the price of a blu-ray set? I really don't think so. I like the show, but sometimes it is just more stupid than funny.

We are reliving the same thing over and over. People questionned the meaning of animation on DVD back in 1997-1998. Saying that it didn't worth it, and VHS was enought.

Comparing previous season in SD to this HD version, there's about as much as difference as any SD to HD stuff. The HD version is so sharp it kill the eye!

[doctorsteve]

Originally Posted by ryoohki

We are reliving the same thing over and over. People questionned the meaning of animation on DVD back in 1997-1998. Saying that it didn't worth it, and VHS was enought.

Comparing previous season in SD to this HD version, there's about as much as difference as any SD to HD stuff. The HD version is so sharp it kill the eye!

Let's also remember the Audio will likely improve too...

[prankster]

Originally Posted by doctorsteve

Let's also remember the Audio will likely improve too...

yes, no doubt about that!

[OrlandoEastwood]

If I remember correctly the Pilot episode (Cartman Gets An Anal Probe) was done on film because it was done in stop motion. So I guess that one would not be hard to remaster at, except for print damage.

[bandit29]

Originally Posted by doctorsteve

Let's also remember the Audio will likely improve too...

Ya but its South Park...does it really need to be in 5.1 Dolby True HD? Most of the dialogue & sfx are front heavy anyway.

[krazeyeyez]

Originally Posted by assydingo

are they the most forward thinking people ever?

only animated show to have all HD out AND only show with every episode online

AGREED

and i just discovered this the other day when i got STUCK on a youtube surf jumping vid to vid, somehow hitting related topics until i ran into scientology, then found out their was an episode of park on this available only online, needless to say i was shocked to find out you could watch ANY south park episode, and in pretty decent quality.

[DaViD Boulet]

I can't wait. Season 12 in 1080 looks amazing, and it so much more enjoyable to watch... especially on a projector!

dave

[VenomBrock]

This is great, but couldn't they just keep them in their 4:3 OAR's? I would gladly still pick up the original seasons in 4:3 if they looked great, no need to crop them all.

[DaViD Boulet]

"recomposed" isn't the same thing as "cropped". They can add left/right content as well as trim top/bottom.

Since *they* are the same artists doing it themselves, it's not pan-scan. Had they had HD back in the day, the very well might have provided the same 16x9 image they are giving us now.

[DaveFi]

How do they "rerender" paper to 1080p?