Smallville "grainy"

[Go Blu]

There is def grain present in some of the episodes.
Then again it was made for TV.

I too had high expectations for it but we get spoiled by having such pristine movies that we almost expect to have a perfect transfer each and every time.
Although to be honest it's not that bad either. Still better than watching the broadcast quality. If you are a fan of the show you'll love this set.

[GregBlu5]

I'm finally starting to watch my regular DVDs of Smallville, starting with season one, so I've got a ways to go to get to my season six on Blu. But I have to say that the new Sony Blu-ray player I have upconverts so nicely, that I've been really impressed with the picture quality of just these regular DVDs of Smallville. In fact, I use this as an additional persuasive means to convert non-Blu owners into considering a Blu-ray player when they have a hi-def TV--their regular DVDs look so much better being upconverted.

I also watched Battle of the Bulge on Blu this weekend and was mightily impressed with the picture quality with that disk.

[WickyWoo]

It's not grain, it's CCD noise. Stray electrons bouncing off the light sensor

TV production does not allow you the time necessary to light all shots perfectly, and especially with those early, lower res cameras like they use and in dark areas that's going to happen.

[DealsR4theDevil]

So are all TV shows going to be full of CCD noise? Kinda defeats the point of gettin a TV show in Hi-def, none of my TV shows on DVD have grain everywhere. And the grain isnt just in few scenese or most scenes. Its in all the scenes.

[WickyWoo]

Well, I haven't seen Smallville on Blu

But my guess is that on the DVD they DVNR'd it all away in the compression stage.

However in HD if you want it to look HD, you've got to keep some or a lot of it. You're tossing out over 80% of the original information for DVD so it's a lot easier to do.

Some series will look better than others, but those are going to be shows that are shot on a lot of stages, under controlled conditions. To use 24 as an example, CTU was very easy to do. WHy? Because they have the light board all programmed. "OK shooting Jack's office" *click*, Chloe's desk *click*. The lighting tech spent hours getting those settings just right, and they can use them for year's afterwards.

Smallville is using a lot of practical locations and exteriors. They use their sets a lot less than many shows.

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

Some series will look better than others, but those are going to be shows that are shot on a lot of stages, under controlled conditions. To use 24 as an example, CTU was very easy to do. WHy? Because they have the light board all programmed. "OK shooting Jack's office" *click*, Chloe's desk *click*. The lighting tech spent hours getting those settings just right, and they can use them for year's afterwards.

Smallville is using a lot of practical locations and exteriors. They use their sets a lot less than many shows.

And whenever 24 is outside, on location, you will notice the quality drop. Shots of helicopters flying, for example, are full of noise.

Gary

[phloyd]

A lot of TV shows are still shot on film.

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

It's not grain, it's CCD noise. Stray electrons bouncing off the light sensor

TV production does not allow you the time necessary to light all shots perfectly, and especially with those early, lower res cameras like they use and in dark areas that's going to happen.

Everyone with a digital camera probably knows about this.

Weren't the original TV HD cameras developped for HiVision (Japan) only 1440x1080i?

Gary