HD | beetleypete

My blogging friend Carolyn sent me a link to this unusual short film on You Tube. It is a remastered cine film that has been colourised and enhanced to High-Definition. Short scenes around Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, and a main line station. Despite the often strange ‘pink’ effect of adding the colour, the enhancement quality is quite staggering to behold, and at times feels almost like 3-D.

Judging by the clothing and vehicles, I would suggest this is very early in the 1930s, as many of the fashions look the same as during the 1920s. Carolyn mentioned how slim everyone looks, and that is very true. I could not find anyone captured on film who appeared to be noticeably overweight.

Carolyn was originally from Britain, but now resides in the north-east of America. You can find her blog here.
https://catsincambridge.net/

The film is only 8 minutes long, and I hope you get a chance to watch it.
This explains the process used to present it as we see it now.

Video Restoration Process:
✔ FPS boosted to 60 frames per second
✔ Image resolution boosted up to HD
✔ Improved video sharpness and brightness
✔ Colorized only for the ambiance (not historically accurate)
✔added sound only for the ambiance
✔restoration:(stabilisation,denoise,cleand,deblur)

Things just don’t work, do they? What happened to “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”? We have had a nightmare with the Freeview TV this weekend. Loads of channels not working properly, disappearing from the schedule, or just pixellating beyond visual tolerance. Looking on the website, they recommend a re-tune, due to (unannounced) engineering work on the local transmitter, and a change in the allocated numbers for the HD channels. That didn’t work at all, as I have just lost all of the ITV/C4 output for good.

I thought that I could watch the programmes on the computer instead. ITV tells me that I need a ‘parental password’, to avoid the watershed. As I have never set one up, that failed to work, as well. The TV re-allocated all these channels to the over 800 category, so they just don’t come on at all. What is this all about? HD Freeview, and Freeview HD recorder, all so much junk. They cannot get a strong enough signal, despite Internet assurances, so there is no HD. As for the ‘normal’ telly, forget it. We have a 40 inch, Internet, Smart TV, edge LED, 3D, and 200 HZ. It cannot cope with a normal programme, let alone HD. The TV struggles to keep up with the resolution, and pixellation is visible at all times. It is all just crap. The normal CRT TV , that preceded it, was a 1000 times better, and never failed us. I am exceptionally fed up with it, and ready to consign it to the rubbish dump.

Telly used to be pretty reliable, and quite good to watch too. The way I feel at the moment, what I have now, is only fit for the scrap-heap. I need a time machine, and I could pop back to a time when things just worked. I have had enough of it, as I am sure you can tell. Is it an age thing, have I missed something? I don’t think so. If this is progress, give me the 1980’s.