Filmed decades ago: why even ancient films look better on Blu-ray

When old films look like new productions

Many motion pictures are, and have been, shot on analog 35mm film. The effective resolution of such a strip is somewhere between 4k and 8k, in some cases even more – more than enough for implementation as Blu-ray. The resolution depends in particular on the selected sensitivity of the film used during the shoot. The lower the film sensitivity, the finer-grained and therefore higher-resolution the recording.

In order for the old strips to be displayed on the home screen in line with the Blu-ray format and in unprecedented quality, they are subjected to more or less complex processing. In technical terms, the process is called “remastering”.

Remastering – old films in new splendor

The films, some of which are decades old, are first scanned digitally. The digitized video material obtained in this way is then restored. Improper storage can cause the original recordings to show scratches, dirt, dust, mold or damage. All of this is retouched by costly post-processing. In addition, other corrections are often made as well. Unfortunately, there are sometimes overcorrections, so that fine but important details are lost when removing image noise, for example.

With the effort and the quality of this procedure, the enjoyment of the old films on Blu-ray increases or decreases.

When it’s not worth buying old movies on Blu-ray

If the distributors shy away from costs and efforts, it happens that existing ones DVD versions only be upscaled for the Blu-ray output. You won’t get much pleasure from such films on Blu-ray if you already have the counterpart on DVD.

The scaling primarily affects low-budget productions that were shot on 8 mm or 16 mm film or on MiniDV. Even with films and series that were only produced for television and not for the cinema, scaling is often chosen instead of complex remastering for publication on Blu-ray.

Reading reviews protects against bad buys

If you don’t want to buy a pig in a poke, you should read one or the other review before buying. Many film portals have helpful reviews of old films that have been re-released on Blu-ray.

The only drawback: the sound of earlier film productions is often recorded in stereo or in mono – especially when it comes to dubbing. It is difficult to conjure up an impressive Dolby Digital or DTS experience from this afterwards.

Old Classic Movies on Blu-ray: Some Good Examples

So releasing a classic on Blu-ray can be quite an expensive and difficult process. Nevertheless, there are examples where the effort has been worthwhile: old films on Blu-ray, where the remastering was extremely successful, for example “The Godfather”, “2001: A Space Odyssey” as well as the trilogies “Back to the Future” and “Star Wars”. And “Star Trek” fans can also look at older series in the franchise, such as “The Next Generation” look forward to a real boost in quality in the remastered version.