Hi, everyone!

Finally we have the entire show in decent quality after many years of low quality analog TV captures.

I wanted to let you know, if you do not already know, that some episodes can be streamed in HD quality on Hulu!

Just like "Family Matters" from a few years ago on iTunes and Amazon and now "Perfect Strangers" on Hulu, the show is digitally (HD) remastered! What a nice surprise!

Here are a couple pic comparisons from S05 E02:
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/119057
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/119058

The episodes that are in HD are mostly from Season 6 but there's a couple from season 5 and one episode from season 3.

It's really weird that Hulu didn't upload the entire show in HD. Probably a rights issue, I dunno...

Episodes are not in HD. These episodes were videotaped, so there's no way it'd be in HD. What these screen-grabs don't show (that Hulu does), are the pillar-boxes, or black bars on the sides of the screen.

Episodes are not in HD. These episodes were videotaped, so there's no way it'd be in HD. What these screen-grabs don't show (that Hulu does), are the pillar-boxes, or black bars on the sides of the screen.

I have the pillar boxes on my TV also. No biggie.

Episodes are not in HD. These episodes were videotaped, so there's no way it'd be in HD. What these screen-grabs don't show (that Hulu does), are the pillar-boxes, or black bars on the sides of the screen.

I think you might be wrong there. I do not have an episode to hand but the closing credits on American shows often indicate which cameras were used. To me it looks being recorded on film rather than VT. Though they could have done all the editing on video tape so to get a HD version they would need to go back to the original negatives and piece it back together the way they did with Star Trek The Next Generation. And I doubt they would do that for SBS.

I think you are right. I do recall episodes running at 23.976fps when I did tests, which would make the episodes filmed based. However, what I meant to say was that the episodes are not true HD because they’re 4:3 and not 16:9. So they would have to take the original film to make them 16:9, which you’re right, is a lot to ask for a show that’s not very popular in reruns.

I think you are right. I do recall episodes running at 23.976fps when I did tests, which would make the episodes filmed based. However, what I meant to say was that the episodes are not true HD because they’re 4:3 and not 16:9. So they would have to take the original film to make them 16:9, which you’re right, is a lot to ask for a show that’s not very popular in reruns.

Well, Lost in Space was made on 35mm film but was framed and shown 4:3. A lot of stuff picked up on film was never meant to to be seen. They could remaster SBS from the film elements in 4:3; you would just have burnt in pillarboxes at the sides of the screen. I doubt it was ever framed safe for 16:9 though so you would probably end up with some cropping and shots where the cast are bunched up in the middle.

The show Two and a Half Men was 16:9 from season two I think but a lot of American shows filmed that way including Desperate Housewives and Ugly Betty look better framed 4:3. My impression is that a lot of Americans were reluctant to embrace 16:9 so a lot of shows were filmed 16:9 but framed 4:3. In fact, I used to watch Desperate Housewives and Ugly Betty in the 4:3 format because the framing just looked so much better.