[78-L] Wizard of Oz in hidef

[Ken "Silver Showcase"]

Michael Biel wrote:
> But wouldn't a celluloid projection be higher def than an electronic
> projection?
>
>   

Yes.  But too many people think that the latest technology is 
automatically better.  There are those who think that a stereo audio 
recording automatically has higher fidelity than a mono recording.  Or 
if you transfer a 78 to a CD then its automatically got better sound.  
(I once had a discussion with someone who insisted that copying an old 
record to CD makes it sound better because ITS DIGITAL!!!)  Or if you 
wipe out the high end to remove hiss then it sounds better.

Today's audiences are so conditioned to the look of video that they 
think its an improvement over film.  Some of those video "restorations" 
are done by fools who destroy the original look of the film.  They think 
that film grain is a bad thing so they wipe it out as much as possible 
and they fiddle with the sound track to get rid of hiss and leave a 
muddy mess.  I just watched "Hallelujah I'm a Bum" on DVD.  The sound 
track was awful - some kind of odd-ball noise reduction was used and it 
cut off the higher end on consonants so that it was difficult to catch 
some of the dialog.  But I'm sure the audio folks patted themselves on 
the back for "improving" that old sound track.

Harrumph!

-- Ken