why most videos were not shot with 720p in the past

[kenny1999]

I looked at some information on the wiki about 720p and 1080p. It looks like there back before 80s there were already 720p and 1080p. But why only until recent years most videos were not shot with 720p or 1080p?

Sometimes I've heard that some classic old videos are remastered to HD quality. I can understand logically that for example a higher quality photo can be intentionally made to be lower quality but how can a lower quality photo be converted to a higher quality? In my understanding you can "take away" some data from a higher quality photo to make it poorer. But how can you "create" or "invent" some data to make it "better"?

[manono]

why most videos were not shot with 720p in the past

They weren't shot digitally in the past. Film's equivalent resolution is way higher than 1080p.

[darkknight145]

720 and 1080 are digital format/spec, digital did not exist back in the 80's.
What did exist was film which for movies was around 70mm (from memory) which was a very high resolution compared to what we see today. Remastering can be done in either of two different ways. one is recapturing the film from the original high res film, the other is digitally enhancing the existing video.

[drjtech]

I looked at some information on the wiki about 720p and 1080p. It looks like there back before 80s there were already 720p and 1080p.

Can you provide a link to that wiki page?

[Cornucopia]

Most "videos" not shot on video used Super16mm, 35mm, Super35mm film. Those are analog mediums and you cannot exactly equate resolution with their digital counterparts, but because of film grain size you could say they were somewhere between 1k and 5k. AFAIK, Almost NO titles were shot using 65/70mm.

But, kenny1999, your remark in the 2nd paragraph is correct, you don't create new, unique points of detail when up-rezzing.

Scott

[JVRaines]

Quite a few major Hollywood films were shot in Todd-AO and Panavision 70.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd-AO#Films_produced_in_70_mm_Todd-AO
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Panavision_70#Movies_using_Super_Panavision_70

[KarMa]

When Baraka (1992) was being remastered for Bluray, they allegedly captured the 70mm at 8K which was then reduced to 1080p for standard Bluray. Some of the same film makers also made Chronos (1985) with 65mm and Samsara (2011) with 70mm.

An interesting fun fact, when Toy Story (1995) was being finished they rendered it off the computer at slightly less than 1080p which was then transferred to 35mm (I assume 35mm) to be shown around the world. But since then I believe the movie was simply re-rendered again at high resolutions for more recent Bluray releases.

[Cornucopia]

Films, of course there are large format titles. Videos (news, tv series, mtv, commercials...), I bet you couldn't name more than a handful. Those were shot on video, or shot on 16/super16/35/super35 and telecined. The op said videos, so I took him at his word.

Toy Story was totally re-rendered when they made the Stereo3D version of it (I have the boxed set on bd3d).

Scott

[lingyi]

Cost is a major factor. 20 years from now someone will ask why everyone didn't shoot in 4K or 8K.

[raffriff42]

I looked at some information on the wiki about 720p and 1080p. It looks like there back before 80s there were already 720p and 1080p. But why only until recent years most videos were not shot with 720p or 1080p?

Japanese companies tried to introduce 1125-line TV, called MUSE or Hi-Vision, in the 80s. I saw the demos - usually fields of flowers - and they looked great. But the (big honking CRT) displays were $15K - this when a small car (ie, Hyundai) was $5K. "Hi-Vision" required 4x the radio bandwidth - and there was no available over-the-air radio bandwidth. Consumer cameras and video recorders were not even a possibility. High definition to the consumer had to wait for digital compression, which consumes less actual bandwidth when (over)compressed, and thus allows cable companies to carry many more channels (from 30-60 channels then, to whatever they have now)

[Cornucopia]

Yeah, and that was just for the displays. Cams cost wayyy more, and were still analog so it was like carrying a motorcycle on your shoulder.

Scott

[KarMa]

Retro HD Analog from 1993, which was ripped from a DVHS demo tape.

https://youtu.be/fT4lDU-QLUY

[johnmeyer]

If you want to go back even further and look at early HD video, Google the TV special called T.A.M.I.

T.A.M.I.

It was an absolutely amazing rock concert in 1964 (now that is a long time ago) which was filmed live and sent, via "long lines" (AT&T's city-to-city infrastructure) direct to theaters where it was viewed as it happened. It used something called

Electronovision

It claimed to capture over 800 lines of resolution, significantly more than NTSC (525) or PAL (625).

I own the DVD and it is absolutely wonderful.

You can watch most of T.A.M.I. here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pdZJ7TkJQU

Quoting from the description under this video:

Performers include:
The Barbarians
The Beach Boys
Chuck Berry
James Brown and The Famous Flames
Marvin Gaye (with backing vocals by The Blossoms)
Gerry & the Pacemakers
Lesley Gore
Jan and Dean
Billy J. Kramer and The Dakotas
Smokey Robinson and The Miracles
The Rolling Stones
Diana Ross and the Supremes
The Wrecking Crew