There were some screencaps in that thread as well, showing a HUGE improvement in image quality (as in, Star Trek: TNG level of improvement). I think That 70s Show took more than 2 years to finish (as one example), using a staff of about 4-5 people per day.Īs I think was discussed in some other thread not too long ago, the entire run of the series has been rescanned/transferred/remastered in HD and has been airing in Germany for quite some time now, over a year at least. Putting those pieces back together for HD is a huge undertaking. But the late 1990s is a rough era, particularly for film shows. Starting about 5-6 years ago, I think everybody gave up and started composing entirely for 16x9, even to the extent of putting characters on the extreme sides of the widescreen frame.

I think a lot of shows feel 'less crowded' in 16x9, but there's always the risk of just having a lot of empty 'air' on the left and right because they were always protecting for 4x3.

But everything would still have to be rescanned from scratch just to get to HD. My bet is that the first 5 or 6 years of X-Files was probably only shot in 4-perf 35mm 4x3, but they switched around 1998 or so. Click to expand.The show ran from 1993-2002, and the years from 1997 on were kinda weird in American TV because some shows shot in 4x3, some shows shot in 16x9 but only transferred in 4x3 (like That 70s Show and 3rd Rock from the Sun, both of which I worked on), and some shows shot in 16x9 and transferred in 16x9 but mostly a 4x3 'extraction' aired.

X files boxed sets