That worry when you see this go on for longer than it should, on one of the few working VCRs you have left. Thankfully, I just let the encoding go. Turns out it's just that one episode, and likely a problem with the VCR that recorded the show, not the one playing it.
@cubeyterra - The new Blu-rays look promising if they're based on the remasters that showed up on Amazon. They're 4:3 instead of 16:9, but at the same time, that's how it was broadcast, so I'm okay with the 4:3.
@dolari The DVDs were such a mess. I HOPE the Blurays don't try to do anything weird like running through an aggressive noise filter. But getting the aspect ratio right is the bare minimum
@cubeyterra - The one thing I did notice in the Amazon remasters was the grain was SUPER obvious. In fact, I thought it was a defect!
@dolari I'd rather see film grain than have over-smoothed faces. I guess on broadcast TV, the film grain blurs right out. Remember when all tv was blurry?
@cubeyterra - Here's a screenshot of the Amazon remaster, the same shot as in the YouTube thumbnail I just shared.
@dolari That looks perfectly watchable
@cubeyterra - It really is. Apparently the Amazon remaster was based on a 35mm "master" that needed to be delivered to WB at the time of filming.
The CGI had some upscaling done to it, since on that film it was still rendered at 480p, but is totally watchable compared to the DVDs. Only very rarely do you ever see any "scan lines."
@dolari It's a shame it's so hard to find a decent, uncropped copy of that series.