What format is "New Tricks" (BBC) shot with?

[Keith Walters]

After being severely underwhelmed by the results of some the various Law & Order franchises that were originated on Super-16 film and displayed on a 1920 x 1080 TV, last night I was astounded at the quality of the latest season of the BBC1 crime series "New Tricks".

 

From the general image quality and depth of field it looks like Super-16, but I couldn't get over clean the picture was. The grain structure was just visible, looking more like 35mm than 16mm. It was broadcast as 720p which, while it doesn't come up quite as sharp as 1080i, it still looked damn good.

 

I can't find any information about how this show is shot. Does anybody here have any inside information.

 

If it is Super-16, it certainly answers the question "Is Super-16 good enough for HDTV?"

 

I can't help wondering whether the abysmal quality of some recent US productions might not have been a deliberate response to decisions forced onto production companies from above. I know the Genesis is capable of producing a lot better images than I have been seeing recently.

[Andy_Alderslade]

After being severely underwhelmed by the results of some the various Law & Order franchises that were originated on Super-16 film and displayed on a 1920 x 1080 TV, last night I was astounded at the quality of the latest season of the BBC1 crime series "New Tricks".

 

From the general image quality and depth of field it looks like Super-16, but I couldn't get over clean the picture was. The grain structure was just visible, looking more like 35mm than 16mm. It was broadcast as 720p which, while it doesn't come up quite as sharp as 1080i, it still looked damn good.

 

I can't find any information about how this show is shot. Does anybody here have any inside information.

 

If it is Super-16, it certainly answers the question "Is Super-16 good enough for HDTV?"

 

I can't help wondering whether the abysmal quality of some recent US productions might not have been a deliberate response to decisions forced onto production companies from above. I know the Genesis is capable of producing a lot better images than I have been seeing recently.

 

On a set two weeks ago the focus puller was telling me that apparently the BBC are lifting the ban on Super 16 for for HD broadcast, because they've improved their compression software and because of so much good feed-back about the image quality of Merlin.

 

I don't know how true this all is though.

[A. Whitehouse]

On a set two weeks ago the focus puller was telling me that apparently the BBC are lifting the ban on Super 16 for for HD broadcast, because they've improved their compression software and because of so much good feed-back about the image quality of Merlin.

 

I don't know how true this all is though.

 

Merlin is S16?!? God I'm surprised, it looks grainy but has very high production values. I must admit I thought it was an American production with a mix of English actors and American's putting voices on. What about the cgi and comp shots? Is it all shot S16? I don't know if its worth asking but what is the "Tudors" shot on?

[Guest Stephen Murphy]

I don't know if its worth asking but what is the "Tudors" shot on?

 

Tudors was originally shot on Sony 900's but last season they switched to Genesis.