Now, in 2017, 4K (or, better UHD) is available via UHD-BD and web download - and few satellite broadcasting; Blu-ray is the king of HD, with very good alternatives as web download.
So, why one could be worried about recording a program from an HD channel, and subsequentely store it on hard disk for years?
Well, there are many reasons, and I'm going to list the most important:
There are still some contents not available in HD; few movies, but also TV-series, documentaries, concerts; maybe they will be, in the future, released, but, are you 100% sure? I'm not... think that many contents are still available only on laserdisc, or, worse, VHS!
Often there are the so-called "TV version"; they usually have toned down dialog, sometimes made just for that purpose; sometime there are scenes cuts completely due to nudity, violence etc.; but in few cases, there are additional scenes (or even single shots) not present in any other version, or the shots are replaced with different ones, using properly alternative shots, or reciclying deleted scenes.
In rare cases, it's possible to get the Theatrical Cut, when the only HD version is the Director's Cut (or the contrary may be true)!
Some folks are even aware that there is, for many movies, more than one color grading available; is not my due to say you which one is the "right" one, but isn't always true it's the one found on released media; it happens that TV and BD use different masters, with different colors, so it may worth to preserve both (or more of them), don't you think?
People in the past wanted their TV sets "filled" with image (at the time, the "square" 4/3, or 1.33:1), hence the invention of the dreadful pan&scan... while, during the years, many viewers have learned to watch movies in their original aspect ratio, there is still a large percentage that want their HDTV (now 16/9, or 1.78:1) filled as well...
There are two ways to do this, pan&scan, and open matte. While the former is to avoid, the latter is IMHO a nice alternative to watch a movie - you may have a more immersive visual experience, if it's well done. The third way is to mix pan&scan and open matte - this usually happens very often with movie which has special effects, that are done at (or around) the original aspect ratio; so, you would get a cropped image when there are special effects in the scene (very often, but not always), and an open matte for the rest of the movie.
There is also another possibility, where the open matte seems pan&scan, while it's "just" heavily cropped, and the difference with a mere p&s version is difficult to discern - usually the image lose a lot on one or both sides, but gain a tiny bit on top, bottom, or both.
Also, sometimes the open matte version doesn't only "gain" image on top and bottom, but also on one or both sides, due to different framing; in that case, you can "earn" something around 20% vertically (in case of a 2.35:1), but also a further 3/5% horizontally... that's 1/4th more image and, despite the OAR philosophy, which I endorse and reccomend to follow, it's always nice to see your preferred movie, the one you have watched several times, in a new way, that leads you to watch it almost as a new movie...
For historical reason, it could be nice to retain that strange, censored dialog tracks which many of us saw on TV for the first time; also, for old movies sometimes the old audio track is "recycled", and this is a good thing, because the old mix is available, while the recent media may contain only a new, different mix; there are also rare cases where some songs found on modern media are changed, due to rights, or other reasons; in very rare cases - still not encountered yet, but may happen - it's possible to find a multichannel version on TV, while a stereo or mono on BD...
So, when a given content you feel particularly interesting is broadcasted on your favourite HDTV channel, take the chance to record it - you can always delete it if it doesn't satisfy one or more of the previous points; and, if you got your hard disk full of old HDTV recordings, think about this before delete them; you can throw away a small, but important, piece of video history...
There may be other reasons, but at the moment I can't think of them... can you? If so, please reply!
Note: the same could be valid for SDTV broadcasting, even if it's more probable to have the same content, with same aspect ratio, colors, audio tracks etc. available, thanks to the huge title numbers of DVDs, Laserdiscs, VHS tapes.
Note 2: before deciding to delete forever an HDTV recording, please take few minutes to talk about it to your nerd friend, write on your favourite forum, or take a look at the following lists:
http://blog.sporv.com/open-matte-master-list
http://blog.sporv.com/workprints-master-list (contains also TV versions)
and consider also the option to give it to one of your friend, or upload/torrent it before delete it.
So, why one could be worried about recording a program from an HD channel, and subsequentely store it on hard disk for years?
Well, there are many reasons, and I'm going to list the most important:
availability
There are still some contents not available in HD; few movies, but also TV-series, documentaries, concerts; maybe they will be, in the future, released, but, are you 100% sure? I'm not... think that many contents are still available only on laserdisc, or, worse, VHS!
version
Often there are the so-called "TV version"; they usually have toned down dialog, sometimes made just for that purpose; sometime there are scenes cuts completely due to nudity, violence etc.; but in few cases, there are additional scenes (or even single shots) not present in any other version, or the shots are replaced with different ones, using properly alternative shots, or reciclying deleted scenes.
In rare cases, it's possible to get the Theatrical Cut, when the only HD version is the Director's Cut (or the contrary may be true)!
color grading
Some folks are even aware that there is, for many movies, more than one color grading available; is not my due to say you which one is the "right" one, but isn't always true it's the one found on released media; it happens that TV and BD use different masters, with different colors, so it may worth to preserve both (or more of them), don't you think?
aspect ratio
People in the past wanted their TV sets "filled" with image (at the time, the "square" 4/3, or 1.33:1), hence the invention of the dreadful pan&scan... while, during the years, many viewers have learned to watch movies in their original aspect ratio, there is still a large percentage that want their HDTV (now 16/9, or 1.78:1) filled as well...
There are two ways to do this, pan&scan, and open matte. While the former is to avoid, the latter is IMHO a nice alternative to watch a movie - you may have a more immersive visual experience, if it's well done. The third way is to mix pan&scan and open matte - this usually happens very often with movie which has special effects, that are done at (or around) the original aspect ratio; so, you would get a cropped image when there are special effects in the scene (very often, but not always), and an open matte for the rest of the movie.
There is also another possibility, where the open matte seems pan&scan, while it's "just" heavily cropped, and the difference with a mere p&s version is difficult to discern - usually the image lose a lot on one or both sides, but gain a tiny bit on top, bottom, or both.
Also, sometimes the open matte version doesn't only "gain" image on top and bottom, but also on one or both sides, due to different framing; in that case, you can "earn" something around 20% vertically (in case of a 2.35:1), but also a further 3/5% horizontally... that's 1/4th more image and, despite the OAR philosophy, which I endorse and reccomend to follow, it's always nice to see your preferred movie, the one you have watched several times, in a new way, that leads you to watch it almost as a new movie...
audio track
For historical reason, it could be nice to retain that strange, censored dialog tracks which many of us saw on TV for the first time; also, for old movies sometimes the old audio track is "recycled", and this is a good thing, because the old mix is available, while the recent media may contain only a new, different mix; there are also rare cases where some songs found on modern media are changed, due to rights, or other reasons; in very rare cases - still not encountered yet, but may happen - it's possible to find a multichannel version on TV, while a stereo or mono on BD...
So, when a given content you feel particularly interesting is broadcasted on your favourite HDTV channel, take the chance to record it - you can always delete it if it doesn't satisfy one or more of the previous points; and, if you got your hard disk full of old HDTV recordings, think about this before delete them; you can throw away a small, but important, piece of video history...
There may be other reasons, but at the moment I can't think of them... can you? If so, please reply!
Note: the same could be valid for SDTV broadcasting, even if it's more probable to have the same content, with same aspect ratio, colors, audio tracks etc. available, thanks to the huge title numbers of DVDs, Laserdiscs, VHS tapes.
Note 2: before deciding to delete forever an HDTV recording, please take few minutes to talk about it to your nerd friend, write on your favourite forum, or take a look at the following lists:
http://blog.sporv.com/open-matte-master-list
http://blog.sporv.com/workprints-master-list (contains also TV versions)
and consider also the option to give it to one of your friend, or upload/torrent it before delete it.
Sadly my projects are lost due to an HDD crash...
Fundamental Collection | Vimeo channel | My blog
Fundamental Collection | Vimeo channel | My blog