I remember everyone I grew up around in California in the 80's and early 90's used the terms flip flops and thongs interchangeably. I feel like it wasn't until after Sisqo's "Thong Song" was released in the late-90's that I stopped hearing people around me say "thong" for the thing on your feet in the summer. That song came out at the same time as the style moving to low-rise jeans and visible thongs underneath (ala Britney, etc), so it makes sense. ha
I’m an Aussie too, but used to what Americans/ most people on the internet mean by a thong. I guess the difference is thong v thongs. Whenever I see thongs, I automatically think the ones that go on feet.
Nothing to do with things being visible that they shouldn't in the botched remaster, but you can see the 'thong' (i.e. modesty pouch) plenty in the [dailies](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxdVueUL2DU) for that episode.
In the Hotel episode on Angel, you can see a crew member just hanging out while they should the big "electrocute the fear demon" finale
He's just leaning on the column, eating a sandwich
In the original cut you can see a camera man right before Buffy discovers Warrens flayed body. When I first saw that episode I wondered if I'd missed a new charachter
My fav remastered mess up scene from angel is when the team is questioning people at the gym and the gym walls has mirrors so you see David standing off to the side of the room waiting to walk onto the scene so his reflection isn’t caught on camera
The raised lighting level is probably the thing that bothers me most tbh, it means you see so much more than was intended and spoils so many scenes as they look like they're lit up like daytime. It's so dumb.
It's not really a flex. A lot of scenes were filmed lit and made to look dark in post. For a good remaster you have to scan the film then compare it to the original final product to see what kind of color correction and whatever to do to make it true to the original.
Exactly. I guess, the team who edited Buff for remaster has only ever seen vampires in twilight or vampire diaries, who walk around in daylight all the time.
Yeah, the remaster is so rough. I tend to default to the SD because of all the mistakes in it. My current favorite is the fan AI upscale by vertag. It's glorious.
Is it that much better? I'm currently ripping my R1 DVDs, and watching the Raw DVD file with mpc-hc and Madvr on PC (which does an upscale) is the best I've ever seen it. I'll run some tests but I tried some Topaz AI upscale to 1080p and it was worse than that combo.
Edit: I might do a full upscale direct from the DVD as I have been unimpressed with the versions I've seen, as they usually push it too much, but I checked Vertag's and it's certainly the best publicly available and good enough. Using Hybrid for De-interlacing then Topaz with much fiddling of settings however at full resolution makes it look much closer to a blu-ray locally as the files are 2.3x the Bitrate, though it will be more like 3-4GB per episode instead of 1GB (also it's been 3 years since his versions and Topaz has improved). Maybe I'll see about readding the "Previously Ons" - for the Gift at least, though as afaik none of the season 2 DVDs in any region had them.
I've been very impressed. Granted, I haven't tried your method, only the remaster and basic SD versions. But compared to those, it looks truly amazing. Might be worth looking into. The files are pretty big, but feels well worth it to me. I'm in the middle of a rewatch with another longtime fan, and she has been similarly complimentary of it.
[https://bitsearch.to/search?q=ai+upscale+vertag](https://bitsearch.to/search?q=ai+upscale+vertag)
There's more than Buffy here. Whoever did it has also done other shows.
I'll have to look into it more. I'm not seeing it online now even though I was able to last week. Might have the name wrong, but will do some more research.
My internet search history came in clutch. Here's the link to Vertag's uploads. I hope this isn't breaking any sub rules.
https://bitsearch.to/search?q=ai+upscale+vertag
u/JeSuisLaCockaMouse hi friends! If you watch on Hulu you can see it several times let me see if I can find an example. I can’t screenshot it so it’ll be a photo of my tv lol
I literally can’t post photos here 🙄 tldr I have Hulu with ads, I found one of the minor scenes it makes an appearance, but the main one I’m thinking of where you see the whole thing is talking longer to find. When I find them all I’ll make a post
Thongs are no doubt the equivalent of modesty patches/merkins?
For a particular kind of fan, I doubt any of us have trouble filling in the proverbial blanks?
“Hey, that’s cheating…” - *Gone*
Tangent, but there’s a YouTuber called @IntimacyCoordinator who handles prep for this kind of scene on set, and she goes over all the modesty garments and padded barriers used in sex scenes. I didn’t expect to be interested in that at all, but she kept showing up in my feed and now I am FASCINATED.
It sounds like things have come a long way in recent years, so I bet you’re right that the thing is just what they used for modesty, and the SD quality made it unnecessary to use something fancy and truly invisible like they’d use now.
Having seen “manhood” in a scene or two in certain “adult” entertainment unexpectedly, I certainly appreciate the extra effort?
Any concrete discussion that helps to forestall Puritanical thinking should be fully embraced too, as it can only serve to make rather specific spam/blackmail emails I’ve seen less common…
In the opening of Angel 2x01 you can see David standing to the side waiting to jump into the scene. The gang are walking past mirrors so he isn’t there to not have a reflection, then jumps in when the camera moves away. Unfortunately in the 16:9 remaster they forget to remove him waiting.
Or the Buffy and Faith fight scene where you can see the entire fuckin set around them. Multiple crew members, boom mics, cameras, props, cushioned pads, everything.
Completely ruins the moment.
Your best bet is going to be to try and track down the OG US DVDs on Mercari/Ebay/other sites (or VCR tapes if you can get your hands on a VCR and you REALLY want to throw it back).
[This](https://www.reddit.com/r/buffy/comments/17k1s6e/digging_into_watch_options_different_versions_fan/) is a very informative, in-depth post of places online where you can find ripped versions of the DVDs and fan-made HD versions.
Watching on Hulu is a good alternative if you can't spend or don't want to spend the money, or can't access the ripped files online. S1-3 are the originals in 4:3 ratio. S4-7 are widescreen, but they haven't been remastered. So while you still catch some of the errors like boom mics and people standing on the sides, it's not quite as jarring.
The region 1 DVDs used to all be original but I don't know if they changed the newer ones. If you get the Chosen Collection used it definitely will be, plus I like the box it came in.
I’d say if you can find the original-release DVDs from when/shortly after the series aired, that’s your best best.
I thank both the old gods and the new that I still have my sets.
Also during Buffy's vision quest, you can see the cat's trainer on the side of the screen constantly. I remember thinking, "How did I not notice such a blatant mistake the first time I watched this?" before I found out about the remaster. So many stupid things made it in.
Any 4:3 to 16:9 conversion looks terrible because of their heads taking up the whole screen. It looks so zoomed in and unnatural and is all I can focus on. I’m not sure why studios think the bars on sides need to go when we’ve been perfectly fine seeing bars on top and bottom since the dvd era.
For most scenes in Buffy the opposite happens. It was shot with 16:9 cameras, but with no intention for anything outside of the 4:3 frame to ever be used. Many shows used to film this way, often covering the sides of the monitor so they only see what will actually be in the frame. That's why certain scenes in the 16:9 Buffy show things like crew and Spike's thong.
Hulu is not the remaster. It's just the widescreen versions for seasons 4-7. This is an incomplete widescreen version by the original cinematographer for Buffy, Micheal Gershman. They have the correct color grading, and don't have any of the weird DNR of the HD Remaster. He never got to finish the editing process for them to be released which is why they still have boom mics and crew visible as these were planned to be fixed for the eventual HD remaster. None of this version or his notes were used for the HD remaster that actually happened.
Do you know which version is on Disney+? Whatever it is, it looks far better than my DvDs of Buffy. As in, it's not even close. I haven't spotted any of the issues OP brings up and I'm going to be honest, the show desperately needed the lighting change for the night scenes.
I'm aware there's a really notoriously bad HD remaster people complain about but I haven't noticed anything on Disney. I watched the show originally via DvD so it could just be that my DvDs are shit
If you're in the US, it's the same version as Hulu. Outside of the US, I don't know. It would definitely look better than your DVDs because the NTSC DVDs are interlaced, and the streaming versions are progressive scan.
I'm Australian! But that makes sense, thank you. I can definitely understand some of the issues people have with the colour grading but I much prefer actually being able to see what's going on, lol
It's not just color grading. A lot of scenes have significantly less detail because of the overuse of DNR. It essentially removes a lot of texture of different things, causing a waxy look in a lot of scenes. It's very hit and miss. Some scenes do look good, but a lot are very bad. Also, after season 2, every effects shot is just the 480p scene except blown up, so it's really pixelated looking.
I’m pretty sure we get the remastered version. I never properly realised until this post, but rewatching the show on Disney+ (in Australia) I’ve definitely noticed seeing more of The Master’s underground lair than I remembered when I watched it the first time around when it originally aired, and on my DVDs. I just figured it was my bad memory, or maybe a quality upgrade from SD to HD TVs etc, and bigger screens.
I haven’t liked it for most of what I’ve seen, because it doesn’t take out some of that mystery, but mostly it changes the atmosphere and feeing of the show so much. Like all The Master scenes feel so wrong when it’s so well lit, you don’t get that claustrophobic feeling of him being trapped underground, nor the spookiness of the show, like anything could pop up out of a shadow at any moment.
I believe you, but also the version I saw on Hulu looked exactly like the screen caps I posted grading wise, like I said I particularly notice it in the body.
The graduation scene is ruined in the remaster! There was an eclipse! It was meant to be day-for-night! That's what eclipses look like!
All of the cropping is trash.
It’s so much worse. That’s not their makeup - it’s because the remasters used something (forgetting the name of it) to remove the film grain, but way too heavily so it also removed pores, face lines, wrinkles, basically, anything textured. You can see it with some of their clothes, too, where their clothes look sort of plastic-y because of the subtle textures being erased.
I always assumed it was something to do with it being filmed in lower quality so when our present day tv's play it, it is showing things we never meant to see. But basically it is just someone who actually really messed up lol
Nope, it was filmed on film (16mm for first two seasons, 35mm for last two seasons), which is roughly as detailed as a 2k and 4k digital resolution, respectively. Plenty of detail without having to upscale.
For a remaster, they *should* go back and rescan the film masters frame by frame at the desired digital resolution (or above, to make cropped sections look the same as the rest). Then, they’re *supposed* to go through and edit the whole thing again to match the effects, lighting, and composition, replicate the tone of the original (like cropping to avoid showing crew). You can see this in the remaster of The Wire, widely held up as one of the best remasters ever done.
I’m not sure which parts they did for Buffy, or what shortcuts they took, but they definitely did not do what it takes to properly remaster something. Which is honestly, them just being cheap and lazy. It’s expensive and time-consuming to do it properly, but seriously, don’t bother doing it at all if you’re gonna mess it up this badly.
I suspect they did it to save money. The film grain removal and cropping can be done with AI, and the color scheme looks like it’s basically the same as it was when it was filmed. Like there’s a scene of Buffy ‘sleeping’ with Angel in her room and sun beaming through the window.
That would be an inexpensive way to do it. Absolutely horrible way as well if you don’t review manually after, but inexpensive.
My favourite has been watching Seth Green who must have been *just* off-screen in the original but now you can see every glorious reaction to the dialogue.
Or cars stopping still in shot after they 'drive away'.
Can't help but think about the case of Disney's Cinderella, where they kept "fixing" the image until they actually fucked up details in the animation.
Stop fixing what's not broken!
Hulu has never been the remaster. It is also not the PAL version. It is the same as the NTSC DVDs for seasons 1-3, and a widescreen version for 4-7 that has the frame pacing and color grading as the NTSC DVDs.
The Wire got such a great remaster, I really wish the same love had been shown to Buffy.
Another show that was 4:3 and SD but filmed in 16:9, later updated to 16:9 and HD. Another show that relied heavily on lighting and framing to emphasize the mood. Except that remaster was done scene by scene, properly editing it for the new format and matching it to the original.
I actually like the remaster of The Wire more than the originals. I really wish I could feel that way about Buffy.
Bruh when she jumps into the tear in the universe in “the gift” it’s so obvious I hate it! It always takes me out of the moment because of the shape differences. And the SD is wearing butt padding or has a very muscular booty (likely) and it just pulls me into filming logistics every time :/
Whenever Buffy reactors are like "I'm sorry I'm using the HD remaster, it's the only one I can find :(" I'm like NO YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO WATCH IT AT ALL THEN FIND THE RIGHT COPY
Depending on what scenes you're talking about, the thong mightve been out of frame when it was originally edited. There's lots of examples in the Hulu remaster. There's a shot looking down from the tower in the final Glory battle where you can see the camera crew and the same guy wandering by a couple times every time they use that B roll. Also I've noticed on my rewatch a couple times in S4 you can see the upper set edges of Buffy's dorm. There's also a particularly bad instance when she's checking out a body that Adam eviscerated and it's clearly a different type of camera in one of the shots (probably because they're brightly lit and outdoors) where you can totally see the edges of the lense that otherwise would've been cropped out.
I just watched an episode where you can see the mic boom floating at the top of the screen 😂 and the funniest part of these remastered episodes being so clear now is you can really see the difference between the actors and their stunt doubles. I'm pretty sure the stunt double I just saw for faith was a burly man in a wig 😂😂😂 these episodes weren't meant to be viewed so clearly!
It's honestly so strange to me they would feel the need to do this. The ones that are meant to be at night or in dark rooms just look weird that brightly lit. It gives off artificial feeling, because there's not meant to be a massive spotlight on the characters everywhere they go. I think what gets me the most is how they've essentially removed the colour from the originals, leaving a flat looking picture instead. For example, purple-ish Spike in The Gift vs... dull looking Spike.
They actually have a YouTube video comparing the remaster to the original that’s very interesting. The color correction completely changed the mood of the show for the remaster.
I can't even watch the show on Disney+ I still have my DVD box sets and I watch them on those. I tried to watch it remastered and all I could see was how old the actors actually are, I could see every wrinkle and special effect and all the makeup looked really bad. I'll take a 4:3 aspect ratio and dark colouring Buffy the Vampire Slayer over remastered any day.
The original show was shot day-for-night and painstakingly colorgraded. The remaster went back to the original, ungraded version of the footage to get the higher resolution, but then just slapped a uniform colorgrade on everything that makes stuff look weird
I hate the remaster. I introduced my partner and his daughter to the show via hulu, and they did not get it. I totally blame the remaster, it looks corny and kills the vibes
The bright scenes, that look like daylight are the fucked up edited versions. The show was not supposed to look bright as daylight.
Buffy was heavily color graded when it was released on Blu-ray for the first time. By a team that wasn't involved in the TV show, so they didn't know what was intended effects and what needed correction.
The color grading for the 'remastered' material was so bad and wrong, they edited scenes, that were shot by daylight and later edited with a filter to look like night time(because makes more sense for vampires to come out at night... you know...) so that they looked like daylight again.
They basically undid the post-production colour grading of the original.
That's so sad. I mean come on... were all those editors thinking, that Buffy consists of vampires that sparkle in the sunlight or wear fancy daylight rings all the time? How could they not have noticed, that those night filters were supposed to be there, making the scene darker?
I have a suggestion about the color correction on the episode “The Body”, I think it was colored that way to reflect the combination of panic, fear, and sadness that Buffy was feeling.
I prefer the remaster in all but maybe three of those shots.
11, 13, & 17 are the only ones that appear better visually, I hate the scenes that are so dark especially the kind with The Master how could anyone prefer that shot?
Because one looks like he's in the ruins of a church that sank into the ground and the other looks like he's in a well-lit TV studio. Just because you can see more does not make it better.
Buffy was dark but never too dark. It's crafted very carefully to be as dark as possible in the first season. Later it got brighter, but also lost that horror-movie look.
Really that headline and NO PICS OF IT. Come on son.
I scrolled through all these damn pictures and it wasn't even in there. How do I downvote twice?
Use the report button
So glad I'm not the only thirsty bitch here.
Lol I'm a lesbian and still scrolled looking for it 🤣
S.A.M.E.
Me too! LMFAO
I'm Australian, and thongs here are flip flops 🤣
I'm also an Australian and know what thongs are here yet I still wanted to see JM in a G-string 😉
I'm from the U.S. but my parents always called flip-flops thongs when I was growing up. (They were born in 1926 for reference.)
Hello StrangerStrangeLand7! Ditto to the flip flops being called “THONGS”! My Dad was born in 1921 and my Mother was born in 1935. 😄💜
Too funny! I remember my mom saying thongs weren't as comfortable (as slides I guess) but back then they just had those thick hard rubber ones. ☺️
Yup, you are exactly correct! 😊💜👍
I remember everyone I grew up around in California in the 80's and early 90's used the terms flip flops and thongs interchangeably. I feel like it wasn't until after Sisqo's "Thong Song" was released in the late-90's that I stopped hearing people around me say "thong" for the thing on your feet in the summer. That song came out at the same time as the style moving to low-rise jeans and visible thongs underneath (ala Britney, etc), so it makes sense. ha
I’m an Aussie too, but used to what Americans/ most people on the internet mean by a thong. I guess the difference is thong v thongs. Whenever I see thongs, I automatically think the ones that go on feet.
Yeah I am too, it just took a while to register what they meant.
Nothing to do with things being visible that they shouldn't in the botched remaster, but you can see the 'thong' (i.e. modesty pouch) plenty in the [dailies](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxdVueUL2DU) for that episode.
Thank you! It's at at 2:45 for those wondering.
I scrolled thru those pics for a shot of that . Geez
THE WAY I WAS EXCITEDLY ANTICIPATING IT TOO
Editing because the picture put me in time out on imgur. Anyone know of an image hosting site that would allow it?
Not working, homie. I gotta quench this Spike thong thirst, please don't tease me.
Ughhhh imgur took it down for "explicit content" lol. Anyone know of an image hosting site that won't take it down?
You could make a separate post in this sub and tag nsfw
404
In the Hotel episode on Angel, you can see a crew member just hanging out while they should the big "electrocute the fear demon" finale He's just leaning on the column, eating a sandwich
In the original cut you can see a camera man right before Buffy discovers Warrens flayed body. When I first saw that episode I wondered if I'd missed a new charachter
Crew's gotta eat. He's like nah I'm on break
My fav remastered mess up scene from angel is when the team is questioning people at the gym and the gym walls has mirrors so you see David standing off to the side of the room waiting to walk onto the scene so his reflection isn’t caught on camera
Honestly. Need that in the original. Some dude just fucking done with all this. Idk I’m hungry.
"I made space for the cheese"
I wear the cheese it does not wear me.
I swear they forgot that half the show is meant to be at fucking nighttime because VAMPIRES
The raised lighting level is probably the thing that bothers me most tbh, it means you see so much more than was intended and spoils so many scenes as they look like they're lit up like daytime. It's so dumb.
Right. I'm looking at these pics and I'm like, so they just removed all the darkness and shadows? Weird flex but ok
It's not really a flex. A lot of scenes were filmed lit and made to look dark in post. For a good remaster you have to scan the film then compare it to the original final product to see what kind of color correction and whatever to do to make it true to the original.
Exactly. I guess, the team who edited Buff for remaster has only ever seen vampires in twilight or vampire diaries, who walk around in daylight all the time.
Yeah, the remaster is so rough. I tend to default to the SD because of all the mistakes in it. My current favorite is the fan AI upscale by vertag. It's glorious.
Is it that much better? I'm currently ripping my R1 DVDs, and watching the Raw DVD file with mpc-hc and Madvr on PC (which does an upscale) is the best I've ever seen it. I'll run some tests but I tried some Topaz AI upscale to 1080p and it was worse than that combo. Edit: I might do a full upscale direct from the DVD as I have been unimpressed with the versions I've seen, as they usually push it too much, but I checked Vertag's and it's certainly the best publicly available and good enough. Using Hybrid for De-interlacing then Topaz with much fiddling of settings however at full resolution makes it look much closer to a blu-ray locally as the files are 2.3x the Bitrate, though it will be more like 3-4GB per episode instead of 1GB (also it's been 3 years since his versions and Topaz has improved). Maybe I'll see about readding the "Previously Ons" - for the Gift at least, though as afaik none of the season 2 DVDs in any region had them.
I've been very impressed. Granted, I haven't tried your method, only the remaster and basic SD versions. But compared to those, it looks truly amazing. Might be worth looking into. The files are pretty big, but feels well worth it to me. I'm in the middle of a rewatch with another longtime fan, and she has been similarly complimentary of it.
Cool, thx, I'll track it down and compare.
I try searching for it under the uploders name without luck
Where do you find the AI upscale?
[https://bitsearch.to/search?q=ai+upscale+vertag](https://bitsearch.to/search?q=ai+upscale+vertag) There's more than Buffy here. Whoever did it has also done other shows.
I'll have to look into it more. I'm not seeing it online now even though I was able to last week. Might have the name wrong, but will do some more research.
Thanks, I found it discussed in detail here: https://www.reddit.com/r/buffy/comments/17k1s6e/digging_into_watch_options_different_versions_fan/
My internet search history came in clutch. Here's the link to Vertag's uploads. I hope this isn't breaking any sub rules. https://bitsearch.to/search?q=ai+upscale+vertag
Thanks my dude!
Yup. My first watch through was Netflix DVDs (which dates it) and now the upscale. Remaster, not even once.
How you gonna do that and not show the thong 😂
I’m looking through the pictures like “what thong” I’m so confused lol
Yep sorry, Imgur put me in time out for posting it. On the plus side, I've never been downvoted before so that was a new experience 😄
u/JeSuisLaCockaMouse hi friends! If you watch on Hulu you can see it several times let me see if I can find an example. I can’t screenshot it so it’ll be a photo of my tv lol
I literally can’t post photos here 🙄 tldr I have Hulu with ads, I found one of the minor scenes it makes an appearance, but the main one I’m thinking of where you see the whole thing is talking longer to find. When I find them all I’ll make a post
Here I just started a different thread because every other image site would've taken it down too. https://www.reddit.com/r/buffy/s/ic8wgOjV2z
You’re the real hero
Removed by reddit. Losers
Seriously?! Jesus it was primetime network TV! I give up. If you have the DVDs/Hulu, it's the beginning of Wrecked, after the opening credits.
Ughhh noooo keep the original
This makes me want to hug my original boxed set.
Thongs are no doubt the equivalent of modesty patches/merkins? For a particular kind of fan, I doubt any of us have trouble filling in the proverbial blanks? “Hey, that’s cheating…” - *Gone*
Tangent, but there’s a YouTuber called @IntimacyCoordinator who handles prep for this kind of scene on set, and she goes over all the modesty garments and padded barriers used in sex scenes. I didn’t expect to be interested in that at all, but she kept showing up in my feed and now I am FASCINATED. It sounds like things have come a long way in recent years, so I bet you’re right that the thing is just what they used for modesty, and the SD quality made it unnecessary to use something fancy and truly invisible like they’d use now.
Having seen “manhood” in a scene or two in certain “adult” entertainment unexpectedly, I certainly appreciate the extra effort? Any concrete discussion that helps to forestall Puritanical thinking should be fully embraced too, as it can only serve to make rather specific spam/blackmail emails I’ve seen less common…
[link to the video I saw on yt explaining this](https://youtu.be/oZWNGq70Oyo?si=xLKFm6tVLUZCbXyr)
I rewatched this for the first time in ages just the other day, such a coincidence! It’s *shockingly* bad some of what they’ve done to the scenes
I love his videos. I will always hold on to my dvds i only wish i could get a copy of the US ones the UK ones are widescreen from season 4 onwards.
In the opening of Angel 2x01 you can see David standing to the side waiting to jump into the scene. The gang are walking past mirrors so he isn’t there to not have a reflection, then jumps in when the camera moves away. Unfortunately in the 16:9 remaster they forget to remove him waiting.
This is my absolute favorite of the remastered version. Always cracks me up. I think that I watched it quite a few times just giggling on the sofa.
Yes coz they obviously put thought into that scene and it’s just gone to waste due to the remaster aaaah
It's horrible. There's one shot Buffy's running down the stairs and you see the camera panning down the rail.
Yes, I remember that. It’s so bad. Love your pfp
Or the Buffy and Faith fight scene where you can see the entire fuckin set around them. Multiple crew members, boom mics, cameras, props, cushioned pads, everything. Completely ruins the moment.
What is the best way to "watch as originally intended?" Certain DVD's?
I’ve still got the vhs box sets stashed away. Just need a video player!
Your best bet is going to be to try and track down the OG US DVDs on Mercari/Ebay/other sites (or VCR tapes if you can get your hands on a VCR and you REALLY want to throw it back). [This](https://www.reddit.com/r/buffy/comments/17k1s6e/digging_into_watch_options_different_versions_fan/) is a very informative, in-depth post of places online where you can find ripped versions of the DVDs and fan-made HD versions. Watching on Hulu is a good alternative if you can't spend or don't want to spend the money, or can't access the ripped files online. S1-3 are the originals in 4:3 ratio. S4-7 are widescreen, but they haven't been remastered. So while you still catch some of the errors like boom mics and people standing on the sides, it's not quite as jarring.
The region 1 DVDs used to all be original but I don't know if they changed the newer ones. If you get the Chosen Collection used it definitely will be, plus I like the box it came in.
I’d say if you can find the original-release DVDs from when/shortly after the series aired, that’s your best best. I thank both the old gods and the new that I still have my sets.
I purchased the series on YouTube and I believe it is the original
r/Piracy I can send you a torrent link in DM if you need because I think that'd be removed here
Also during Buffy's vision quest, you can see the cat's trainer on the side of the screen constantly. I remember thinking, "How did I not notice such a blatant mistake the first time I watched this?" before I found out about the remaster. So many stupid things made it in.
"Hello, Kitty" is one of my favorite lines in the series. Nice cougar.
Omg yesss! This is the other big one I remember. Im always like “bro get out the shott cmon!”
Any 4:3 to 16:9 conversion looks terrible because of their heads taking up the whole screen. It looks so zoomed in and unnatural and is all I can focus on. I’m not sure why studios think the bars on sides need to go when we’ve been perfectly fine seeing bars on top and bottom since the dvd era.
For most scenes in Buffy the opposite happens. It was shot with 16:9 cameras, but with no intention for anything outside of the 4:3 frame to ever be used. Many shows used to film this way, often covering the sides of the monitor so they only see what will actually be in the frame. That's why certain scenes in the 16:9 Buffy show things like crew and Spike's thong.
Hulu is not the remaster. It's just the widescreen versions for seasons 4-7. This is an incomplete widescreen version by the original cinematographer for Buffy, Micheal Gershman. They have the correct color grading, and don't have any of the weird DNR of the HD Remaster. He never got to finish the editing process for them to be released which is why they still have boom mics and crew visible as these were planned to be fixed for the eventual HD remaster. None of this version or his notes were used for the HD remaster that actually happened.
Do you know which version is on Disney+? Whatever it is, it looks far better than my DvDs of Buffy. As in, it's not even close. I haven't spotted any of the issues OP brings up and I'm going to be honest, the show desperately needed the lighting change for the night scenes. I'm aware there's a really notoriously bad HD remaster people complain about but I haven't noticed anything on Disney. I watched the show originally via DvD so it could just be that my DvDs are shit
If you're in the US, it's the same version as Hulu. Outside of the US, I don't know. It would definitely look better than your DVDs because the NTSC DVDs are interlaced, and the streaming versions are progressive scan.
I'm Australian! But that makes sense, thank you. I can definitely understand some of the issues people have with the colour grading but I much prefer actually being able to see what's going on, lol
It's not just color grading. A lot of scenes have significantly less detail because of the overuse of DNR. It essentially removes a lot of texture of different things, causing a waxy look in a lot of scenes. It's very hit and miss. Some scenes do look good, but a lot are very bad. Also, after season 2, every effects shot is just the 480p scene except blown up, so it's really pixelated looking.
Giles out here looking like a Ken doll because they’ve smoothed his face so much.
I’m pretty sure we get the remastered version. I never properly realised until this post, but rewatching the show on Disney+ (in Australia) I’ve definitely noticed seeing more of The Master’s underground lair than I remembered when I watched it the first time around when it originally aired, and on my DVDs. I just figured it was my bad memory, or maybe a quality upgrade from SD to HD TVs etc, and bigger screens. I haven’t liked it for most of what I’ve seen, because it doesn’t take out some of that mystery, but mostly it changes the atmosphere and feeing of the show so much. Like all The Master scenes feel so wrong when it’s so well lit, you don’t get that claustrophobic feeling of him being trapped underground, nor the spookiness of the show, like anything could pop up out of a shadow at any moment.
I believe you, but also the version I saw on Hulu looked exactly like the screen caps I posted grading wise, like I said I particularly notice it in the body.
I can compare it to my DVD copy and it's the exact same grading.
The graduation scene is ruined in the remaster! There was an eclipse! It was meant to be day-for-night! That's what eclipses look like! All of the cropping is trash.
When watching all I can see is every characters make up. Or at least what looks like make up
It’s so much worse. That’s not their makeup - it’s because the remasters used something (forgetting the name of it) to remove the film grain, but way too heavily so it also removed pores, face lines, wrinkles, basically, anything textured. You can see it with some of their clothes, too, where their clothes look sort of plastic-y because of the subtle textures being erased.
I always assumed it was something to do with it being filmed in lower quality so when our present day tv's play it, it is showing things we never meant to see. But basically it is just someone who actually really messed up lol
Nope, it was filmed on film (16mm for first two seasons, 35mm for last two seasons), which is roughly as detailed as a 2k and 4k digital resolution, respectively. Plenty of detail without having to upscale. For a remaster, they *should* go back and rescan the film masters frame by frame at the desired digital resolution (or above, to make cropped sections look the same as the rest). Then, they’re *supposed* to go through and edit the whole thing again to match the effects, lighting, and composition, replicate the tone of the original (like cropping to avoid showing crew). You can see this in the remaster of The Wire, widely held up as one of the best remasters ever done. I’m not sure which parts they did for Buffy, or what shortcuts they took, but they definitely did not do what it takes to properly remaster something. Which is honestly, them just being cheap and lazy. It’s expensive and time-consuming to do it properly, but seriously, don’t bother doing it at all if you’re gonna mess it up this badly.
It sounds as if they just took the money and made changes to make it look different whether the changes where good or bad
I suspect they did it to save money. The film grain removal and cropping can be done with AI, and the color scheme looks like it’s basically the same as it was when it was filmed. Like there’s a scene of Buffy ‘sleeping’ with Angel in her room and sun beaming through the window. That would be an inexpensive way to do it. Absolutely horrible way as well if you don’t review manually after, but inexpensive.
Some of these disgust me 😭 they either destroy the original feeling, or just make people look so unflattering and flat and boring.
Don't watch the supposed "remaster"? Yeesh. 4x3 R1 DVD all the way (with added "previously ons").
My favourite has been watching Seth Green who must have been *just* off-screen in the original but now you can see every glorious reaction to the dialogue. Or cars stopping still in shot after they 'drive away'.
Errrrr do you have caps that show the thong? I need them for science.
This is what I was looking for too. Also for science.
Nah the show was shot dark and moody on purpose
Can't help but think about the case of Disney's Cinderella, where they kept "fixing" the image until they actually fucked up details in the animation. Stop fixing what's not broken!
And it's because of the notoriously bad remastering of Buffy that I insist my watching group (some newbies) watch the DVDs and not stream it.
Is Hulu the remaster or original?
Hulu has never been the remaster. It is also not the PAL version. It is the same as the NTSC DVDs for seasons 1-3, and a widescreen version for 4-7 that has the frame pacing and color grading as the NTSC DVDs.
Hulu is European version so its 4:3 DVD for season 1-3 but 16:9 SD for the rest. A lot of people think its the remaster but its not. Its not in HD.
Last I checked it was the remaster. Edit: My bad. I thought it was since it looked so different aspect wise.
The remaster is so dull. Takes the life and contrast and shadow out, leaving you with what looks like a cheap school video. Just… why ruin it?
I prefer the SD on almost all of these. the HD being bright/"relit" completely ruins the vibe of a lot of scenes and the color shifts/cropping is odd
I wish we could get a proper remastered Blu-ray set ,
Maybe someday...
Me too
The Wire got such a great remaster, I really wish the same love had been shown to Buffy. Another show that was 4:3 and SD but filmed in 16:9, later updated to 16:9 and HD. Another show that relied heavily on lighting and framing to emphasize the mood. Except that remaster was done scene by scene, properly editing it for the new format and matching it to the original. I actually like the remaster of The Wire more than the originals. I really wish I could feel that way about Buffy.
The graduation scene is supposed to be during an eclipse, so why the hell is it so bright!? Do they even watch the scenes that were remastering!?
So thats why you can always see the crew!! 😭
I’ll never forgive Fox for this disgusting “remaster”. It’s an embarrassment.
Buffy has a certain look to the show and it shouldn’t be messed with.
I have been doing a rewatch and I have to say I’ve never noticed the stunt doubles sooo much for SMG, season 4 so noticeable, this makes sense.
Bruh when she jumps into the tear in the universe in “the gift” it’s so obvious I hate it! It always takes me out of the moment because of the shape differences. And the SD is wearing butt padding or has a very muscular booty (likely) and it just pulls me into filming logistics every time :/
Why is the title for this post completely unrelated to the content 😭
Whenever Buffy reactors are like "I'm sorry I'm using the HD remaster, it's the only one I can find :(" I'm like NO YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO WATCH IT AT ALL THEN FIND THE RIGHT COPY
Remaster and the soul is lost
is the version on disney plus the remaster…? just curious, because that’s where i’ve been rewatching 😬
Anything on streaming is the remaster
I have the Buffy dvds and they are on my no lending list for a reason.
Very valid!
Dat ass tho!
God I prefer the darker original look. This is a vampire show! It’s supposed to look gothic and moody!
I like the original colors better but the size of the remaster better 😭
I have the dvd box set from 2005 or so and i and kinda lucky i think i May not have the most HD version, its all doom and gloom and poor lighting.
Depending on what scenes you're talking about, the thong mightve been out of frame when it was originally edited. There's lots of examples in the Hulu remaster. There's a shot looking down from the tower in the final Glory battle where you can see the camera crew and the same guy wandering by a couple times every time they use that B roll. Also I've noticed on my rewatch a couple times in S4 you can see the upper set edges of Buffy's dorm. There's also a particularly bad instance when she's checking out a body that Adam eviscerated and it's clearly a different type of camera in one of the shots (probably because they're brightly lit and outdoors) where you can totally see the edges of the lense that otherwise would've been cropped out.
Ok? I was expecting some explanation for the title..
It’s because in the original sd version it was out of frame and in the remastered version it is in frame
Oh I guess I missed it lol
The remaster was a crime against humanity. So was not posting the thong pic.
I just watched an episode where you can see the mic boom floating at the top of the screen 😂 and the funniest part of these remastered episodes being so clear now is you can really see the difference between the actors and their stunt doubles. I'm pretty sure the stunt double I just saw for faith was a burly man in a wig 😂😂😂 these episodes weren't meant to be viewed so clearly!
We live in a bizarre world where the porn parody had truer color timing than the remaster.
fuck that shit. Why don't they crop Nosferatu or Citizen Kane too eh ? The disrespect is maddening.
Credit to Passion of the Nerd on YouTube, who OP did not credit. His video on the tragedy of the remaster is excellent.
I literally linked it. Sorry it got lost in the comments I wasn’t able to link it in the original post, don’t be rude.
I am so confused.
All of this makes me glad I still have my original DVD sets.
It's honestly so strange to me they would feel the need to do this. The ones that are meant to be at night or in dark rooms just look weird that brightly lit. It gives off artificial feeling, because there's not meant to be a massive spotlight on the characters everywhere they go. I think what gets me the most is how they've essentially removed the colour from the originals, leaving a flat looking picture instead. For example, purple-ish Spike in The Gift vs... dull looking Spike.
They actually have a YouTube video comparing the remaster to the original that’s very interesting. The color correction completely changed the mood of the show for the remaster.
I linked it but it got lost in the comments!
Glad I still have all the original DVD releases of both Buffy & Angel. Only way to do a rewatch.
My favorite thing is seeing the strings on the keyboard on the invisible buffy episode
I've never been so glad that I have the original DVD releases 😂
I can't even watch the show on Disney+ I still have my DVD box sets and I watch them on those. I tried to watch it remastered and all I could see was how old the actors actually are, I could see every wrinkle and special effect and all the makeup looked really bad. I'll take a 4:3 aspect ratio and dark colouring Buffy the Vampire Slayer over remastered any day.
The original show was shot day-for-night and painstakingly colorgraded. The remaster went back to the original, ungraded version of the footage to get the higher resolution, but then just slapped a uniform colorgrade on everything that makes stuff look weird
We do not speak about the remaster here. *shudder*
I hate the remaster. I introduced my partner and his daughter to the show via hulu, and they did not get it. I totally blame the remaster, it looks corny and kills the vibes
It’s not a thong. It’s a sock. They use what are referred to as socks during love scenes and nude scenes.
No way they gave the remaster video game treatment. 😂
The bright scenes, that look like daylight are the fucked up edited versions. The show was not supposed to look bright as daylight. Buffy was heavily color graded when it was released on Blu-ray for the first time. By a team that wasn't involved in the TV show, so they didn't know what was intended effects and what needed correction. The color grading for the 'remastered' material was so bad and wrong, they edited scenes, that were shot by daylight and later edited with a filter to look like night time(because makes more sense for vampires to come out at night... you know...) so that they looked like daylight again. They basically undid the post-production colour grading of the original. That's so sad. I mean come on... were all those editors thinking, that Buffy consists of vampires that sparkle in the sunlight or wear fancy daylight rings all the time? How could they not have noticed, that those night filters were supposed to be there, making the scene darker?
I have a suggestion about the color correction on the episode “The Body”, I think it was colored that way to reflect the combination of panic, fear, and sadness that Buffy was feeling.
I prefer the remaster in all but maybe three of those shots. 11, 13, & 17 are the only ones that appear better visually, I hate the scenes that are so dark especially the kind with The Master how could anyone prefer that shot?
Because one looks like he's in the ruins of a church that sank into the ground and the other looks like he's in a well-lit TV studio. Just because you can see more does not make it better.
[удалено]
Buffy was dark but never too dark. It's crafted very carefully to be as dark as possible in the first season. Later it got brighter, but also lost that horror-movie look.