Smash - The Singles 1985 - 2020

[Oznerol]

There is a huge misundertanding among people who believe that all the music videos of the 80's ever existed in some kind of HD masters. Even IF some of them were ever recorded on film (a thing that was not very common. because it was more expensive) 99% of them were EDITED on SD video, so that means that final HD masters of the videos never existed, and never will

My point isn't really about the existence/lack of HD masters though.

I'm sure you're right about music videos being edited on SD video, but my issue with the SMASH Blu-ray is how badly these SD videos are presented, and how clumsy it is to pass SD content through an upscaling process in the way that they have. I don't expect "So hard" and "Domino dancing" to look like "Always on my mind". But, it is very possible, with a limited budget, to do much better.

An example is the Doctor Who Collection Blu-rays, which have been coming out at a rate of three seasons a year since 2018, presenting archive seasons of the show where each episode is a mix of studio shot on video and location shot on film, as was usually the case with British TV until the 1990s. The quality of the remastering, done by a guy called Peter Crocker, is superlative. In many cases the film elements are long gone and all that exist are SD broadcast masters, telerecordings, and various other badly archived sources. They present the episodes in the best possible quality using the full potential of the Blu-ray format, and do not try to falsely "upscale" them to something they have never been. They look as good as if you were watching a brand new broadcast master.

I do think the issue with SMASH is a Parlophone problem. Look at what they have done to "upscale" David Bowie's appearance on the Old Grey Whistle Test, which was shot on video in a TV studio (like Doctor Who) and used to look perfectly good, now it looks like badly rendered CGI: https://youtu.be/IBgU0tiLy2s

It is interesting that Discovery was presented in SD on DVD. Perhaps Parlophone had a go at upscaling it and the results were awful. Somebody looked at the picture quality so I am surprised that they have released SMASH as it is. It's a real shame.

If anyone is still not sure what those of use banging on about bad upscaling mean, have a look at the bridge and the buildings in "So hard" at 00:29: https://youtu.be/6iv8LXZeNTE

You are right on that. There are some examples of original SD stuff tranfered to HD with impressive results, like all the Top Of The Pops presentations recently aired again...really impressive..but I think it all depends really on the quality of that original SD footage. It seems that masters of this quality are not available for everything, sadly...it´s not "all" in the hnads of the person who make the job..altough, in bad hands, you can destroy the quality. I agree that the job done on some PSB videos is terrible.. For many videos, my PopArt DVD looks better in the same TV, than the Smash versions...

[DopeFiend]

There is a huge misundertanding among people who believe that all the music videos of the 80's ever existed in some kind of HD masters. Even IF some of them were ever recorded on film (a thing that was not very common. because it was more expensive) 99% of them were EDITED on SD video, so that means that final HD masters of the videos never existed, and never will

My point isn't really about the existence/lack of HD masters though.

I'm sure you're right about music videos being edited on SD video, but my issue with the SMASH Blu-ray is how badly these SD videos are presented, and how clumsy it is to pass SD content through an upscaling process in the way that they have. I don't expect "So hard" and "Domino dancing" to look like "Always on my mind". But, it is very possible, with a limited budget, to do much better.

An example is the Doctor Who Collection Blu-rays, which have been coming out at a rate of three seasons a year since 2018, presenting archive seasons of the show where each episode is a mix of studio shot on video and location shot on film, as was usually the case with British TV until the 1990s. The quality of the remastering, done by a guy called Peter Crocker, is superlative. In many cases the film elements are long gone and all that exist are SD broadcast masters, telerecordings, and various other badly archived sources. They present the episodes in the best possible quality using the full potential of the Blu-ray format, and do not try to falsely "upscale" them to something they have never been. They look as good as if you were watching a brand new broadcast master.

I do think the issue with SMASH is a Parlophone problem. Look at what they have done to "upscale" David Bowie's appearance on the Old Grey Whistle Test, which was shot on video in a TV studio (like Doctor Who) and used to look perfectly good, now it looks like badly rendered CGI: https://youtu.be/IBgU0tiLy2s

It is interesting that Discovery was presented in SD on DVD. Perhaps Parlophone had a go at upscaling it and the results were awful. Somebody looked at the picture quality so I am surprised that they have released SMASH as it is. It's a real shame.

If anyone is still not sure what those of use banging on about bad upscaling mean, have a look at the bridge and the buildings in "So hard" at 00:29: https://youtu.be/6iv8LXZeNTE

You are right on that. There are some examples of original SD stuff tranfered to HD with impressive results, like all the Top Of The Pops presentations recently aired again...really impressive..but I think it all depends really on the quality of that original SD footage. It seems that masters of this quality are not available for everything, sadly...it´s not "all" in the hnads of the person who make the job..altough, in bad hands, you can destroy the quality. I agree that the job done on some PSB videos is terrible.. For many videos, my PopArt DVD looks better in the same TV, than the Smash versions...

It's really quite simple, it comes down to whether the mastering process includes restoring the original film used in the original creation. If they obtain the raw film, be it digital or analogue, they can ensure there's no degradation between it being edited down to the final product.
With all of the Smash videos, it's plain to see they didn't actually dig up the original film reels and re-edit the videos back together. They must have only post-processed the already heavily compressed and degraded videos. Although a couple videos such as Together are slightly more clear than the Youtube counterpart, it's no 4k full on restoration.

I sincerely, sincerely doubt the 80's music videos (and other decades) weren't filmed on a material that can be restored into HD. Who says it's impossible? I've never heard of this. Feel free to educate me.
All I know is, other artists put in the effort to remaster their videos.
https://youtu.be/LT3cERVRoQo
https://youtu.be/iUrzicaiRLU
https://youtu.be/sOnqjkJTMaA?t=503

I refuse to believe Bilingual wasn't filmed in a higher resolution.
They've clearly cut corners when it came to "upgrading" the music videos for this release.
I remember Neil saying how Miracles had a very expensive budget. It's a shame the release for it is so grainy and down-sampled.

[NotInvisible]

It's really quite simple, it comes down to whether the mastering process includes restoring the original film used in the original creation. If they obtain the raw film, be it digital or analogue, they can ensure there's no degradation between it being edited down to the final product.

Assuming by raw film you mean negative, yes - provided there were no post-production effects added in SD.

But even SD video can be upscaled much better than the Smash discs. Someone brought up the Doctor Who Collection Blu-rays, which are pretty much top-of-the-line for this sort of thing. It's astonishing how good SD video can look with care.

I sincerely, sincerely doubt the 80's music videos (and other decades) weren't filmed on a material that can be restored into HD. Who says it's impossible? I've never heard of this. Feel free to educate me.

Most PSB videos were shot on film during this period, but all the overlays (Love Comes Quickly) and digital effects (Heart) would have to be replicated from scratch. Opportunities (Version 2) was shot on video and could never be true HD. By the time of DJ Culture things get very complicated - the negative wouldn't have the SD CG applied, so you'd need to pay for HD renders and re-composite everything, or more likely replicate the CG from scratch since the original models and project tracks probably no longer exist.

All I know is, other artists put in the effort to remaster their videos.
https://youtu.be/LT3cERVRoQo
https://youtu.be/iUrzicaiRLU
https://youtu.be/sOnqjkJTMaA?t=503

Pet Shop Boys are nowhere near the level of Bowie, ABBA or Michael Jackson. Can you find some true HD videos for artists more on their financial level?

[leesmapman]

Thriller was probably shot on film since it's filmed by John Landis

[Old Soak]

Thanks for confirming that Smash has no value to fans who already own all this stuff multiple times, not even the much mooted video 'upgrades'. It's something to entice the casual listener. They can't even include every single on a seemingly comprehensive collection.

[NotInvisible]

Thanks for confirming that Smash has no value to fans who already own all this stuff multiple times, not even the much mooted video 'upgrades'.

The audio remastering is fantastic - the songs have never sounded better.

[Old Soak]

Thanks for confirming that Smash has no value to fans who already own all this stuff multiple times, not even the much mooted video 'upgrades'.

The audio remastering is fantastic - the songs have never sounded better.

Depends on the quality of your system and how old you are - hearing gets worse with age. If all you listen to is streaming via headphones or mp3 quality you aren't getting anything.

[NotInvisible]

Depends on the quality of your system and how old you are - hearing gets worse with age. If all you listen to is streaming via headphones or mp3 quality you aren't getting anything.

People can choose to not take advantage of the fantastic remastering, yes. I'm glad this release exists, it sounds terrific.

[Oznerol]

It's really quite simple, it comes down to whether the mastering process includes restoring the original film used in the original creation. If they obtain the raw film, be it digital or analogue, they can ensure there's no degradation between it being edited down to the final product.
With all of the Smash videos, it's plain to see they didn't actually dig up the original film reels and re-edit the videos back together. They must have only post-processed the already heavily compressed and degraded videos. Although a couple videos such as Together are slightly more clear than the Youtube counterpart, it's no 4k full on restoration.

I sincerely, sincerely doubt the 80's music videos (and other decades) weren't filmed on a material that can be restored into HD. Who says it's impossible? I've never heard of this. Feel free to educate me.
All I know is, other artists put in the effort to remaster their videos.
https://youtu.be/LT3cERVRoQo
https://youtu.be/iUrzicaiRLU
https://youtu.be/sOnqjkJTMaA?t=503

I refuse to believe Bilingual wasn't filmed in a higher resolution.
They've clearly cut corners when it came to "upgrading" the music videos for this release.
I remember Neil saying how Miracles had a very expensive budget. It's a shame the release for it is so grainy and down-sampled.

So you mean than find the probaby lost raw film footage, maybe degraded,maybe without any information of where are the actual shots used for the final video (a master roll of film footage can have 10 versions of every shot or even more), make it all digital in HD for the first time, try to re-create the main edit of the video from scratch and then try to re-create from scratch all the original old analogue-video-effects to make them look identical to the originals, is quite simple?
Believe me that this is impossible in practice, maybe months of work, lots of time and money involved, just to make it look similar, but never identical. (even the basic edit of "Always On My Mind" included on Smash, re-cretared with HD images taken from the recent remaster of the film..is not identical to the original...)

For the exmaples you posted, all are simple film edits, without any video effects... and for ABBA and Michael Jackson its ovbious that those videos were filmed and edited on 35mm, so you only need to re-scan the already edited master of the music video on HD, do some color correction, and that´s it...
I´m 100% sure (well..99%) that this kind of final masters on film never existed for any of the early PSB videos..sadly...

[Nina]

It's really quite simple, it comes down to whether the mastering process includes restoring the original film used in the original creation. If they obtain the raw film, be it digital or analogue, they can ensure there's no degradation between it being edited down to the final product.
With all of the Smash videos, it's plain to see they didn't actually dig up the original film reels and re-edit the videos back together. They must have only post-processed the already heavily compressed and degraded videos. Although a couple videos such as Together are slightly more clear than the Youtube counterpart, it's no 4k full on restoration.

I sincerely, sincerely doubt the 80's music videos (and other decades) weren't filmed on a material that can be restored into HD. Who says it's impossible? I've never heard of this. Feel free to educate me.
All I know is, other artists put in the effort to remaster their videos.
https://youtu.be/LT3cERVRoQo
https://youtu.be/iUrzicaiRLU
https://youtu.be/sOnqjkJTMaA?t=503

I refuse to believe Bilingual wasn't filmed in a higher resolution.
They've clearly cut corners when it came to "upgrading" the music videos for this release.
I remember Neil saying how Miracles had a very expensive budget. It's a shame the release for it is so grainy and down-sampled.

(even the basic edit of "Always On My Mind" included on Smash, re-cretared with HD images taken from the recent remaster of the film..is not identical to the original...)

Do you have a list of the differences, by any chance?

[rehmana]

I wasn't going to buy this due to reasons stated by others - main reason being nothing new so why bother. But then I saw the japanese release of the 3cd 2br comes with a lyric booklet and a signed photo or card. Yes it works out almost double the UK Amazon price (due to postage charges) but I am one of those "completists". Would really bug me in a year or two if I didn't have it. So I figured why not get the one with something extra? Hoping it arrives in a few days.
Although Amazon UK droped the price again for this set. Currently at just under £42 gbp so may have made a mistake buying the Japanese one after all.
Oh well ...

[telys]

Yes it works out almost double the UK Amazon price (due to postage charges) but I am one of those "completists". Would really bug me in a year or two if I didn't have it.

I know the feeling. I missed out on both Lost and Undertow and almost didn't order Cricket Wife...
So it bugs me now

[rehmana]

Annoyingly Amazon Japan would not allow me to order, and in the end went with hmv japan. Probably could have saved a few quid on another site but sure I won't care about price once I have it. I did see a uk store had the japanese one but wanted over £90 so I think around £70 is ok.

[DopeFiend]

I wasn't going to buy this due to reasons stated by others - main reason being nothing new so why bother. But then I saw the japanese release of the 3cd 2br comes with a lyric booklet and a signed photo or card. Yes it works out almost double the UK Amazon price (due to postage charges) but I am one of those "completists". Would really bug me in a year or two if I didn't have it. So I figured why not get the one with something extra? Hoping it arrives in a few days.
Although Amazon UK droped the price again for this set. Currently at just under £42 gbp so may have made a mistake buying the Japanese one after all.
Oh well ...

I'm not finding anything on this JP version of Smash Blu-ray pack. Can you please link it?
Lyric booklet and signed photo or card does sound pretty sweet.
(I've checked HMV, Amazon JP, and Google)

[rehmana]

I found it by watching a japanese unboxing video. So I looked and found on amazon japan

https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%83%9A%E3%8 ... 394&sr=8-2

If you look in the description it talks about the lyrics booklet. I think i then found another site where i could see the parlophone was the uk one and the warner japan one was this one. So then i ordered from hmv japan -

https://www.hmv.co.jp/artist_Pet-Shop-B ... y_13901797

Hope the links help