As recently as 2013, major network programs were still being shot in standard definition. Don’t believe me? Check out this week’s “Throwback Thursday,” when I took a look at real network programming being shot in standard definition. It was June, 2013, and major networks were still shooting hits like The Suze Orman Show, Big Brother, and Let’s Make a Deal in good old fashioned blurryvision. It’s been ten years now. Big Brother and Let’s Make a Deal are now in HD, of course. Suze Orman is no longer on CNBC, although reruns of her show are now available on FreeVee and Prime Video. This is comforting for the small number of people who still want to know if a 42-year-old can afford a Ferrari in 2011.
Why did it take so long?
I’m sure the answer was cost. The Suze Orman Show was produced using then-new dynamic green-screen technology. Suze herself was in an empty room with a large green background. The camera tracking was linked to the display, so that there was a dynamic perspective that really made it all look real. Trust me folks, in 2009 this was amazing stuff. Of course now we’re all incredibly used to it. In fact, shows like The Mandalorian take this one step further with live LED screens that show the actual backgrounds in real time. Honestly, even that trick is old news today.
The point is, converting that fancy tech to HD probably wasn’t cost-effective at that point, and CNBC probably knew that Suze wouldn’t stay on much longer. In fact, her show ended after the 2014-2015 season.
Will standard definition ever really go away?
I’m sure there are still corners of this fine planet where new standard definition programming is still being produced, but since the switchover to digital TV happened fourteen years ago, most production houses have moved to more modern equipment. Cameras only last so long in daily use and editing equipment is all computerized anyway, and that means that no one cares what resolution stuff is mastered at. It’s just processor time. As I go through the live channels on my DIRECTV system, even the independent channels are broadcasting in HD now, and even old TV shows are remastered if they were shot on film.
Of course, back in 2013 I really believed we’d be looking at a lot more 4K programming than we are now, but while 4K cameras continue to drop in price, 4K broadcast equipment and good-old-fashioned politics seem to be holding adoption of the next standard back a little bit. Well, I guess I’ll just wait until 2028, and run a “Throwback Thursday” to when HD was still a thing. See you then!
