[VMPhil]

If it was made in SD, which is likely (though 2007-9 was the back end of SD drama production) and it's a recent acquisition, it's likely suffering from the same de-interlacing and zooming issue we've mentioned on other shows. The latter will be less noticable due to it being shot on film, but it will still be reducing the picture quality.

Edit: looked at the most recent episode on UKTV Play, and yeah, it looks pretty awful. Very soft and blurry, and clearly zoomed in. There's no way something from 2009 should look like that, even if it was made in SD.

The end credit text looks awful, and you have the telltale copyright strap very close to the bottom of the screen



Finding a video on YouTube, while the quality's poor because whoever uploaded it shrunk the credits into a box to show off their channel's logo, you can see the copyright strap is a lot further from the bottom of the screen

Thanks. I also found a YouTube upload (by the production company I think!) and was able to compare it while it was being broadcast. The thing that tipped me off at first was the cast/crew credits on screen at the start of the programme were extremely close to the edge of the screen. Then I noticed straight away the framing was completely off - people's heads half cut off the top or the side. It beggars belief that this is acceptable for broadcast.

(I was watching on Freeview SD so couldn't appreciate the lower resolution as much but I still thought the end credits were fuzzy).

[James2001]

It beggars belief that this is acceptable for broadcast.

Yet it's been going on for months now and they claim they can't see any problem when people contact them.

Thinking more, I seem to remember now reading at the time about Kingdom being done in SD even though the move to HD was well underway at the time because they wanted to use 16mm, and there's a thing about how 16mm isn't suitable for HD (not that it's stopped plenty of 16mm content being remastered in HD in the years since).

[Neil Jones]

This table here suggests 16mm film doesn't have the resolution:
www.digital-intermediate.co.uk 

Resolution - Aspect Ratio
ASPECT RATIO Image resolution is a subject most of us quickly comprehend because…
  Source: www.digital-intermediate.co.uk

Although I dare say if you scan it enough times and give it enough time, love and attention it will look decent, though I suppose it depends on the grain.

[VMPhil]

Yet it's been going on for months now and they claim they can't see any problem when people contact them.

Thinking more, I seem to remember now reading at the time about Kingdom being done in SD even though the move to HD was well underway at the time because they wanted to use 16mm, and there's a thing about how 16mm isn't suitable for HD (not that it's stopped plenty of 16mm content being remastered in HD in the years since).

One of the uploads of the show I found had a DOG from the old ITV HD channel - wasn't that one of those early HD channels that only showed HD programmes (no upscaled SD programmes).

[James2001]

I guess it possibly was made in HD (can't remember if ITV HD did move to simulcast towards the end), though UKTV's copies certainly aren't.

Edit: looks like the last few months of ITV HD were a simulcast, showing upscaled SD as well as HD, only broadcast on freeview (becoming ITV1 HD when it launched on sky and Virgin), so it's possible the clip you saw is from a repeat showing on there.

[Brekkie]

Kingdom is also on STV Player if you want to compare how they've handled it.

[James2001]

Yeah, just looked on STV Player, it's still in SD (which does suggest that's how the show was made), but the quality difference is night and day. Here's the end caption from the same episode- UKTV Play on top, STV on bottom- on STV Player the text is significantly sharper, and the caption a lot further from the bottom of the screen:




Even just from a screenshot of white text on a black background, it shows what a mess UKTV's handling of SD content is right now.  How this isn't being noticed really is bizarre.

Can compare the two versions of the same episode for yourself:

uktvplay.co.uk 
player.stv.tv 

[James2001]

On a slightly unrelated note, interesting to see the Series 7 title sequence of Casualty, I don't recall seeing them before (at least if I have, not since 1993), as it's literally a remake of the series 1-3 titles, seemingly even with the same actor playing the doctor (or a remarkable lookalike) albeit actually filmed on the show's actual sets, unlike the original. Strange they went back to recreating the original titles after having a quite different set for series 4-6.

Looking on YouTube, series 8 went for an entirely new set of titles, which I do remember, which lasted until the "glass breaking in reverse" tiles were introduced in 1997. I remember the first couple of episodes of that series had the old BBC logo on the credits, as they were shown before the logo changed.

Still suffering from the filmising and zooming of course though...

[Brekkie]

It's as if a corporation wide rebrand is as easy as telling production companies that you're changing your logo on this date and anything set for broadcast after that date should be made with the new logo.

[James2001]

You don't have to be sarcy, was only pointing out it was interesting that the logo change happened only a couple of episodes into a new look. Not to mention the series was delayed by a week because of Diana's funeral, so the new logo would have appeared on an episode that originally was meant to be shown a week earlier (so presumably was re-edited).

And not everything after that date had the new logo, EastEnders still had the old logo through until the end of 1997 for example.