Technology has become a whole news section on its own now. Far more than just general interest, tech is what most people understand to be the driving force of advancement in modern society. This is why so much interest is placed on emerging technology, even that which the general public won’t experience for several years or even at all directly. Still, even with all of the futuristic developments, there’s still a fondness for what has come before. Be it because of nostalgia or a proven concept of quality, classics of entertainment remain popular, which is why so many companies invest in reviving, remastering, and recreating the classics with modern tech, giving them a new lease of life and even enhancing legacies in some instances.
Content Summary
Going live to revive old favorites
From film to 4K and beyond
Keeping up with rapidly developing hardware
Going live to revive old favorites
Whether they’re seen as cheesy salespeople attempting to flog products billed as “ingenious” or old jewelry at ten percent of the price that they should be, or convenient ways to buy goods, shopping channels have long been a staple of TV. While a rather niche form of TV programming nowadays, despite a bit of a comeback run in countries like Germany of late, this classic formula is being revived and is even enhancing the shopping experience. Using live streaming and some specialized applications, businesses are forging a new space of live commerce online. Bringing back so-called shoppertainment, the live streams are similar to the likes of QVC but are much more personalized and interactive, with influencers or the owners of businesses and brands holding live events that both offer fun and immersive ways to buy online. As for a pure entertainment product, live streaming is also being applied to bring card games like Andar Bahar to the real-money online gambling space. Users get the croupier and the real game streamed to their device, and can play along with additional applications like Optical Character Recognition and a Game Control Unit. So it’s like playing the classic card game in person, only over the internet with others and for cash.
From film to 4K and beyond
Movies are always released with HD and even 4K versions now, mostly as new releases to online platforms like iTunes, but what about the titles released on film? People still have a fondness for old films, especially those now considered classics. To make their resale worthwhile, they often need to be restored, fixed, and tweaked by digital artists, quite painstakingly by all accounts. One of the trailblazing names in this regard is the Criterion Collection. Hundreds of classic films have been remastered by their team onto DVD and high-definition Blu-Ray formats. To do this, they need a decent negative or print, which is scanned into high resolution frame by frame. Once digitized in this way, each department adjusts it to modern standards. All elements need to be taken a look at, including audio quality, color, and the removal of any specs of dust or scratches that may come through the scans. As listed in their shop, Criterion has remastered films as old as The Phantom Carriage and The Kid from 1921 while adding more recent releases of importance to the collection, such as Drive My Car, Parasite, and The Irishman.
Keeping up with rapidly developing hardware
In 1994, Sony released the PlayStation, and in 1996, the Nintendo 64 hit the home console market. In the grand scheme of entertainment, neither was released that long ago. However, due to the relative breakneck speed at which gaming hardware has advanced, games made even ten years ago can appear outdated and even be unplayable now. It’s a combination of these factors that has made the fad of remaking and remastering games very popular, and even anniversary editions with enhanced graphics can do well, as Bayonetta has proven. If a game has been popular and has sound core mechanics on a previous generation of consoles, they become a prime candidate for at least a graphics overhaul. By using modern tech, studios can refine the controls, infuse new assets, and create a more polished version of the classic title. The successful rebuilds of Crash Bandicoot and Spyro remain the prime examples of this practice. For graphical fidelity, the process might be getting a bit easier, with the algorithm technique of “AI upscaling” allowing for more pixels to be added to existing images.
Live streaming, digital artistry, scanning, and artificial intelligence are all allowing creatives to breathe new life into classic forms of entertainment.
