History Main / DigitalDestruction

* The 2003 Region 1 DVD release of ''Film/SuperMarioBros1993'' from Disney, in addition to having [[VanillaEdition zero extras]], is a phoned-in transfer of the Laserdisc master, which, among other things, suffers from massive DVNR, poor color correction, and constant motion smearing. And because the transfer is in non-anamorphic widescreen, high-definition/widescreen televisions read it as a full screen image, resulting in black bars on all four sides of the screen. Its only saving grace is the surprisingly impressive 5.1 surround sound mix. Compare this to Second Sight's 2014 Blu-ray release and TC Entertainment's 2017 Blu-ray release, which boasts a 4K restoration with ''much'' crisper picture and properly formatted for widescreen televisions. Too bad [[NoExportForYou it's only available in Region A and B]] and not playable elsewhere, meaning fans in North America are still stuck with Disney's shoddy DVD release (Disney also hasn't bothered to release it digitally there, either).

->''"For many years, Cinderella was not the right colors. Her hair [is] dusty blonde, and her dress is silver. And over the years, we’ve seen her hair look the color of Cheez Whiz. We’ve seen her dress be bright blue. We’ve seen all sorts of stuff."''

* ''Series/TokusouSentaiDekaranger the Movie: Full Blast Action'' had an issue on its DVD release: in the music video playing during the end credits, the blue was desaturated. This turns Hoji from Deka Blue to "Deka Gray" (and did not do Tetsu/Deka Break any favors as well, as his suit is mostly white but has a huge section of blue.) Fortunately, the HD copy released on the ''Franchise/SuperSentai V-Cinema & Blu-ray Box 1996-2005'' fixes this. (Pictures from the TV-Nihon wiki: [[http://wiki.tvnihon.com/w/images/1/11/DekaMovieBlueGrey1.jpg]], [[http://wiki.tvnihon.com/w/images/b/ba/DekaMovieBlueGrey2.jpg]], [[http://wiki.tvnihon.com/w/images/0/00/DekaMovieBlueGrey3.jpg]]).

Ah, the {{Remaster}}--a wonderful thing, really. Take an older media, clean up the picture quality, restores faded colors, gets the hisses and pops out of the soundtrack, offer three different screen sizes and two different surround sound mixes, but it's a time-consuming process, expensive and requires careful attention to the master records of the original. If possible you may even coordinate with the original creators to preserve every important detail.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheCurseOfTheWereRabbit'' has extreme amounts of DNR in the long-awaited Blu-ray release in North America. However, the [[BetterExportForYou Japanese]] Blu-ray release has no DNR and beautifully preserved the film grain and integrity of the image.

* The ''WesternAnimation/YellowSubmarine'' "Director's Cut" restoration by Miramax attempts to lighten, brighten or saturate colors. After all, if you're trying to clean up a color cartoon, you don't want dingy colors. This would be a minor problem, except that it was done ''everywhere'' — including scenes in Meanie-occupied Pepperland. Yes, "faded color = grey" is starting to become a film convention, but it wasn't one back then, and the hints of medium pastel are somewhat distracting to anyone who doesn't yet accept the convention. The 2012 Blu-ray release amended this by painstakingly cleaning up every frame individually.

* In the European Spanish HBO Max release of WesternAnimation/WeBareBearsTheMovie, [[https://www.20minutos.es/cinemania/series/somos-osos-hbo-max-tragico-final-alternativo-4891318/ the last ten minutes of the movie]] were accidentally cut, [[SuddenDownerEnding resulting in the movie ending with]] [[spoiler:Trout successfully capturing the bears with a last shot of Grizzly trapped in a cage in the reserve alone without his brothers, with the following scene [[MoodWhiplash being the credits scene featuring other bears celebrating happily with happy music.]]]]

* Airings of ''WesternAnimation/{{Madeline}}'' on Creator/{{Qubo}} [[https://twitter.com/CDCBsVCR/status/1181726058741141504 have the image yellowed]] due to master deterioration.

* The music video for Music/BryanAdams' "This Time" has some bad aural tape distortion at the very start of its [=YouTube=] [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XqxLt5KWDik&pp=ygUVYnJ5YW4gYWRhbXMgdGhpcyB0aW1l upload]], which was released on November 2, 2010.

* The music video for Music/BryanAdams' "This Time" has some bad aural tape distortion at the very start of its [=YouTube=] upload.

** Kubrick's later films, such as ''Film/TheShining'' and ''Film/FullMetalJacket,'' were shown in theaters in 1.66:1 in Europe and 1.85:1 in America, but "protected" for 1.33:1, meaning the frame could be expanded vertically to fill a television screen without introducing any glaring issues like boom mics or camera tracks. Shortly before his death, Kubrick approved 1.33:1 [=DVDs=] of these films, and some fans have taken that to mean that the 1.33:1 versions are the definitive versions which reflect Kubrick's vision most accurately. However, in reality Kubrick simply felt that viewers would prefer seeing the 1.33:1 versions than having to watch either letterboxed widescreen editions (given that letterboxing can look painfully low-res on a standard definition CRT) or badly cropped PanAndScan editions. Now that high-definition widescreen televisions are the norm, the movies have been reissued in 1.78:1...which, of course, is somewhere between 1.66:1 and 1.85:1 and thus not actually a ratio the movies were ever intended for. [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] considering that Kubrick himself released the films in 1.33:1 back then also because he didn't want black bars in his releases when they came to TVs in and out his time.

* The ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'' Trilogy had scenes that did not require special effects filmed in 1.37:1, and matted to 1.85:1 for theatrical and [=LaserDisc=] release. Unfortunately, the initial batch of widescreen [=DVD=]s for ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'' and ''[[Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII Part III]]'' matted some of these scenes in a manner that cropped out important details (such as the size-adjustment button and retractable sleeves on Marty's 2015 jacket). Thankfully, Universal began a disc replacement program that addressed the framing errors, and later pressings used the fixed prints. (The 2002-2003 discs with full-color art can be identified by "V2" in the text around the edge on mail-in replacement copies, although reprints of the full set only placed the "V2" on Part II. 2009 black-label reprints and beyond used the corrected transfers.)

** The official [=YouTube=] channel's uploads of some videos, mainly full episodes, have a glitch in the audio that sounds like echoing. Examples include the uploads of ''WesternAnimation/JonahAVeggieTalesMovie'' and "The Story of Saint Patrick" segment from ''Sumo of the Opera''.

* As pictured atop this page, in the original ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'', the titular character had orange hair and a silver dress. The DVD and Blu-Ray versions, however, have blatantly altered the colors to look a little closer to the Franchise/DisneyPrincess merchandise (blonde hair and blue dress). The fairy dust and some fabric creases have [[https://web.archive.org/web/20150428075826if_/http://members.chello.nl/h.h.j.f.beens/temp/Cinderella_VHSvsBD.jpg disappeared]] from her gown, and some backgrounds were completely altered. As the other examples in this category indicate, this isn't the only Disney animated classic to have suffered from something like this, but thanks to how pervasive and vain the changes were and how long they have persisted since, the film has become the face of the problem of overaggressive restoration of classic animation. The movie finally had its original colors and missing details [[https://www.berlinale.de/en/2023/programme/202315288.html restored]] for a 4K screening at the 2023 Berlindale International Film Festival, and subsequent Ultra HD Blu-ray and Digital releases (accompanied by corrected Blu-ray and DVD re-releases).

The TropeNamer is [[https://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/search/label/digital%20destruction this article]] from Creator/JohnKricfalusi's [[Blog/JohnKStuff blog]], in which he feels the restorations of old cartoons are actually ruining them, rather than making them better. The specific issues he complains about result from over-zealous application of certain adjustments, namely color saturation and sharpening. ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' creator Danny Antonucci [[https://web.archive.org/web/20140311174840/http://www.awn.com/mag/issue3.12/3.12pages/amididvnr.php3 has also commented on the issue]] even though his works are more recent).

** The 2004 40th Anniversary Edition DVD featured an "Enhanced Home Theater Mix" audio track, which tampered the audio quite a bit, with nearly all of the sound effects replaced, and a few bits of new music added where there originally wasn't any. (Obvious examples include the wind when Mary Poppins is sitting on a cloud, the "''poof!''" noise when Mary, Jane, Michael and Bert jump into the chalk drawing, the thunder and lightning before it starts raining on the chalk drawing, and the fireworks following the "Step in Time" number.) Sadly, this version was also used whenever Creator/ABCFamily would air the film. Fortunately, Disney released a new DVD in 2009, the 45th Anniversary Edition, with the new sound effects gone, and ABC Family's subsequent airings also use the original sound track. Additionally, the 2013 50th Anniversary Edition has an "Enhanced Home Theater Mix" that resembles the original soundtrack.
** Sadly, the 50th Anniversary Edition had DVNR and line smoothing applied to the animated sequences, although the live-action scenes fortunately retain the grain.

** The Shout! Factory and Tubi releases of Season 3 have a version of "The Burden Hardest to Bear" ripped from an obvious older master tape that looks almost fuzzy (namely, there's a unstable horizontal line appearing at the top of the picture throughout the episode), as if it was taken from a VHS copy. It also does not help [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN3QiWn-MOM that the Hasbro Pulse upload of the episode on YouTube is taken from the same master as well]].

** The censored version of "Procrastination / I'm With Stupid" (as in: the version without the sequence depicting [=SpongeBob=] watching his friends having fun and then imagining a drag racing crash) suffers greatly from this, likely due to a poor mastering job that nobody bothered to fix. This results in both shorts having washed out colors and an abundance of de-interlacing lines.

* ''WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer'' had Yukon Cornelius' coat look green instead of blue in early pressings of the Blu-ray. Thankfully, the 50th Anniversary Edition has it changed back to blue.

* Sadly, Creator/{{Peacock}} ended up getting the PAL masters for ''WesternAnimation/TheTwistedTalesOfFelixTheCat'' when they began streaming the series. Besides the slightly higher speed and audio pitch, it's very obvious that these masters haven't been maintained well. The first episode, for starters, looks so incredibly fuzzy that it almost looks like it was taken from a VHS tape, and a few episodes have visible (though thankfully brief) tape damage. It's highly plausible that, given the obscurity of the show, these were the only masters [=NBCUniversal=] could find in their archives. That being said, most fans are fine with this since the series ''at least'' [[NetworkToTheRescue is back in circulation again after more than two decades]].

* For the overseas restoration of ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs1981'', made sometime during the 90s, the digital-ink episodes from seasons 6 and 7 look very sloppy, presumably having been restored from film prints (which were used for unrestored versions in certain countries, including Germany). Additionally, every episode of seasons 1-8 use the same intro and closing sequence for season 1 (with two [[AlternativeForeignThemeSong Alternative Foreign Theme Songs]]) with a different opening logo, along with the episode titles and credits all re-done and modified. There are also several episodes which use the [[EditedForSyndication edited versions]] from the syndicated ''Smurfs Adventures'' show, instead of the original unedited versions. This restoration for the entire series was released to DVD in Australia and Germany.

* The DVD releases of ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers''. The original release Rhino Entertainment contained numerous errors that didn't exist in the (already error-prone as it is) original broadcast version of the episodes, and they also added in extra SFX that were often mismatched with the original soundtrack in terms of volume and quality. Creator/ShoutFactory's re-release did its best to clean up the errors, but limitations in available masters to use means it's ''still'' somewhat lower quality than the original broadcasts.

* Universal's DVD of the 1972 AnimatedAdaptation of ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lorax|1972}}'' gave the Lorax brown fur for half of the cartoon, as opposed to orange. Warner eventually rectified this by releasing a Blu-ray and DVD where the Lorax's fur has a consistent shade of orange, although the audio for the Cat in the Hat's opening VanityPlate now plays out of sync. Likewise, for the Universal DVD release, the smog-polluted skies throughout the cartoon became soft and bluish, as opposed to originally have a more convincing plum colored hue.

* Another documentary by Jeremy Issacs focusing on the UsefulNotes/ColdWar was aired on Creator/{{CNN}} in 1998. It was cropped to 16:9 aspect ratio for its 2012 DVD release and its broadcast on CNN International in 2013.

** The 2010 DVD rerelease and Blu-ray debut (and 2015 reprints) had bad end credits on the original ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', with the text tilted, off-center, and squished by 25%. This was never fixed in that release cycle, but 2020 Blu-ray and 4K discs have the correct credits (standalone DVD rereleases may use the 2010 master).

This often comes about because of [[MoneyDearBoy the tendency to want to just get the stuff out as quickly as possible]], all with a [[UltimateLimitedCollectorsEdition "digitally restored/digitally remastered"]] label stamped on it. Or worse, they didn't even know what harm they were doing to begin with; often the available tech is deceptively difficult to get good results from. As anyone who actually understands digital image processing will tell you, things like noise reduction and grain removal are actually ''really hard'' to do without at least some loss of detail (which can range from subtle to distractingly obvious), to the extent where preserving film grain is almost universally considered the better option among videophiles.[[note]]At least in the west; in Japan, audiences tend to prefer removing the grain to "modernize" the visuals, to the extent where preserving it is bound to result in massive backlash over there, thus resulting in grain removal being a very common move in anime remasters.[[/note]]

Ah, digital restoration and remastering--a wonderful thing, really. It cleans up the picture quality, restores faded colors, gets the hisses and pops out of the soundtrack, but it's an expensive, time-consuming process. It's expensive, takes a long time, requires careful attention and care... and did we mention it was expensive?

Digital destruction is often the result of people in general having [[MoneyDearBoy the tendency to want to just get the stuff out as quickly as possible, all with a "digitally restored/digitally remastered" label stamped on it to maximize profits]]. Or worse, they didn't even know what harm they were doing to begin with; often the available tech is deceptively difficult to get good results from. As anyone who actually understands digital image processing will tell you, things like noise reduction and grain removal are actually ''really hard'' to do without at least some loss of detail (which can range from subtle to distractingly obvious), to the extent where preserving film grain is almost universally considered the better option among videophiles.[[note]]At least in the west; in Japan, audiences tend to prefer removing the grain to "modernize" the visuals, to the extent where preserving it is bound to result in massive backlash over there, thus resulting in grain removal being a very common move in anime remasters.[[/note]]

All the same, stuff like this happens a lot with restored older films and especially older cartoons... and on occasion, this even happens (or happened) to newer cartoons (as mentioned by ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' creator Danny Antonucci [[https://web.archive.org/web/20140311174840/http://www.awn.com/mag/issue3.12/3.12pages/amididvnr.php3 here]]). It even happens to the popular ones, such as those from Disney!

The TropeNamer is [[https://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/search/label/digital%20destruction this article]] from Creator/JohnKricfalusi's [[Blog/JohnKStuff blog]], in which he feels the restorations of old cartoons are actually ruining them, rather than making them better. (The specific issues he complains about result from over-zealous application of certain adjustments, namely color saturation and sharpening.)

* ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved'' received an Anniversary Edition in 2011 (and included in the Master Chief Collection CompilationRerelease) that offered updated graphics and the option to toggle back to the graphics of the original release. When it came to displaying the original game it used Creator/GearboxSoftware's flawed 2003 PC port of the game as the foundation, but contained small coding errors. These made it look even more dated than it was, specifically with bump map textures and the quality of various translucent visuals like the windows, Jackal shields and energy constructs, all of which made the game feel flatter and less vibrant than it originally was. These flaws weren't corrected in the initial release of the ''[[CompilationRerelease Master Chief Collection]]'' (and were just one of the [[ObviousBeta many, many flaws with that package]]), but were finally fixed by an update to the MCC in 2021, allowing people to finally play ''Halo'' as originally intended without having to dig out their old Xboxes.

* The TV Turner prints for most of the [[WesternAnimation/{{MGM Oneshot Cartoon}} MGM Oneshot Cartoons]] as well as some of the Tom and Jerry's have blatant DVNR damage at several points in the films with a number of them appearing on the French Tex Avery set, Droopy DVD and Tom and Jerry spotlight Collections.