During the period when 1301-1303 were made available to stream, the highest available resolution was 1440p.
Now that the downloads are available, the best quality is only at 1080p.
Please add the missing highest quality downloads.
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Curiously Munchie is available as a 1440 download, but nothing else?
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That’s just sadistic…
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We must see the glory of Munchie at the highest possible resolution.
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Maybe you checked just as they were making the episode available? I see several different versions. Can you check again and let us know if you are still only seeing one option for downloading?
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Sorry, by “nothing else” I meant that only Munchie was available at the highest resolution, 1440; prior episodes only go up to 1080.
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Considering that the host segments are built down to a budget and the movies are several decades old, does anyone actually need more than 1080p resolution?
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Older movies look gorgeous in 4K definition, because they were shot on film which has a natural high resolution. A vast majority of modern films are finished with 2K digital masters, which is just slightly higher than 1080.
So technically, the age of the films is indication that they’d look fine in a higher than 1080 option, more than more recent films would anyway.
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Is it possible this is just a function of what prints of the movies they have access to?
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I don’t think print availability has a lot to do with it - OP noted that the videos are available at the higher resolution (which Vimeo lists as “2K”) on initial “stream on demand” release, but then when the episode becomes available for download to us, it’s not available at the higher resolution.
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Spot on. Even some older TV shows benefit from Higher Definition re-releases, as these were also shot on film back in pre-tape days.
A great example if you ever get the chance to see it, is the Blu-Ray release of the original Star Trek TV series. Because it was shot on film, the higher res allows you to see strings and other such details that weren’t obvious on standard definition broadcast.
There’s even a scene featuring a corridor full of dead bodies, which on the crisp HD transfer, are very obviously mannequins.
The higher resolution the better for these old releases, as you get to see a lot more of the seams.
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The people making those shows made them knowing that the strings’n’things would be hidden by broadcast quality. I would much more prefer to watch them as intended.
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That doesn’t sound appealing to me.
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Yeah, I get it’s probably not for everyone. For a lot of people though, the DIY nature of stuff showing through is what gives cheesy old films a humble sort of charm. One of my favourite things about the Netflix seasons of MST3K was the higher definition showing the spacecraft miniatures Alternaversal had made, rough edged details and all.
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…In which case, the lower definition options would be a better choice for you. Whereas for someone like me, the higher definition transfers allow us to enjoy seeing how some of these pieces of history were put together.
It’s nice to have options.
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I think a more positive way of looking at it, is that you can see the color and texture of the uniforms, which are really nicely made, and some of Kirk’s uniforms are even different materials than others, and the subtle green in them pops a bit more.
Also, TNG looks really excellent scanned in from the original film elements, and for the most part the CG replacement effects are much less overt. It’s a shame Paramount won’t do DS9, because they played with light and dark a lot more and the clips that have been scanned are amazing, including the detail on DS9 model itself.
And speaking of light and dark, The Twilight Zone (except for the handful of episodes that were shot on videotape in S2) is absolutely gorgeous on BluRay from 35mm scans.
Again, I wouldn’t focus on “seeing the seams” but how much overall clearer they all look. I’ve not been disappointed yet by a BluRay set of a classic show where they scanned the original negatives.
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The HD clips from the What We Left Behind documentary made me want to cry. That is a beautiful looking show that would benefit so highly from an HD remaster.
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Yeah, I suppose I could have ran with a better example than “check out the imperfections in craftsmanship it brings out!” (Even though I stand by the fact that I adore that sort of thing myself, I should probably assume I’m in the minority there!) 
The fact remains that we know from the initial stream-on-demand releases of the new episodes in the Gizmoplex that these 2K versions exist - why not have them as a download option too, for those that like the extra detail?
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I wish there was a no CGI option.
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The BBC, a few years ago, showed a couple of compilations of the Rugby League Challenge Cup Final. The older matches had been archived on film, while the more recent finals (from the pre-HDTV era) had been archived to video tape.
The result being that the older matches’ picture quality, although in B&W, looked miles better than those from the Eighties and Nineties.
On the other hand, many of the old TV shows re-broadcast by the estimable channel Talking Pictures TV, look a bit vague and woolly on a 32" screen, let alone anything larger.
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