Discussion related to railroads/trains that show up in TV shows, commercials, movies, literature (books, poems and more), songs, the Internet, and more... Also includes discussion of well-known figures in the railroad industry or the rail enthusiast hobby.
Discussion related to railroads/trains that show up in TV shows, commercials, movies, literature (books, poems and more), songs, the Internet, and more... Also includes discussion of well-known figures in the railroad industry or the rail enthusiast hobby.
Yesterday I stumbled on an episode of Tracks Ahead...hadn't seen that show in a looong time. It was on WNET-HD, and the episode filled my widescreen. The copyright of the episode though was 2001, so did they do some creative cropping to make it fill a widescreen TV? I see looking on the Tracks Ahead website that a season 6 is beginning production now in HD, slated for Fall '05 airing.
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n2xjk
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North Carolina
by CRail
I thought that show was long gone and to rest in peice forever. Never thought they would dig it up again.
Moderator: Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, Brightline Trains Avatar:3679A (since wrecked)/3623B (now in service as 3636B).
The Tracks Ahead web site is http://mptv.org/Trax_main.htm.
It occurred to me what they may have done is stretched the picture to fit the wide-screen format, but I didn't notice any distortion. TNT-HD stretches programs to fit all the time, and it makes people's heads look fat.
Caught a piece of another. WNET-HD is playing Tracks Ahead every weekday at 6:30. Trouble is my normal arrival time from work is usually just before 7, which is why I'm not otherwise glued to the TV every day at 6:30 to catch up with these episodes.
I'm still curious how exactly they are able to show them in widescreen format. The picture looks very good for an HD source (not quite as good as most stuff on Discovery-HD, but not bad...other so-called HD material sometimes is really pretty awful from a picture quality standpoint). In order for Tracks Ahead to look so good on HD with the old reruns, I wonder if they were originally filmed on film stock, and PBS has remastered them for broadcast. Does anyone know?
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n2xjk
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Fri Mar 12, 2004 11:02 am
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by CRail
what channel is wnet? i know the numbers vary but any other name for the station?
Moderator: Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, Brightline Trains Avatar:3679A (since wrecked)/3623B (now in service as 3636B).
WNET is the PBS station in New York City. My cable system carries WNET-HD on channel 713. The 'analog' PBS station on my cable system is WMHT-17 (Albany/Schenectady) on cable channel 13, and I haven't found Tracks Ahead there yet.
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n2xjk
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248
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Fri Mar 12, 2004 11:02 am
Location
North Carolina
by CRail
will the show air in the boston area? or other areas?
Moderator: Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, Brightline Trains Avatar:3679A (since wrecked)/3623B (now in service as 3636B).
The Tracks Ahead web site says series 6 will be carried by 200 PBS stations in the Fall. As for who is showing repeats of series 1-5, it doesn't say. Check your local PBS station, and if they don't have it scheduled, give them a call and say you are interested.
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n2xjk
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248
Joined
Fri Mar 12, 2004 11:02 am
Location
North Carolina
by CRail
WGBH Boston, is on the list. To check if your station is on the list, Click Here.
Moderator: Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, Brightline Trains Avatar:3679A (since wrecked)/3623B (now in service as 3636B).
