So The Boys' videos were originally high-resolution?

Found these and wanted to share (sorry for the unflattering pictures, E & D):

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I always assumed their videos were blurry because they were filmed on a low-quality camera, but it appears that they were originally very clear. Look how defined Dylan's earring is.

So how did the videos end up so blurry?

I think it was on Tumblr that I saw this unfortunately, but it was a comparison of the LE copy of the CTV and the one that was released to the public. Apparently, it was also very blurry but the LE original copy had a bit better quality to it.

it might be but digital enhancing can work wonders. I have some old crappy pencil drawings photographed with a 0.3 MP wrecked camera that sprung to new life once edited even with second-hand graphical software

Probably screenshots of digital enhanced or first generation vhs tape

The tapes were copied again and again so the quality fades but I agree that they were probably digitally enhanced

There is a user here on the forums that enhanced the commons cctv and he did a very good job on it

I'm guessing the ones we are allowed to see were copied from the analog source and degraded. On a tech forum someone did the math to determine that an 8mm tape may be comparable to 720p digital. Don't know if that's accurate, but if it is then I guess the originals were fairly sharp.

They aren't screenshots. They are photographs of a monitor that was playing the original video at the evidence exhibit: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Anyhoo, I made a comparison between the version of Hitmen For Hire that we have now and the original:

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The difference in image detail is staggering, like going from 240p to 720p. Notice how the lock of hair below his earring is barely even visible in the low-resolution copy. Isn't seeing the original super cool?

There really wasn't "high resolution" back in 99', and most of their videos were shot with 8mm home video cameras.
As someone stated above, you'd be surprised at how good digital restoration can make old pictures look.
Chances are if they look better than a camera from back them, they were enhanced.

8mm tapes more than 15 years old may start to show signs of degradation. They will be degraded IF they are ever released

I have all of the original tapes from Jeffco and the 'Harris and Klebold clips' tape is probably the clearest version I've ever seen. It's clearer than the downloads from the Jeffco website. Which kind of surprised me. Some of the youtube videos are even higher quality than the downloads, which is saying a lot.

But my copies of the CCTV tapes look like garbage. I think it really depends on how well the tape has been taken care of, or if it's a copy of a copy etc. like lizpuff said.
Uploading to certain platforms, sending through certain platforms, or converting the files can also lower the quality.

spishakwax wrote:

I have all of the original tapes from Jeffco and the 'Harris and Klebold clips' tape is probably the clearest version I've ever seen. It's clearer than the downloads from the Jeffco website.

Cool! Would it be possible to take some photographs of your television while the original tape is playing, and post them here? I would love to see some stills from Radioactive Clothing in its original quality.