Sony's Metamorphosis (1990 Analog HDTV HDVS High-Definition Dolby Surround Demonstration Videodisc)
Channel: Technobits
Date: 2022-08-26

This is the legendary Sony high-definition 12" HDVS
videodisc called "Metamorphosis" (HDP-1622)
produced in limited numbers in Japan for demonstration.
The HDVS disc format was designed to be a highly
portable 12" laserdisc-derived media format for Sony
"High-Definition Video System" or "Hi-Vision" back in
the early 1990's! Back then, high definition was a little
different from how it is now. The majority of the signal
was analog & close to but slightly different in resolution
to the 1080i picture we receive over the air today as it
was 1035i (hence the large upper border in the picture).
Before the earliest high-definition media was available to
the public (via satellite, MUSE Laserdisc, & W-VHS
tapes), Sony and other companies began shooting
footage, performing research, and showing public
displays of high-definition television. There were three
main ways of storing HDTV (or HDVS) at that time: Reel-
to-reel tape (HDV/HDD-1000), cartridge tape (HDV-10
"UniHi"), & 12" Laserdisc-style discs (HDL-5800 /
HDL-2000). This footage came from one of the
Laserdisc-style discs.

The disc itself was produced in 1990 but some
segments were taped in the 1980's. The disc contains
unique footage along with recycled footage from other
early Sony HD titles such as the Hills Of The Seasons
series & Coral Story. An interesting note is that the older
Hills of The Seasons & Coral Story sequences were
recorded using the 1984-era analog HDVS system (Sony
HDV-1000) while some of the other sequences, such as
scenes featuring the female model, were recorded using
the 1988-era digital HDVS system (Sony HDD-1000).
There is a noticeable increase in random noise for the
older analog HDVS sequences.
The audio track is encoded in Dolby Surround/Dolby Pro
Logic (technically Dolby Stereo) so I'd highly
recommend running this video through your favorite
surround sound receiver!
 Upscaled to 8K60FPS