There are several on DVD. It will be a cold day in Hades before we see these on an HD channel. That estate is too money grubbing.

There are several on DVD. It will be a cold day in Hades before we see these on an HD channel. That estate is too money grubbing.


Gee, maybe it's because none of them were shot in HD. They are mostly old videotapes from their air dates on NBC shot many decades before there was anything called HD. If they had been shot on film that would have been a different story but old video tape source material upconverted to HD = crappy-looking HD. By the way, I have several of the Sinatra DVD broadcasts and the sound isn't that great either. Yeah, it would be nice if we could take decades-old videotape source material and magically make it pristine HDTV-like quality but, as far as I can tell, it can't be done.

You're not kidding.
That 1965 Sinatra A Man and his Music so I was told years ago just barely made it in the initial transfer to 1" videotape from the original 2" tape. Low-band, to boot.
You can tell the difference in tape quality from that tape to the show he did with Ella Fitzgerald a couple years later -- same cameras, same facility - except with high-band 2" tape.
So that's why HD won't make a bit of difference.

That's okay, Sinatra's all about the music anyway. :)

Gee, maybe it's because none of them were shot in HD. They are mostly old videotapes from their air dates on NBC shot many decades before there was anything called HD. If they had been shot on film that would have been a different story but old video tape source material upconverted to HD = crappy-looking HD. By the way, I have several of the Sinatra DVD broadcasts and the sound isn't that great either. Yeah, it would be nice if we could take decades-old videotape source material and magically make it pristine HDTV-like quality but, as far as I can tell, it can't be done.

Sinatra had a WHOLE bunch of film shot of him singing many of his most famous tunes that are sitting in a vault somewhere and have never been seen by the public. I believe this is what the OP is referring to.

I believe more than 50 songs were shot on film.