Garbage in, garbage out so don't expect any improvement.

Having said that, if you don't already, get them into a digital format asap

 

Is "Film" the ONLY beneficiary for HD?

Meaning that it is the only medium that can benefit from HD.By transfering film thru the tele'cine chain process using a high definition camera.

Where-as video you are merely going from video to video.

Programs like "All in the Family" or "The Cosby Show"(filmed to videotape)would show no improvement in the quailty of the picture at all.

So,i can transfer my old super 8 films to HD and they would show a marked improvement.But transfering my older home videos to HD would show no improvement at all.

Is this a fair statement?

 

8mm doesn't have enough resolution for HD. 16mm barely benefits from it (I believe early Corner gas was 16mm and was not great on HD). Usually you need 35 mm to have a noticeable improvement.

 

16mm can defenitely benefit from HD. The Hurt Locker, 28 Days Later and the recent Halloween II remake were all shot partly or fully on 16mm and look substantially better on blu-ray than they do on DVD.

 

would the images of these videos be improved

No. A copy can never be better than the original version. Even DVDs are capable of much better quality than you'll ever get from those tapes. However, discs are more rugged and easier to handle, so you'd get those advantages.

 

A copy can never be better than the original version.

That's not always the case. With proper processing a new version can be created which is superior to the original - noise can be removed, interpolation and extrapolation done, etc.

This, of course requires good processing power, but as we all know, an upconverted DVD can look better than a DVD sending 480i, the original format.

 

^^^^
That processing, called restoration, is not just copying. You do what you have to, to recover the original info. Sometimes that info has to be re-created. This means you replace parts with what you think was the original. Also, when you remove noise, you often remove part of the original signal as well. While all this can improve the appearance of the new version, it can never, ever be as accurate as the original. It's physically impossible.

BTW, an excellent example of good restoration is the DVD version of the 1959 movie "Journey To The Center Of The Earth". Back when that film was made, they colour separated it into 3 B&W films for archiving. When it was restored for the DVD, they used that archive and cleaned up the films, before recombinging them for the colour video. The reason for the colour separated archive is that the film dyes fade with time.

The restoration process is documented in the bonus features on that DVD.

 

Yes, these frame-by-frame restorations are well documented - James Bond is another example. But I'm not talking about restoration, I'm talking about "on-the-fly" processing, which can sometimes improve PQ, but cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

The fact that upconversion works (on a TV signal, DVD, etc) is proof of the fact that it can be done on-the-fly.

 

While all this can improve the appearance of the new version, it can never, ever be as accurate as the original.

Clearly, improved appearance (or sound) is not the same as accuracy, but when an "accurate" original looks (or sounds) like crap, there's nothing wrong with a properly-engineered "improved appearance" (or sound) re-release.

 

OP asked "Does the picture quality IMPROVE when old video is transfered to Blu-Ray?"

The answer is no.

 

I never assumed the quality that they recorded on a DVD, was the same copy they used to record it to a BD. I figured they had a master copy that they downgraded for DVD quality. I'm sure that this will apply to atleast a few movies.

 

16mm provides plenty of resolution for HD.

8mm does not, but it can definitely benefit from noise reduction and other digital processes.

Back to the OP's question though, I'll reiterate that simply transferring old home movies to digital will not result in any quality improvement. However, once you have it in a digital format, not only can you make multiple copies on different types of media, you can apply some enhancements and make it a bit better if you want to.