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The five main PSBs switching to 14:9

When did this happen...? (September 2019)

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JA
james-2001
the not very good Stephanie Cole sitcom Keeping Mum


The main thing I remember about that show is the opening titles which had her in a chair spinning round and grinning inanely while the camera zoomed in and out with some incredibly cheesy music playing. I still giggle thinking about it, it was so ridiculous.
PF
PFML84
the not very good Stephanie Cole sitcom Keeping Mum


The main thing I remember about that show is the opening titles which had her in a chair spinning round and grinning inanely while the camera zoomed in and out with some incredibly cheesy music playing. I still giggle thinking about it, it was so ridiculous.

 

Here for your viewing pleasure:-

JA
james-2001
I wonder where that episode's sourced from, seeing as it's a 14:9 copy? It's clearly too high quality to have been an off-air recording from the time. The show's had a DVD release, but it seems a bit strange to think that would have been in 14:9 rather than 16:9, but I guess that's possible.

The BBC logo at the end is horribly off as well! Was common to have badly rendered logos on indie productions, but much less show on actual BBC shows.
VM
VMPhil
There were a few shows that were made in 16:9 but had 14:9 DVD releases. I think Gimme Gimme Gimme was one.

Must say I was expecting the modern BBC logo at the end, kind of weird seeing the old logo on a 16:9 programme.
JA
james-2001
The final trilogy of Men Behaving Badly is only out on DVD in 4:3, not even 14:9. Or it was anyway, I notice Network released their own version a complete boxset of the show earlier this year (including the Comic Relief sketches, which hadn't been on the previous Pearson/Fremantle releases), maybe they finally included 16:9 copies of them?
NJ
Neil Jones Founding member
There were a few shows that were made in 16:9 but had 14:9 DVD releases. I think Gimme Gimme Gimme was one.

Must say I was expecting the modern BBC logo at the end, kind of weird seeing the old logo on a 16:9 programme.


Keeping Mum, according to Genome was first aired here, so it predates the BBC Blocks by about six months:
https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbcone/london/1997-04-17#at-20.30

So to have the old logo on it is correct but for an April airing that would have had to have been filmed in late 1996? Interesting how that's ended up as 14:9, unless its something like we've seen with Friends, where the best known versions were 4:3 for years and then 16:9 versions have just spontaneously appeared. Although Mum looks like standard videotape (so that's probably not an option?) whereas Friends was on film.
JA
james-2001
BBC News 24 launched in full 16:9 production in N9 (though it wasn't really known as that then) in November 1997


Speaking of that, I've always found it unusual that N6, 8 and 9 (there was no N7 because they were worried about it being confused with TC7 apparently) opened in reverse order. N9 opening, as you said, in November 1997, N8 roughly a year later when News 24 moved there, and N6 in May 1999 when the main news bulletins moved there.
JA
james-2001
unless its something like we've seen with Friends, where the best known versions were 4:3 for years and then 16:9 versions have just spontaneously appeared.


It's not really spontaneous, it was a quite major remastering project that took place about 9 or 10 years ago, going back to the original film and scanning it in 16:9 and HD (and having to re-edit the whole show from scratch as a result, as the old masters were 4:3 NTSC video). Quite a lot of filmed shows of the 80s, 90s and early 00s have gone though this (before the mid-80s, shows shot on film tended to be edited on film, so making HD masters is a lot easier, as they're able to just retransfer the film reels of the completed episodes in HD).

Keeping Mum was of course shot on video, so such a remastering isn't possible. Chances are most of the original studio tapes no longer exist either.
VM
VMPhil
Of course, it helps that Friends was shot on a format that meant it could be easily transferred to 16:9 with only a slight loss of picture height.
BH
BillyH Founding member
Am I right in remembering that ITV News took absolutely ages to be 16:9, probably even as recently as the late 00s as HD broadcasts for other shows were gradually beginning? Seems very odd that they didn't go widescreen with the major February 2004 revamp, even that would have been quite late.
VM
VMPhil
Am I right in remembering that ITV News took absolutely ages to be 16:9, probably even as recently as the late 00s as HD broadcasts for other shows were gradually beginning? Seems very odd that they didn't go widescreen with the major February 2004 revamp, even that would have been quite late.

Yep, I think they didn’t go widescreen properly until 2007, which in comparison to the BBC’s national bulletins going widescreen in 2000 does seem quite late! Though of course international footage and lots of OBs were 4:3 for ages afterwards. There was a while before that though where they sort of faked it by cropping to 14:9 and showing that in a 16:9 frame.


They went HD in 2012 towards the end of the ‘underground car park’ set. I remember it didn’t look right because the background was as sharp and in focus as the presenter - there was no depth of field. I can’t remember if they fixed it or if it was like that until the 2013 rebrand.
NW
nwtv2003
Am I right in remembering that ITV News took absolutely ages to be 16:9, probably even as recently as the late 00s as HD broadcasts for other shows were gradually beginning? Seems very odd that they didn't go widescreen with the major February 2004 revamp, even that would have been quite late.


I believe it was towards the end of 2007 when ITV News and most ITV Regional News went 16:9, but to be fair they were the first of the News programmes on the main five channels to go in HD. By the time ITV News went 16:9, everyone else had been in 16:9 for a while, even Channel 4 News and 5 News.

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