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Archiving of BBAU - widescreen from the start

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Johnnie from BB01 posted this tonight. Aside from the very heartfelt message, it is great to know the original seasons of BBAU (or at least the very first) have been officially archived.

Probably will never happen but I would love the old Big Brother seasons (preferred Widescreen - I know these exist) to be added to a streaming service. Could you imagine?

But I’m sure there is many things stopping that from happening like rights issues and royalties. Would they have to rewrite contracts again? Get permission from and have to pay the seasons cast? And more...
 
Probably will never happen but I would love the old Big Brother seasons (preferred Widescreen - I know these exist) to be added to a streaming service. Could you imagine?

But I’m sure there is many things stopping that from happening like rights issues and royalties. Would they have to rewrite contracts again? Get permission from and have to pay the seasons cast? And more...
I'm pretty sure the recordings from that era were not filmed in widescreen when it was filmed for TV. It only really became a thing in the mid 2000's, so it wouldn't surprise me if it's not possible.
 
^^ OT but I remember a passionate post somewhere (Whirlpool?) back around that time, about why US Survivor would never be shot in widescreen. Pretty funny and I wish I could find it. The US did lag for a while in that regard though TBH.
 
The US lagged somewhat due to not filming in 16:9 SD - there a switch to widescreen meant a switch to HD. Big Brother was pretty much the last US show to go widescreen and HD - and that wasn't until 2014.

Didn't realise BBAU was in widescreen from the start - knew it was from 2003 onwards, but didn't think the first two were. Indeed I thought the reason they ditched the in-house cameras from the third series on (IIRC) was due to filming in widescreen - as the remote cameras at that time were generally 4:3.
 
I'm pretty sure the recordings from that era were not filmed in widescreen when it was filmed for TV. It only really became a thing in the mid 2000's, so it wouldn't surprise me if it's not possible.
Sorry, but my 4x3 analog rip of 2001 episode 1 shows this:

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The US lagged somewhat due to not filming in 16:9 SD - there a switch to widescreen meant a switch to HD. Big Brother was pretty much the last US show to go widescreen and HD - and that wasn't until 2014.

Didn't realise BBAU was in widescreen from the start - knew it was from 2003 onwards, but didn't think the first two were. Indeed I thought the reason they ditched the in-house cameras from the third series on (IIRC) was due to filming in widescreen - as the remote cameras at that time were generally 4:3.
Correct - impressively, BBAU was filmed and broadcast in 16:3 SD from the very beginning. It's just that not many homes at the time owned widescreen televisions. I don't even think BBUK introduced 16:9 filming until a couple years into the series?

I think this fact is often forgotten about with BBAU only because most of the uploaded caps from the early seasons are in 4:3. But it was definitely filmed in 16:9.

You can actually view most of the 2001 widescreen footage on the officially released VHS (below), as well as throughout the Uncut/Unseen/Unreel DVD (on which it looks glorious on the latter!).


The original 16:9 shots were also used in the series tribute from 2008, as well as any other time the later seasons flashbacked to seasons 1-2:


Now here's hoping a widescreen copy, or at the very least a better resolution, of Celebrity Big Brother from 2002 surfaces one day...
 
BBUK didn't actually go widescreen until it's 7th series in 2006. We thought it would happen for BB3 in 2002 when they moved houses, but alas it didn't. The show went HD with the move to C5 in 2011. I'm guessing BBAU didn't actually go HD until this year as I don't think 9HD was around (thanks to Gem being in HD) for 2012-2014.
 
What would be the point of them digitising old seasons of the show? I very much doubt that these are ever going to see the light of day on a streaming service...

Unless it's just for archival sake. Which seems kinda pointless.
 
What would be the point of them digitising old seasons of the show? I very much doubt that these are ever going to see the light of day on a streaming service...

Unless it's just for archival sake. Which seems kinda pointless.
This is a slightly naive comment to make. Of-course it’s not pointless. It’s not specifically Big Brother that they’re archiving - it’s part of a wider initiative to digitise all Australian analogue media, which is incredibly important.


This piece by ACA a few months ago is absolutely worth the watch:
 
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