was watching BBC2 earlier, first the end of a Bitesize revision thing, which was 4:3 converted to widescreen with patterened blue bars down the side, a few widescreen trailers then Trade Secrets for 10 minutes, again converted with the blue patterns, then a few more widescreen trailers before Working Lunch which was in widescreen.
Is it now BBC policy to show all daytime programmes in widescreen regardless of original format, and use these patterns down the sides to fill the space?
i think it's techinical problems by the bbc they have done it for a few weeks for most of their daytime programmes apart from see you see me and primary geogparghy: zig zag they are fine in "small screen"
No - it's not a technical problem - as marksi said, 4:3 Schools programmes on BBC TWO and CBBC are supposed to be shown with "curtains" within a 16:9 frame on the digital platforms. (I imagine that on analogue they are shown 4:3 centre cutout, but I may be wrong on this.) The thinking behind this was that many older schools programmes are quite text heavy and that cropping them to 14:9 (like they do with kids programmes for the CBeebies channel) would lead to things like mathematical formulae etc being chopped off.
No - it's not a technical problem - as marksi said, 4:3 Schools programmes on BBC TWO and CBBC are supposed to be shown with "curtains" within a 16:9 frame on the digital platforms. (I imagine that on analogue they are shown 4:3 centre cutout, but I may be wrong on this.) The thinking behind this was that many older schools programmes are quite text heavy and that cropping them to 14:9 (like they do with kids programmes for the CBeebies channel) would lead to things like mathematical formulae etc being chopped off.
So why not show ALL 4:3 material in this way rather than crop it? That is the best way for everyone; no picture is lost. As for the idiot who decided to crop Ruby Wax Meets Jerry Springer...
I know the CBBC Channel show schools shows this way, but I haven't seen any of them on BBC2 this way. It must be a new thing.
Is it only BBC TWO programmes which are also shown on the CBBC Channel? If so, I guess it's a new procedure to avoid duplication of work (i.e. acquiring the programme twice).
No - it's not a technical problem - as marksi said, 4:3 Schools programmes on BBC TWO and CBBC are supposed to be shown with "curtains" within a 16:9 frame on the digital platforms. (I imagine that on analogue they are shown 4:3 centre cutout, but I may be wrong on this.) The thinking behind this was that many older schools programmes are quite text heavy and that cropping them to 14:9 (like they do with kids programmes for the CBeebies channel) would lead to things like mathematical formulae etc being chopped off.
So why not show ALL 4:3 material in this way rather than crop it? That is the best way for everyone; no picture is lost. As for the idiot who decided to crop Ruby Wax Meets Jerry Springer...
Because then you'd complain about the "curtains". In any case, schools programmes are not zoomed for the reasons previously set out, and Dan is (of course) right that the reason that things have changed slightly is that now that everyone is, er, happily located in the Broadcast Centre, the CBBC Channel and BBC TWO can share the same acquired programmes. This was not the case before as although situated in the same part of TV Centre, the servers used by the channels were completely separate.
Is there ever any way of finding out which schools programmes were originally in 4:3 and which were recorded / shown in 16:9? As part of my job remit I tape the broadcasts from BBC Two and CBBC but it can be a headache deciding what aspect ratio to set the Freeview box to get the first episode correct. There are many tapes in school with the first episode with bars down the side (ie an old 4:3 programme taped in 14:9 ratio). It really would help! The Ancient Greece Primary History set from 2 weeks ago on CBBC I think were 4:3 - that's what I taped them as as they were made around 1996/ 1997. It would be useful to know!
I'm surprised at See You See Me not being widescreen. Their Vikings episodes from around 1997 / 8 taped in 4 :3 have the black horizontal bars. The first block of SYSM this term were new - Scottish Physical Features, whilst the second week (last week) were slightly older but only by 2 / 3 years (on Weather). Around Scotland this week and next - apparently next week's Around Scotland on the 1960s makes reference to the contraceptive pill according the downloadable teacher notes.
Is there ever any way of finding out which schools programmes were originally in 4:3 and which were recorded / shown in 16:9? As part of my job remit I tape the broadcasts from BBC Two and CBBC but it can be a headache deciding what aspect ratio to set the Freeview box to get the first episode correct. There are many tapes in school with the first episode with bars down the side (ie an old 4:3 programme taped in 14:9 ratio). It really would help! The Ancient Greece Primary History set from 2 weeks ago on CBBC I think were 4:3 - that's what I taped them as as they were made around 1996/ 1997. It would be useful to know!
I'm surprised at See You See Me not being widescreen. Their Vikings episodes from around 1997 / 8 taped in 4 :3 have the black horizontal bars. The first block of SYSM this term were new - Scottish Physical Features, whilst the second week (last week) were slightly older but only by 2 / 3 years (on Weather). Around Scotland this week and next - apparently next week's Around Scotland on the 1960s makes reference to the contraceptive pill according the downloadable teacher notes.
You shouldn't need to change the settings of the Freeview box at all. You should record a 16:9 picture (not letterbox), assuming your television is also 16:9. If you are using the tapes on a mixture of 16:9 and 4:3 tv's then hopefully the 4:3 tv's will have a 16:9 display setting.
