[BillyH]

Hope no one minds me posting one of my uploads here, I recently dusted off my old VHS/DVD recorder (a Christmas present in 2005!) and am gradually going through a dusty box of old videos to see what I find, posting the results on my YouTube channel.

Here from October 1994 is a clip from Channel 4’s ‘Right to Reply’ about the gradual beginnings of widescreen television tests, and a debate on how to fit the images onto existing 4:3 sets without confusing/irritating people.

m.youtube.com 

[Neil Jones]

Hope no one minds me posting one of my uploads here, I recently dusted off my old VHS/DVD recorder (a Christmas present in 2005!) and am gradually going through a dusty box of old videos to see what I find, posting the results on my YouTube channel.

Been there, doing that. Shouldn't be a problem if its at least on-topic.

Here's some BBC Three continuity and trailers from Christmas 2005 (with an audio edit - see description) I found on a tape and I shoved on my channel a couple of years ago that I meant to post at the blue or pink place and then never did as I couldn't find an ideal opportunity to shoehorn it in to a discussion and I didn't want to force it:
www.youtube.com 

I'd post some more if some prat hadn't mixed the tapes up and didn't label what he'd done and what he hasn't...

[EJnutz]

Hope no one minds me posting one of my uploads here, I recently dusted off my old VHS/DVD recorder (a Christmas present in 2005!) and am gradually going through a dusty box of old videos to see what I find, posting the results on my YouTube channel.

Here from October 1994 is a clip from Channel 4’s ‘Right to Reply’ about the gradual beginnings of widescreen television tests, and a debate on how to fit the images onto existing 4:3 sets without confusing/irritating people.

m.youtube.com 

The presenter was Roger Bolton.

[Larry the Loafer]

The "original" Eurosport closes down for the final time:

youtu.be 

[James2001]

The intro to the first ever episode of Cheers on Channel 4:

www.youtube.com 

The announcer introduces it as being the "toast of America last year", even though it was rather infamously near the bottom of the ratings that season.

[VMPhil]

Hope no one minds me posting one of my uploads here, I recently dusted off my old VHS/DVD recorder (a Christmas present in 2005!) and am gradually going through a dusty box of old videos to see what I find, posting the results on my YouTube channel.

Here from October 1994 is a clip from Channel 4’s ‘Right to Reply’ about the gradual beginnings of widescreen television tests, and a debate on how to fit the images onto existing 4:3 sets without confusing/irritating people.

m.youtube.com 

Sorry to be an annoying pedant, but in your YouTube description when you say widescreen broadcasts didn't start offically until digital TV launched in 1998, that's not quite true. There was an analogue system called "PALplus" which ITV and Channel 4 used to broadcast a number of programmes, and there were widescreen TV sets on sale in the mid 90s that supported it (I believe that's what this Right to Reply report is about). I think ITV mainly broadcast films in the format, but Channel 4 showed things like the 1995 series of Fifteen to One in true 16:9 and broadcast in PALplus format.

As that report implies, the fact that viewers on 4:3 sets were forced to watch such broadcasts in 16:9 letterbox is why there was only limited use of this format I think. When digital set top boxes arrived they gave the viewer the choice to view in 16:9 letterbox or 4:3 centre cut-out. (Personally, I think they should have added a 14:9 compromise option too, the same as how 16:9 programmes were broadcast on analogue, and a feature that I had on a later Philips set top box).

[James2001]

Far too often on digital, people had their boxes set to 4:3 centre cut out even when they had widescreen TVs, I can't count the amount of times I saw people watching with the centre cut stretched across the screen, the TVs in my gym were still like it until they were removed in a refurb last year. In fact I wouldn't be suprised to find that at one time that's how the majority of people with widescreen TVs were watching, it seems to only have been TVs with integrated digital recievers and HD which are 16:9 by default which stopped it.

[Neil Jones]

Far too often on digital, people had their boxes set to 4:3 centre cut out even when they had widescreen TVs, I can't count the amount of times I saw people watching with the centre cut stretched across the screen, the TVs in my gym were still like it until they were removed in a refurb last year. In fact I wouldn't be suprised to find that at one time that's how the majority of people with widescreen TVs were watching, it seems to only have been TVs with integrated digital recievers and HD which are 16:9 by default which stopped it.

Well its hardly surprising. Give people a bunch of options for configuring the picture for a TV scren, don't explain what any of them do, set a ridiculous default in the first place and then wonder why people think 4:3 centre out stretched to 16:9 is the norm.

[Stooky Bill]

The sound of The Big Breakfast lives on
twitter.com 

[Stooky Bill]

A very nice little handover between Timmy Mallet in the Wide Awake Club and Ethel in Number 73:

youtu.be