Get ready to see the new Big Brother cast in all their glory this summer as BB16 goes HD. Finally.
After fifteen seasons CBS has finally switched over to modern video technology inside the house and we couldn’t be happier. Every year fans ask if the Big Brother house will go from its original SD style to HD and every year I was doubtful of the change, but now the waiting is over.
Vulture is exclusively reporting that CBS had actually made the decision to go High Definition several years ago, but the change was so complicated that they had to wait to resolve all potential issues.
Changes to the show’s production infrastructure needed to make the leap were so complex, they had to be rolled out in waves. A new digital post-production system needed to be built, installed, and tested.
Per Grodner, “14 miles of HD cables” had to replace the old wiring that had run through the house. And finally, in the last phase of the remodel, new cameras had to be installed and made to work with the new digital central nervous system of the house.
“We only had six months at a time to do [the changes],” says Brother engineering-operations supervisor David Crivelli. “We had to do a heart transplant,” even as the “patient” — the Big Brother broadcasts each summer — continued to pump out new episodes.
Having worked for awhile on similar projects, converting command centers from old SD tech to modern HD equipment, I always knew it was way beyond just swapping out the cameras hanging on the walls. The Big Brother house would have been far more massive of an undertaking than anything I ever saw. This had to have been a wildly expensive transition and bodes well for CBS’s confidence in our favorite reality series. You don’t expend this kind of money and then soon after say farewell.
On top of the switch to HDTV, there are 11 extra cameras added to the house this season. All of which will mean better Big Brother Live Feeds this summer. “It’ll be a noticeable improvement for the internet viewers,’ Crivelli says.
Are you ready for HD Live Feeds? Get your Season Pass on sale now before the price goes up!
Update: CBS also points out that there will now be 76 HD cameras and more than 100 microphones. The additional cameras this season will double the backyard coverage for viewers. This is just getting better and better!
Yey! Took them long enough. If I read this right, it turns out that because of the logistics involving all the equipment that needed to be replaced, the transition to digital had to be made in phases basically?
That’s what I’m thinking too. I wonder how much equipment was there last season behind the scenes, but just now in use.
I think the most obvious we’ve seen recently is the upgraded quality of the housefront set footage during live shows and the intro for After Dark on TVGN last year.
Does this mean that the house was possibly remodeled/restructured? It would seem like the perfect time to make the change since BB6!
Anything’s possible, but I’m not expecting house structure changes based on the HD upgrade. We’ll have to wait and see though.
HD won’t make a cast any less racist. I’ll wait until the season starts before I start handing out cash.
Nor does last season’s cast make the next any more racist. Let’s give them a chance before we deem them “worst BB ever.”
Who’s to say pretending to be a “racist” couldn’t be a part of a hg’s “game play”?
Just like pretending to be a doctor?
Man, you ain’t lying!! They can’t possibly cast a season with as many bigots, racists, and gay bashers as last year. Also hope it won’t be as many “sheep” as it was last season.
The best thing about BB is that they don’t censor the house guests.
There should be no restrictions what so ever on what the HG’s should discuss during the GAME.
Who is to judge if some GAME PLAYER — it is a game — chooses to act like a racist as “game play”?
Is STEALING wrong?
If you’re playing baseball, you can STEAL 2nd base, right?
Because it’s a GAME and not real life.
Just signed up !!!…yeah baby !
Thank you!
Well, it only took them 14 years, but they FINALLY got it.
This year will we be able to see 4 differnt cameras at once? In the past there seems to alsways be 4 cameras but 2 of them are always on the same area
That’s entirely up to the control room and camera operators. We won’t know what they’ll give us until it happens. There’s nothing preventing them from showing 4 separate cams/rooms at once, so someone is making the decision to do the 2-cam angle on same scene thing that we see.
BB HD!
It’s about time.
BB Suggestion:
How about “BIG BROTHER SENIORS”?
House guests from 40 to 70 will compete for the top prize.
I think that would be super successful
The 40 year olds would be “the kids” in the house.
I am suprised they didn’t just build a new one some where else on the production studio lot and take down the old one once it was done.