Teletubbies Roku Channel Preservation (not yet started) (Help Needed)

This will be a side project for now because my priority is my star wars holiday special project

Teletubbies deserves to be in the best possible quality, it’s no doubt the creepiest and trippiest children’s show of all time. The official youtube postings were the best I was aware of, But the thing is they basically cropped the tops and bottoms, made the sides slightly open matte, then stretched it the rest of the way to fill the screen. Then also they regraded the show to make it more colorful, so basically those have some pretty big problems, but recently I came across “The Roku Teletubbies Channel”, which as you might guess airs Teletubbies all day. The episodes are in 4:3, 25 FPS, and have the original color grading.

Sadly I can not record these in the best possible quality because of my NTSC computer monitor and my macs inability to record audio, the audio part does not really matter because it would probably be best if they were synced with the youtube postings audio in the end anyways. So I think it would be best if someone with a PAL monitor and good internet would record these. Then I can sync them with the youtube audio, encode them, and also recreate the US versions to also have as sort of a bonus feature on this release.

PM me if you have the PAL monitor, good internet, and are interested.

From what I’ve heard, Teletubbies was one of the first children’s shows shot in high-definition (though I could be wrong on that and it might’ve merely been shot and edited on standard PAL video [with conversion to NTSC for American broadcast]). Are the Roku transfers HD (as the YouTube transfers undoubtedly are)?

One other thing to note is that WildBrain has a habit of tweaking the aspect ratio whenever they post something to YouTube (like squeezing a 16:9 show to 4:3, as I’ve seen on some Boohbah uploads). While I don’t doubt that the later episodes may have been 16:9 from the get-go, I’m wondering if the earlier episodes were native 4:3 or 16:9 cropped or stretched to 4:3…

WaltWiz1901 said:

From what I’ve heard, Teletubbies was one of the first children’s shows shot in high-definition (though I could be wrong on that and it might’ve merely been shot and edited on standard PAL video [with conversion to NTSC for American broadcast]). Are the Roku transfers HD (as the YouTube transfers undoubtedly are)?

One other thing to note is that WildBrain has a habit of tweaking the aspect ratio whenever they post something to YouTube (like squeezing a 16:9 show to 4:3, as I’ve seen on some Boohbah uploads). While I don’t doubt that the later episodes may have been 16:9 from the get-go, I’m wondering if the earlier episodes were native 4:3 or 16:9 cropped or stretched to 4:3…

They look SD to me. I know that at least the beginning of the show was shot in SD, and the BBC didn’t shoot much in HD until around 2010, But it is definitely possible that it was shot in HD.

So what wild brain did to the aspect ratio was they slightly cropped the tops and bottoms, made it open matte (not to 16:9, to just an ever so slightly wider aspect ratio), then stretched the image the rest of the way. It only being slightly wider and cropped on the top and bottom makes me think that it was probably originally 4:3. The color is also changed to be more appealing to small children on the youtube postings.

Here are the links and you can have a look.

Here is the live airing (the teletubbies channel)
https://therokuchannel.roku.com/watch/ac7f693bcdd55f72aca62df031a73b52/teletubbies

Here are the streaming on demand episodes.
https://therokuchannel.roku.com/details/d1270d33630156a4b850788f2e6df990/teletubbies

Ok, so I found out some software called streamfab can download this, but there is a catch. It is rediculusly expensive, so is there anyone who already has it?

Darth telly said:

Ok, so I found out some software called streamfab can download this, but there is a catch. It is rediculusly expensive, so is there anyone who already has it?

I don’t think anyone has that, no one would spend on that

PsyKovic said:

Darth telly said:

Ok, so I found out some software called streamfab can download this, but there is a catch. It is rediculusly expensive, so is there anyone who already has it?

I don’t think anyone has that, no one would spend on that

Well, it can also download from netflix, disney plus, hulu, peckock, amazon prime, and some others that I forget.

edit: the others are hbo max, hbo now, olympic games, funimation, channel 4, fanza, and there are too many to list out.

Darth telly said:

PsyKovic said:

Darth telly said:

Ok, so I found out some software called streamfab can download this, but there is a catch. It is rediculusly expensive, so is there anyone who already has it?

I don’t think anyone has that, no one would spend on that

Well, it can also download from netflix, disney plus, hulu, peckock, amazon prime, and some others that I forget.

edit: the others are hbo max, hbo now, olympic games, funimation, channel 4, fanza, and there are too many to list out.

but it is 250!

Darth telly said:

Darth telly said:

PsyKovic said:

Darth telly said:

Ok, so I found out some software called streamfab can download this, but there is a catch. It is rediculusly expensive, so is there anyone who already has it?

I don’t think anyone has that, no one would spend on that

Well, it can also download from netflix, disney plus, hulu, peckock, amazon prime, and some others that I forget.

edit: the others are hbo max, hbo now, olympic games, funimation, channel 4, fanza, and there are too many to list out.

but it is 250!

you have a option to buy it seperately

Darth telly’s dedication to preserving Teletubbies in its best quality is commendable. I hope that in the past year, they were able to find someone with a PAL monitor and good internet to help with recording the episodes. Preserving the original 4:3 format and color grading would ensure an authentic and nostalgic experience for fans.
If you’re reading this, Darth telly, I wish you success in completing your project and syncing the recordings with the YouTube audio. Utilizing iptvroku https://internettvdotcom.com/how-to-videos/install-and-watch-iptv-on-roku/ could have provided you with more ideas and options for your preservation efforts.