Not surprising though, it hasn't had a refit since 2009. It's also still using Aston rather than VizRT.
I wouldn't be surprised if Astons were replaced by something other than VizRT in the English regions that are still SD.
Salford, Plymouth, London and Cambridge got VizRT as part of a wider upgrade/relocation. The SD Astons that other English regions still have (Greens, Reds - possibly even Motifs or Mottos?) will be upgraded before full refurbs I expect. I wouldn't be surprised to see a much cheaper option being deployed as an SD interim.
Someone told me recently BBC Cardiff are still using an Aston Red for Crimewatch's end credits !
That could well have been the case when it was an SD show from a studio in Cardiff (and may still be the case for the SD Crimewatch Roadshow daytime series) However I think now the show has relaunched as an HD OB (and changed formats) - I suspect something else is used.
That era of Aston was a perfectly good SD CG, and if they'd simply made an HD version of it with slightly improved animation they'd probably still have a business... Pixel Power's Clarity has picked up a lot of HD jobs that Astons did in SD, along with Chyron and Viz. (*)
(*) Aston did make an HD version of the Aston Caption (think it was single channel, unlike the 4) for the Eureka 1250/50 standard (just as Quantel made a 1250/50 Paintbox)
A quick question, If I stayed in a hotel near Luton Airport, am I likely to find London or East/Anglia regional news on BBC1/ITV?
Look East (West) just about, however some parts of Beds get LDN
I can tell you in the
Hampton by Hilton
hotel at Luton Airport, it's 'East(West)' regional progs, but don't worry it didn't spoil my 7 hour stay there.
The Luton relay is fed from Sandy Heath, rather than Crystal Palace, though in the hotel's case they were using Sandy Heath directly
I believe CP is the strongest signal for some parts of the town, alas why the London news bulletins sometimes have Luton stories on the bulletin, although Look East (W)/ITV News Anglia will report from the town more frequently than the M25 centric bulletins.
MK is another crossover town nearby. Back in the days of Central/Anglia, both claimed the town, although some could receive both regions, others could only receive Sandy Heath.
I believe CP is the strongest signal for some parts of the town, alas why the London news bulletins sometimes have Luton stories on the bulletin,.
If you want the excruciating detail (albeit over 40 years old) regarding reception in Luton, and the specification of the relay station, then it was an IBA case study, Pages 33-37 here:-
Is there any news on when Look East might get a set update/refresh/upgrade? The Norwich set in particular is beginning to look pretty dreadful with its scuffed desk and washed out screens. Not surprising though, it hasn't had a refit since 2009. It's also still using Aston rather than VizRT.
It's worth noting that (if I recall correctly) the Cambridge set is older than the Norwich set. Assuming you don't count the right hand monitor being replaced for a full sized one a couple years ago I'm fairly certain they've had the same set since moving into their current premises.
Look East put out two different programmes for viewers in the East and West tonight, with no pan-regional segment to speak of! Always nice to see Cambridge and Norwich do their own thing, would be good to see it on a regular basis - much like STV do with getting the same correspondent to do inserts to the 3 different programmes (often at the same time!), both editions of Look East saw the programme's political correspondent do a live insert. Makes you think that a fully split programme is doable!
Yes, I do remember them happening about four or five years ago now - I seemed to remember that they even got Stuart to go to Cambridge, and did two double-headed programmes, one for the east and the other for the west! I wouldn't think though that there is that much additional expense for a fully split 6:30 than there are for the bulletins across the rest of the day (as yes I can imagine the lunchtime and particularly the weekend bulletins would be much more expensive considering there are no teams in place for this currently) - as tonight demonstrated correspondents in Norwich can easily be shared with Cambridge (which surely can't be that expensive?!), and reports too etc. However, I am uninformed so probably wrong!
A quick question, If I stayed in a hotel near Luton Airport, am I likely to find London or East/Anglia regional news on BBC1/ITV?
Look East (West) just about, however some parts of Beds get LDN
I can tell you in the
Hampton by Hilton
hotel at Luton Airport, it's 'East(West)' regional progs, but don't worry it didn't spoil my 7 hour stay there.
The Luton relay is fed from Sandy Heath, rather than Crystal Palace, though in the hotel's case they were using Sandy Heath directly
I was thinking more the Premier Inn
Shows the issues of quite large towns being on the edge of regions, even more so with Milton Keynes. Must have been even odder before the sub opts, as I bet most people in Luton have never been to Norwich. On the other hand I bet a decent number go to London every day, but then London refuses to talk about anything that isn't Mayor of London/TFL/within the M25, so they can't win either way.
Look East (West) just about, however some parts of Beds get LDN
I can tell you in the
Hampton by Hilton
hotel at Luton Airport, it's 'East(West)' regional progs, but don't worry it didn't spoil my 7 hour stay there.
The Luton relay is fed from Sandy Heath, rather than Crystal Palace, though in the hotel's case they were using Sandy Heath directly
I was thinking more the Premier Inn
LOL it was 5 quid cheaper than the Premier Inn !
The newer/ refurbed Premier Inns are equipped with DVB-T2 Samsungs, without any menu lock outs, so you can run rescans and configure to your heart's content. Those sleepless hours simply whizz by !
