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TV Breakdown Appreciation Thread

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IT
itvblocks
Not exactly a breakdown, but similar to a video I posted on here a little while back.

At the end of the "CBBC on BBC One" afternoon block, they cut to the CBBC fault caption after a trail (presuming they had it on standby) before finding the correct slide and giving us a rundown of the programmes on Tuesday evening.

Funny enough, this happened four days before "Blue Peter's Big Olympic Tour" fell off the air (I've also posted a link to that thread here some time ago), it's almost like a bit of foreshadowing...

JO
Josh
Here it is again if you're interested: https://www.tvforum.co.uk/tvhome/blue-peter-big-olympic-tour-breakdown-38359
NJ
Neil Jones Founding member
I've spotted this a few times now when CBeebies ends and BBC Four takes over, this occurs just before the BBC Four startup slide:
*

It's not a "breakdown" as such, because CBeebies ends as normal without an issue. The blobs are animated.

Also on CBeebies, this slide is quite contrasting compared to the rest of the output of the channel, this is the "off air" slide you see when you try to watch CBeebies as the live channel on the iPlayer after 7pm:
*

Edit: Video here if anybody's interested, the breakdown slide is at 1:39:
Last edited by Neil Jones on 24 February 2021 7:40pm - 2 times in total
IS
Inspector Sands
That brief flash of breakdown slide has happened eve since Red Bee playout moved over to their new playout facilities for the BBC channels.

I assume its just a slight timing discrepancy whereby the system that's playing out the channel and the one that's switching the EPG slots are just a fraction of a second out of sync.
TI
TIGHazard
That brief flash of breakdown slide has happened eve since Red Bee playout moved over to their new playout facilities for the BBC channels.

I assume its just a slight timing discrepancy whereby the system that's playing out the channel and the one that's switching the EPG slots are just a fraction of a second out of sync.


How long ago was that?
IS
Inspector Sands
Must be 2-3 years ago now. I think it once appeared accidently during a programme on BBC4 in the early days


I think it's probably not been fixed on purpose, it's a warning to parents of young children: here is something you never want to see Very Happy
BA
Bail Moderator
That looks to me like a bit of a black/no signal detector doing it's thing and cutting to the caption automatically, a bit like no dead air on radio or the emergency tapes kick in.
JO
Josh
That bird chirping seems to be the default BBC off-air noise as CBBC uses that too.
IS
Inspector Sands
Bail posted:
That looks to me like a bit of a black/no signal detector doing it's thing and cutting to the caption automatically, a bit like no dead air on radio or the emergency tapes kick in.

Nope it's what the output of Cbeebies has on its output when it's not on air, it's just apart from that split second no-one sees it as downstream of playout everything switches to BBC Four. It's the other way round between whatever time in the morning and 7pm

I don't think there's any automatic caption/emergency tape style systems in use anywhere. There are detectors that will alarm when there's a loss of video and switches that'll changeover between two paths of the same thing... but anything more that that requires human intervention
PL
plymouthbloke1974
I thought CBeebies/BBC Four was played out from the same suite?
IS
Inspector Sands
I thought CBeebies/BBC Four was played out from the same suite?

Think they still are, but for whatever reason they are seperate outputs to the BBC

Presumably it's so they have some flexibility should they need to have Four on air for longer hours, like I think they did for the 2012 Olympics?
SP
Steve in Pudsey
I think that might have changed now that Redbee have a presence in Salford.

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