This afternoon whilst going through the channels I noticed that the test card was being broadcast on BBC HD, before this I'd never seen a test card on the TV (Only the hidden one on Freeview). I didn't realise there was any sound to accompany a test card as there was today. I did manage to make a recording (albeit on my phone) which I've included below.
I just wondered if this was broadcast regularly as I don't recall seeing it before.
This afternoon whilst going through the channels I noticed that the test card was being broadcast on BBC HD, before this I'd never seen a test card on the TV (Only the hidden one on Freeview). I didn't realise there was any sound to accompany a test card as there was today. I did manage to make a recording (albeit on my phone) which I've included below.
I just wondered if this was broadcast regularly as I don't recall seeing it before.
It used to be broadcast quite regularly on BBC HD when the channel first started- can't say I've seen it as much recently though.
Thanks for the link, that would seem to explain it. I've just never seen it broadcast before, at one point it used to be James May that went out as part of the preview just before 16:00.
It's been part of the BBC HD Preview loop for a long time. There is also a sound-sync test broadcast as well. (A black and white bar graph with a wood block sound)
It's a nice little thing to watch if you catch it by chance, from memory it's every other hour, it's supposed to be on for 2 minutes, but around 11.10am the other day it was on for a good 4 or 5 minutes, plus they usually have a BBC HD ident preceeding it saying that they'll be showing the testcard for two minutes.
Although they are slow at changing their HD previews, they were still showing the Christmas ones last week.
I assume it varies in length dependent on how long the filler material is. In a way it's nice that the testcard is being used to fill gaps in 'programming' again!
It's very useful actually, as my new telly was set up to 'shop floor, look shiny' settings out of the box and needed some calming down!
The test card and sound sync are only supposed to be around 30 seconds. Very occasionally they get played out longer in the preview slots when the folks at Red Bee are working on something.