jamesw83's posts

Help with recording video over HDMI

If you're willing to report back, please do so - I'm going through exactly the same thing at the moment now I've upgraded most of my kit, my capture rig is still stuck on component AV, so I'm looking to upgrade.

Bauer rebranding 53 stations to The Hits/Greatest Hits

The idea is that local programming is on 1-4 instead of drive now I believe, because they're still bound by the license terms to do it.

The Sport Thread

No idea, since I was focussed on the iPlayer. Clearly they were able to record, or did some very careful editing as the actual broadcast on BBC2 was fine.

The Sport Thread

Real problems with the BBC feed of the Masters Snooker this afternoon - it started late with no sound, then ambient sound with no commentary. A few apology captions later (including accidentally putting up the template for when coverage switches between tables) sound and graphics went entirely. It looks like they lashed together some coverage from just the static camera for the full table and only the table mic before resorting to the Temporary Fault card and a total reboot in the gallery by the looks of things.

As I write it's still OK ish, but sound levels are all over the place.

EDIT: Sound has gone again as soon as the interval ended, clearly something is very wrong with the feed.

Wheel of Fortune to return?

In the US, each player has been given a small cone to place over the spoke when they spin, so that no-one is making actual physical contact with the wheel. It sort of works, and I could see a similar approach here as it's relatively inobtrusive.

BBC 1990s "Octagonal" Clocks

Not sure if you have a Github account, but setting this up as a 'fork' of the existing one might help with the paper trail. I have to confess that I've been thinking about how many similar keyed clocks that could be done with this basis if the fonts were available and making some sort of dropdown to switch between them all but probably separate apps are easier.
Also, probably not something you need, but for the benefit of others: the Python script in that package when run will do the base64 encoding and generation of font.js directly provided the images are PNGs in the pngs folder. It just replaces the Powershell or similar.

The Crystal Maze

On that subject, one of the people behind those Cyberdrome centres published their archive online at https://www.cornucopia.co.uk/the-archive/cyberdrome-revisited/
Makes interesting reading, including the bit where they were considering extending into providing a virtual Crinkley Bottom.

The Sport Thread

Can't be 100% about this, but it appears that the channel got into a pattern of ending after the group completed (which was the pattern every other day) and 'forgot' about the final. Incidentally, it wasn't obvious but there was occasional picture dropout on Matchroom, like something occasionally cut in and out, but they held the last frame so the glitch was less clear.
TBH, FreeSports seem to have a pattern where they just take feeds without really focussing on content, plenty of Ofcom worrying language on bought in programs etc.

International Sports Coverage

Yes, and the Invictus Games were there in 2016 I think. There's been a permanent sports complex up there for a while now, mainly meant for exhibitions and college events, but there's enough arenas and halls to turn its hand to most things really.
Given all the issues surrounding Major League Baseball, they apparently have grounds for that too. I do have reservations about having your 'bubble' for these events in a state where there seem to be significant issues with the spread, though, regardless of apparent convenience.

YouTube Gold

Paul's autobiography claims that Mike was genuinely annoyed, particularly as the red cloth made him think there was blood coming out of the box. He actually wanted to block its broadcast (sound familiar?) but was persuaded to allow it to go out in the main show, but no showings outside of that context.

Sound break up on ITV Hub

There are known buffering problems with loading adverts in at the end of parts, particularly on the Vestel platforms (JVC, Hitachi etc). I don't think it's a case of the processor not being up to it, but if connection sppeds are borderline it seems to happen more often, speaking as someone who gets the same problems regularly on UKTVPlay.

The Sport Thread

Wasn't that the European GP at Jerez 1997, which has been uploaded in full on the Youtube channel with some commentary dubbed on from VHS.
My understanding is that the process of making extended highlights for ITV led to the original audio being lost for the start, meaning the BBC couldn't show it in full. IIRC, the current version is world feed pictures coupled with sound from some off air recordings to eventually patch it together as a workable copy. Certainly if you watch the video there are some significant changes in audio texture in the first few minutes.