noggin's posts, page 154

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NG
noggin Founding member

This Morning

John posted:
Why does this show need a producer, show runner (what ever that is), two deputy editors, head of production, a series director, an executive producer and an editor?


Well the Series Director will have a totally different Job to everyone else in that list - as they will probably be the senior studio director and 'run' the show from a directing point of view (even if they don't studio direct the show every day) Directors have a very different job to to producers on a studio show. On some shows they may also set the 'look' of location VTs - as well as handle long term stuff like studio and graphic design development and brand consistency.

The Producer credit will almost certainly be a day producer - so they will probably have produced that days show in detail, over a number of days and be responsible for all of the nuts and bolts (along with researchers and assistant producers probably) - sourcing and clearing stills, VT inserts, fact checking, writing show and guest briefs for presenters, talking through each item with contributors and experts etc. Most shows like This Morning will have different day producers working on consecutive shows - possibly on a 3, 4 or 5 day turnaround.

The Deputy Editors will almost certainly supervise the live teams and also the location VT insert teams, going over scripts, checking that from a more experienced point of view that the show running order makes sense, that the shooting scripts and edit production of inserts is being handled correctly etc. They will probably lead a daily production meeting, or the Exec will.

The Executive Producer/Editor will be the most senior editorial figure. They will have overall responsibility for the long term strategy for the show, driving the forward planning teams as well as the day teams. They will have significant overlap with Deputy Editors on many shows - but for a 5 day a week show you need to spread the load. The Exec will also have to have regular meetings with commissioners and/or channel management, and will almost certainly run things like forward planning meetings.

Head of Production is likely to be a non-editorial job - effectively a senior production management / budget figure who will also be looking after staffing for the show. Shows like This Morning which are long running will constantly be hiring staff and someone needs to manage this.

Show Runner is a more complex role to define - and isn't as usual on a factual show. On a drama they have the overarching 'view' of the show - creatively and practically. I guess if the Executive Producer is more tied up with other elements - or works across more than one show - the Show runner will assume some of the responsibilities they may otherwise have.
Last edited by noggin on 16 August 2018 11:32pm
NG
noggin Founding member

Best practice video capturing from VHS

The S-video cable is an optional extra (but only really relevant if you have S-VHS recordings)


Well, not just SVHS, my Hi-8 camcorder has an S Video output too, and I used that for transferring those tapes.


Sorry - this was in the context of VHS tapes - but yes S-video can be useful for Hi8 too. Firewire better for Digital8 and DV.
NG
noggin Founding member

Best practice video capturing from VHS

Yes. HD PVR 2 can accept component and composite with the cable that is supplied with (at least most) versions of it. The S-video cable is an optional extra (but only really relevant if you have S-VHS recordings)

The HD PVR 2 is also buggy as hell and not good with VHS-quality sources, though a VCR with a TBC (I have a Panasonic S-VHS machine with a TBC) may help. When it works it's OK - and it can capture in H.264 which can be a better option than MPEG2.

A good quality DVD Recorder is always a good option if your VHS recordings are short enough to let you run at a high quality / low recording time bitrate.
NG
noggin Founding member

Best practice video capturing from VHS

Hi folks,

Looking for a bit of TV Forum wisdom here. I've got a big box of VHS tapes containing lots of geeky pres stuff from years gone by that I'm looking to digitise.

I bought a cheap, basic USB capture device a while back, and the results were pretty poor. So I'm wondering if anyone's got any recommendations as to what's best to spend my money on for the best quality results. In particular I want to make sure I'm capturing at 50fps.

To complicate matters, I'd prefer to do this using my MacBook... so an external device would be preferable. If this is a non-starter, I do have a PC, but I'm not hugely confident in opening up computers and fiddling about inside, plus it's a bit old too.

Also, is there any particularly good capture software I should be looking at?

Any help is gratefully received!


Be aware that you will almost always capture at 25fps (frames per second) BUT these frames will be interlaced frames. When properly deinterlaced they will deliver 50Hz motion (as the 50 fields per second are captured at 50 different instances)
NG
noggin Founding member

Cutting the Cord

City dwellers real can't seem to grasp the poor BB speeds even in many towns never mind rural locations. We get no more than about 10Mb which is not satisfactory for viewing its forever buffering. The infrastructure just isn't there most of where I live is copper wires, street after street


Being a city dweller, I wish I could get 10Mb, we only get 5Mb, and that's on a good day. It's a treat to visit my parents in their tiny little Norfolk village miles away from any notable population which gets 28Mb.


My in-laws get fibre-to-the-premises in their little village. 100Mbs or 1000Mbs are options - though I think they went for the 50Mbs lowest cost tier...
NG
noggin Founding member

EastEnders

Yes - if your Sky box is any mode other than AUTO (or 576p) - then 4:3 native SD broadcasts will be stretched to 1080i or 720p 16:9.

Sky HD boxes don't pillarbox 4:3 in a 16:9 frame, they stretch it to full width. 1080i and 720p have no official 4:3 mode - so full-width 4:3 SD output as full-width 1080i 720p will be displayed stretched (though you may be able to manually override on your TV)

Sky HD boxes in 576p output mode still output fullwidth, but this is flagged with an aspect ratio descriptor (as 576p is a 4:3 and a 16:9 standard) so in 576p mode Sky HD boxes can trigger TVs into their 4:3 display mode (which is user selected on the TV).

In AUTO mode 1080i is output as 1080i and 576i SD is output as 576p SD (deinterlaced but still SD) with the 576p accompanied by a 4:3/16:9 flag, so you get HD output in 1080i and SD output in SD with aspect ratio switching. HOWEVER this means your TV has to re-sync as you surf from SD to HD channels. We live with this as stretched 4:3 is horrific.

When watching HD 1080i channels carrying 576i SD content then the pillarboxing is done by the broadcaster and the Sky HD box plays no part.

Why Sky refuse to offer a pillarbox option in their box settings I do not know...
Last edited by noggin on 14 August 2018 11:31am
NG
noggin Founding member

Eurovision 2019


Is this really correct? I find it hard to believe that BBC Studios couldn't benefit from any off-screen sponsorship now that it's a commercial entity.


BBC Studios (the BBC's semi-independent production arm) can make sponsored programmes - sure.

But they can't make them for the main UK BBC channels. The rules about sponsorship vary by broadcaster, and so BBC Studios commissions from the BBC will be made under different rules to, say, BBC Studios commissions from Channel 5, or an overseas broadcaster, like PBS in the US.

The BBC does have sponsored broadcasts on BBC World News, but that's a non-public service channel and not covered by the same Charter/Ofcom rules as BBC One, for instance.


Rhetorical question, because I don't expect it to happen anytime soon.

What happens in the case of something like a international sporting event? The NFL have stated they want a London based team and that stadium would be treated like any other (as in, they can bid for the Super Bowl if they want to)

But lets just assume a London team exists, and the stadium they use is hosting Super Bowl 60.

BBC Studios would then be commissioned by the NFL to produce the coverage of the event for international use. The BBC would obviously commission them for the domestic coverage, and as Sky also have the rights, it would be possible for Sky to do the same.

Very hypothetical as the BBC don't have a sport division in BBC Studios - BBC Sport remained part of the public service element of the BBC for both production and commissioning.

Quote:

So now you have three main problems to deal with. The BBC can't have any advertising or sponsorship. Sky can take advertising breaks (but not as many as the US can) and the US broadcaster can have a shed load of advertising and on-screen sponsorship (including things like the Ford pre-kick show, or Pepsi halftime show).


Pretty much the same issue that NFL have anywhere. The (non-existent) BBC Studios sport operation acting as host broadcaster would create a clean world feed without sponsorship elements, and possibly a dirty feed with sponsorship elements (it's normal to do a dual-mix with different replay wipes, stings etc. with different branding in these cases and modern vision mixers allow for this).

This clean world feed would be made available to third party rights holders, like the US broadcasters and the BBC domestic operation.

There may be a secondary feed produced by the US rights holders in addition.

As this coverage of an independent sporting event, not a BBC produced 'show' that is being staged by the BBC (i.e. the BBC didn't book the football teams to come and play) then this falls into an event category, where I believe the sponsorship rules are different.

The BBC domestic operation would have to be careful with the handling of sponsored pre-show and half-time content - and would no doubt take a world feed with less 'sponsored' graphic branding, and possibly also not take the US FoH MC sound if that were covered in sponsorship mentions.

However BBC Studios would have no issues - they are being paid to produce coverage, or an event, and they will do that to the spec provided by their commissioners (NFL in this case I expect) In that case they are no different from Done and Dusted doing the coverage.


Moving away from the hypothetical scenario you propose - if the BBC entirely produces a show, but accepts sponsorship this is an issue (c.f. the Robinsons sponsorship of Sports Personality of the Year being axed - as it was clear SPOTY wouldn't exist without the BBC) However, if the BBC covers a pre-existing sporting event, or takes a host feed from a sporting event, that has event sponsorship or advertising around the ground (like a football match) then the rules are different, as the BBC is not directly benefiting from that sponsorship.

Where the BBC are producing editorial coverage as party of a sponsored event like BAFTA, then the rules are different again, and the BBC is careful to restrict showing commerciallogos and producers are careful to script verbal mentions to an agreed limit.

Where Eurovision is complex isn't the on-screen branding - it's the payment for the actual contest. If large elements of that are sponsored in return for an on-screen credit or promotional consideration in surrounding content, that's going to always be tricky. There may be ways round it by the BBC surrendering some duties and responsibilities to the EBU - but it would be complex.
NG
noggin Founding member

Eurovision 2019

The BBC would NOT be permitted under the terms of it's Charter to accept sponsorship in any form which puts the UK at a hosting disadvantage.


Is this really correct? I find it hard to believe that BBC Studios couldn't benefit from any off-screen sponsorship now that it's a commercial entity.


BBC Studios (the BBC's semi-independent production arm) can make sponsored programmes - sure.

But they can't make them for the main UK BBC channels. The rules about sponsorship vary by broadcaster, and so BBC Studios commissions from the BBC will be made under different rules to, say, BBC Studios commissions from Channel 5, or an overseas broadcaster, like PBS in the US.

The BBC does have sponsored broadcasts on BBC World News, but that's a non-public service channel and not covered by the same Charter/Ofcom rules as BBC One, for instance.
NG
noggin Founding member

Cutting the Cord

City dwellers real can't seem to grasp the poor BB speeds even in many towns never mind rural locations. We get no more than about 10Mb which is not satisfactory for viewing its forever buffering. The infrastructure just isn't there most of where I live is copper wires, street after street


Copper is a LOT better than Aluminium. That's the reason a lot of 60s and 70s housing developments struggle with decent connectivity. Aluminium cabling was used when copper became very expensive, but doesn't carry ADSL2 (used for high-speed ADSL) or VDSL (used for fibre-to-the-cabinet) at all well and is responsible for slower speeds than copper would deliver.
NG
noggin Founding member

EastEnders

My smart telly is displaying classic Eastenders properly in classic 4:3! Yet Fraser on channel 4 is horribly stretched on it.


Are you watching either channel in HD?
NG
noggin Founding member

European Sports Championships 2018

Is that the first time they've used the white hexagon background for the credits of an event? Looked quite good TBH.


Think I've seen them before - Wimbledon, World Cup or Commonwealth Games?
NG
noggin Founding member

Eurovision 2019

Any production BBC Studios make for transmission on any of the BBC domestic services would, as would any other programme produced for them by any source, be subject to these rules. BBC Studios productions for other broadcasters would be subject to the rules applicable to those broadcasters.


Indeed. BBC Studios has made a series for PBS in the US, which contained sponsorship bumpers.