noggin's posts, page 255

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NG
noggin Founding member

The 1980 ITV franchise auction

623058 posted:
Where there not all operated off by four sub relays? How many sub relays were there in TVS area?


Looking at the situation today from the Ofcom transmitter group map, the main Meridian transmitters are :

Hannington
Rowridge
Midhurst
Whitehawk Hill
Heathfield
Dover
Bluebell Hill (which was switched from Thames/LWT to TVS when TVS replaced Southern ISTR)

All of these transmitters have multiple relays/fill-ins at differing power levels.
NG
noggin Founding member

New Meridian, BBC South & South East Thread

Markymark posted:
noggin posted:
Steve in Pudsey posted:
Observation in the BBC One thread that it went black during the credits of the preceding programme, which I initially assumed was a region soft opting going wrong. But it sounds more like pres had a problem coinciding with the ECP?

I don't know whether the nations do the 8pm as a soft opt or if pres switches from network to the local news studio, it might be that the local news studio doesn't have both net 1 and clean network routinely available.


Cardiff couldn't do it as a soft-opt - their news studios are SD.


Cardiff pres could perhaps feed the studio an SD version of Net 1 ?


Yes - but then wouldn't BBC One Wales HD switch to SD for the duration of the soft-opt? Kind of defeats the point of a soft-opt.

(A soft-opt is where the studio gallery is switched into circuit early, carrying the 'network' source at the point of the soft-opt, with the gallery then switching to the local source at the opt-out point. This is not simple if the News gallery is SD and the 'network' source is HD.)
NG
noggin Founding member

SNG, Mobile Uplinks, Bonded Cellular and Downlinks

Rkolsen posted:
I edited this thread to included bonded units. I came across the BBCNewsGOps twitter feed. They were running a seminar for MoJos and showed the kits they were using for iPhones. It appears they're using a software called WMT according to this quick setup card. Is WMT made by the BBC or another company? I never heard of it.





WMT is a product family from Mobile Viewpoint. It's a rival to LiveU - and is in widespread use at the BBC. It's available as both a full 8-SIM+Wifi bonded backpack field-hardware + base-server solution, but it can also be deployed as a sofware product on iPhones etc. for the field part. The bonding on an iPhone is usually implemented by using a MiFi 3G/4G WiFi hotspot on one network, and a SIM in the phone on a second network I believe, or by using the internal Data SIM and a third-party WiFi connection.

https://www.mobileviewpoint.com

WMT is deployed for live video for TV (it handles IFB).
Luci Live is used for radio (Though rather than bond for Luci Live - I believe the approach these days is to just send the same audio streams over both WiFi and 3G/4G connections)

WMTs and LiveUs are increasingly being used for non-News live links - sometimes in combination with VSat IP connectivity rather than DVB SNG. If you have a good signal or very good WiFi/Cabled network connectivity you can dial down the delay and reduce the latency to less than you might have on a typical low-ish bitrate SNG set-up.
NG
noggin Founding member

New Meridian, BBC South & South East Thread

Steve in Pudsey posted:
Observation in the BBC One thread that it went black during the credits of the preceding programme, which I initially assumed was a region soft opting going wrong. But it sounds more like pres had a problem coinciding with the ECP?

I don't know whether the nations do the 8pm as a soft opt or if pres switches from network to the local news studio, it might be that the local news studio doesn't have both net 1 and clean network routinely available.


Cardiff couldn't do it as a soft-opt - their news studios are SD.
NG
noggin Founding member

Sky News presentation - New studio onwards

London Lite posted:
Rkolsen posted:
Inspector Sands posted:
Presumably the 'feed' they had on air was coming from that machine, streaming from somewhere on the internet


Looks like it was managing LiveU feeds and images from the field. I imagine the quickest way to get the images on air (especially if they to be first) is to use the web pc.


No wonder some of those online lives judder when the output of the PC is 60Hz.


Why would a PC have to be 60Hz? Macs and PCs can easily be configured to output 50p or 50i over HDMI, DVI or Displayport->HDMI if they are connected to devices that support 50Hz. Broadcasters do it all the time these days. It's a lot easier than the days of 60Hz VGA and scan converters being needed.

I know broadcasters that use Raspberry Pis with HDMI->SDI converters running Kodi or similar media playback software to get consumer video on-air or ingested into servers quickly. It's often easier and quicker than converting the files to a broadcast format before-hand.

Lots of BBC English regions used to have Western Digital WDTV Lives with HDMI to SDI converters in their Hubs for the same purpose.
NG
noggin Founding member

BBC Oneness - idents and presentation

D.Page posted:
Steve in Pudsey posted:
Aaron_2015 posted:
Technical problems on BBC One just now.

Began during the credits of the previous program, then we had the news and most of the weather with a black screen (but with the sound).

From that description it sounds like a regional opt out went wrong. Were you watching SD in England?


I witnessed the same via BBC1 HD


In England ?
NG
noggin Founding member

NBC News, MSNBC, ABC News and others from across the pond

Rkolsen posted:
A while back I posted about a new unnamed NBC News unit. Well it debuted yesterday. It's called NBC Left Field.





With a logo that would make BBC Three proud.


Wasn't this where BBC Pop Up's former journalist Matt Danzico left for?

https://twitter.com/mattdanzico?lang=en
NG
noggin Founding member

Helicopters Used for News Coverage

Mouseboy33 posted:
noggin posted:


Yep - it's a different world here. TV News organisations compete with each other journalistically - not on who has a better helicopter or the biggest doppler radar...

We truly find the US local news thing bizarre - just as US audiences must find our regional news operation a totally different experience.


Ohh I need a good laugh today. Very Happy Hilarious..whoo thank you. You work for the White House right?


Anything but. Just live on the East side of the pond, where TV News is very different... (You don't find BBC or ITV regional news operations having 'doppler wars' with each other)
bilky asko, Inspector Sands and Steve in Pudsey gave kudos
NG
noggin Founding member

Watchdog

james-2001 posted:
knack posted:
JAS84 posted:
And it should be on all year round, same goes for Points of View. If a problem comes up at the wrong time of year, it doesn't get coverage!


And Crimewatch.


And Crimewatch was year round till recently.


Though monthly not weekly, and scheduled slightly sporadically. Think it was around 10 shows a year? Not sure the number of shows per year has changed - though by producing them in blocks there is presumably a cost saving in production team terms?
NG
noggin Founding member

YouTube Gold

james-2001 posted:
nwtv2003 posted:
For the first time in higher resolution since the old Jim Edwards TV World website, the Power Station becoming Sky Movies, note some Marco Polo channel surfing...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hCa0sWwPnQ


Interesting to see Jo Whiley in there, I presume she must have been an unknown back then. I'm guessing that show was a repeat or something, or were they really putting shows like that out live/first showing at that time in the morning?


Have a feeling all The Power Station shows were pre-recorded.
NG
noggin Founding member

ITV abandons the South Bank

JKDerry posted:
There are some very good studios in Manchester, at Media City UK. It could be time for some national ITV shows to move up there.


They're not universally liked - and initially were not popular for reasons including some odd gallery design decisions. I've not heard them described as 'very good'. Neither have I heard them described as 'terrible'. Think 'OK' probably does it.

Quote:

BBC Belfast has a 6,000 Sq Ft studio which seems only to be used by local shows, maybe the BBC could move more productions there. I sense the mood of producers when they are told they are going to do a show in Belfast instead of London, there is that London bias.


Yes - they have a studio. It doesn't have a gallery though. They park their HD OB truck outside when they need to use the studio (and that OB truck also does OBs for BBC NI, and other areas of the BBC) - this works for a lot of shows, and is a practical solution for a studio that isn't working flat out... Add to that a relatively small freelance crew market - and you may well end up bringing crew up from the Republic, or over from the mainland... (Which isn't cheap)

That certainly isn't a reason not to make shows in BBC Northern Ireland's studio - just worth being aware of the bigger picture.

Quote:

Brendan O'Carroll loves Studio A at BBC Pacific Quay in Glasgow. Over 8,000 Sq Ft, it too is under used a bit, apart from the odd lottery show, which is now dying out on BBC One.


PQ is still relatively busy, and of the 'new build' studios widely regarded as being one of the best. From what I hear the facilities are better than Dock 10 in many ways.
Last edited by noggin on 20 June 2017 1:13am
NG
noggin Founding member

ITV abandons the South Bank

JKDerry posted:
It is a shame that the London Studios will not keep a large studio, as the BBC did with the three they have at Television Centre.

I am not sure of the design of the London Studios, but if they retained Studio 2, that would provide a good medium sized studio for London. At over 7,000 Sq Ft, it is a very popular studio, and it would be good to have along with small studios for ITV Daytime.


I think it's not a case of TLS retaining a large studio. TLS will cease to exist I suspect. I expect ITV Daytime will run an in-house operation.