noggin's posts, page 274

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NG
noggin Founding member

Free view Channels available via a Sky Box

I have recently moved over to TalkTalk from Sky after 3-years of the subscriptions creeping up in price and the broadband becoming weaker. Our TV arial was damaged last week with the weather so in the meantime I still wish to access free view channels via the Sky Box. How can I find out which channels I can access via free View? Will my Sky Box become a Freeview Box?


Not quite. Sky use satellite (i.e. received through a dish), and Freeview is a terrestrial service (i.e. received through an aerial).

When you stop subscribing to Sky, or remove the card, your Sky box is limited to 'Free-to-Air' channels. All the main terrrestrial channels are there in SD and HD, all BBC HD channels are there, the More4/E4/ITV2/ITV3 etc. are SD only (as C4 and ITV have deals with Sky that mean ITV2-4HD, More4H, E4HD etc. are Pay-TV).

Without a card you'll get ITV Central on 103 I think, and BBC One London on 101. With a viewing card you'll continue to get the regional channels you had previously on 101 and 103.

This is NOT Freeview - it's effectively Freesat from Sky (if you use your old a viewing card)

You won't be able to record (that requires a subscription to Sky channels OR a £10/month Sky+ subscription)

Quote:

We are mainly interested in the BBC channels including BBC news. Sky are attempting to offer me a basic TV package of £22 per month and I do not think it is value for money, if I can access the channels I require via Freeview. Any advice would be appreciated. When we can afford £100 for a new digital arial the problem will be solved. The idea of switching to TalkTalk was to reduce our outgoing, and we now have to pay for a funuarel for a close family member too.


Switch on your old Sky box connected to your dish and see if you get the channels you want. Chances are you will - but without recording.
NG
noggin Founding member

International News Presentation: Past and Present

dbl posted:
dbl posted:
I've got to say Ten Eyewitness News looks incredibly dated. (Is there a massive obsession with OTT 3D graphics with Aussie networks atm?)


Australia seems to look heavily towards the US for news production tips, but appears to be about 10 years behind the times...

Which is ironic since even the US are going 'flatter' atm.


Gotta remember the 10 year delay...
NG
noggin Founding member

International News Presentation: Past and Present

KNR, Greenland, 2016 (in Greenlandic Inuit with Danish subtitles):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5paH0ylWYVk

For a ridiculously small area like that, that is a very nice setup. Very professional. The music is trippy too.


Massive Danish influence.
NG
noggin Founding member

International News Presentation: Past and Present

dbl posted:
I've got to say Ten Eyewitness News looks incredibly dated. (Is there a massive obsession with OTT 3D graphics with Aussie networks atm?)


Australia seems to look heavily towards the US for news production tips, but appears to be about 10 years behind the times...
NYTV, Brekkie and dbl gave kudos
NG
noggin Founding member

Sky News presentation - New studio onwards

It might be the picture angle, but it looks a lot smaller than the Osterley gallery.


When you automate you reduce the number of people required significantly...

Also - many operations are now chosing to have more production staff in the newsroom on talkback, rather than in the gallery.

TV2 in Denmark have a gallery with just two people in it (and can drop down to one if need be). The playout system is entirely Mosart, with a couple of large portrait touch screens for control. There is no control surface for the vision mixer, though there is a sound desk (but sound is largely automated), and an EVS LSM controller for fast-turnaround or delay purposes.

All of the production journalists who might be in a gallery in the UK are based in the newsroom (which also has a newsroom studio) and communicate with presenters and director(s) over talkback, or walk in to the studio during reports to brief talent.
NG
noggin Founding member

BBC World News from New Broadcasting House

Bail posted:
Being a nerd I should point out the A7S is of course mirrorless with no prism so isn't "SLR" but that me being pedantic. It's gobsmackingly good in low light, even with crazy ISO numbers the picture it produces is very clean. Paired with decent codec in XAVC with a nice bitrate and log shooting its a joy to use!


Yes - you're quite right to pick me up on that. it is definitely one of the better low-cost mirrorless or DSLRs used for video. Don't think it's passed an EBU tiering test though.

Quote:

I'm amazed how many 4k cameras are out there now, whilst not mainstream yet it's certainly becoming a more frequently requested resloution.

Personally I really want to get my hands on Sonys new PXW-Z450 a 4K body in a traditional ENG style. The F55 is still to "cinema" for propper run and gun use IMO. CN7 lens is nice, but weighs a ton! Be interesting to see how the "4k" B4 2/3 lenses fair. Fun times in the camera dept!


The 4K 2/3" lenses that arrived around the time of the HDC-4300s were much awaited - thoigh ISTR that the wide angles (really useful for handheld) took longer than the box-lenses.

The F55 is a very nice camera for documentary shooting, particularly because it has a proper global shutter, and it generates very nice pictures indeed. It doesn't work nicely live though - the F55 Live was an obvious 'test-the-water' and spurred them to produce a proper 3 chip system camera.
NG
noggin Founding member

BBC News Channel Presentation - 21/03/16 onwards

The lighting is having problems with Katty Kay in New York City on 100 Days on BBC News HD.


The DTL studio lighting has always looked like crap. I'm honestly surprised they didn't update it when they launched the afternoon Biz Live.

As to the background monitor going out I would guess that the recorded loop ended. I'm surprised they couldn't use a live shot - I think they have a camera looking against a Live window backdrop.


The NY DTL studio backdrop used to be a downconversion of an HD camera on the roof of the building.

That HD camera was installed in the mid-00s, long before any other HD gear had been installed, to allow a high quality NY skyline to be projected into a screen in the (quite short-lived) World Business Report multicamera studio in NY (which was otherwise 4:3 SD)

The projector was often only partially seen in close-ups, and would have looked very low-quality if fed SD. (I believe there was a D-VHS machine with a backup available. This pre-dated Blu-ray - at least ouside of Japan...)
NG
noggin Founding member

All BBC TV programmes to track their carbon footprints

I had a great idea of how to reduce the carbon footprint of the BBC's television services. Instead of basing different departments in separate locations, how about bringing them all together in one central location? A centre for television, if you like?


Well the old joke used to go that TV Centre used to use a HUGE amount of energy to generate 2 x 1V signals...
TVEngineer and deejay gave kudos
NG
noggin Founding member

BBC FOUR HD DOG?

dbl posted:
Last time I check it was full resolution (DSat & Freeview) so either 720/704x576

Looking at Digital Bitrate - resolution is 704x576 across BBC SD channels on Freeview, 720x576 for Sky/Freesat/Virgin.


And now, in theory, that the channel is sourced entirely from HD - 704x576 is all you should need, as 1920x1080 will be downscaled to 702x576, leaving nothing to go in the 8 additional samples each side in a 720x576 frame vs a 704x756 one? (*)

(*) Apart - possibly - from an edge case with 4:3 content.
NG
noggin Founding member

BBC World News from New Broadcasting House

The A7S is one of the better DSLRs around for video - particularly good in low light. Don't think it's been EBU tiered - which probably means Sony and big end users know it will fail but are happy to live with the limitations. It is used in the UK as second camera, or for low light stuff, on some quite high-end shows.

For producing stuff for web or mobile it's not a bad choice at all, and for news production for TV it's OK. Most people shooting on it will be running 24/25p though - which has a very different dynamic to 50/59.44i or p. (Good for 'arty' features, but a bit distancing for straight news reporting)
NG
noggin Founding member

When Live TV goes wrong (Channel 5)

Isn't it the case that the talking heads are often just there so they can get away with not clearing the clips properly, just fair deal it as a review?


Yes - these shows may well be using Fair Dealing legislation (Criticism and Review, or in some cases quotation). If you see writers, directors, production companies, distributors credited on a caption, chances are it is being fair dealt. You can fair deal in voice over - but talking heads are an easier way, and allow you to fair deal more effectively.

Some of these shows WILL clear and pay for clips - if they aren't actually criticising or reviewing the clips, and using them more to tell a separate story.
NG
noggin Founding member

CNN International & Domestic

dvboy posted:
I can distinctly remember a maths exam question (possibly age 14 SATs, we are talking late 90s) which involved the conversion of pounds to kilograms - none of us could answer it because we hadn't ever been taught imperial measurements.


Ah - we had similar questions in the 80s - but were usually told 1kg = 2.21lbs, and there are 16oz to the lb as additional info.