noggin's posts, page 301

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NG
noggin Founding member

US Open tennis on Eurosport

Brekkie posted:
Absolutely ridiculous to pull the connected TV app, especially now they have the Olympic rights. Also disgraceful not to contact their customers in advance.

DId they sell subscriptions to the Connected TV app separately? If so that's terrible. Are they not offering a refund?
NG
noggin Founding member

BBC to recreate first night of television

Steve in Pudsey posted:
There is a precedent in Look Around You series 2 for shooting fake old material in 4:3 for artistic reasons


There doesn't need to be a 'precedent' - if it's editorially valid, it's editorially valid. You can make stuff black and white, letterbox, pillarbox, add film scratch and sparkle if you like, just like you can add lens flares, grade stuff so it looks like it was shot in the 50s or the 70s etc. There are guidelines - but they aren't proscriptive.

There aren't 'aspect ratio police' you know...
Stuart and Steve in Pudsey gave kudos
NG
noggin Founding member

BBC to recreate first night of television

Rkolsen posted:
Wonder if they'll make it HD or keep it 4:3?


Do you mean whether they will shoot it 405 and 240 (the two competing launch standards - I think - the BBC evaluated during the 1936 trials)?

4:3 / 16:9 and SD vs HD are two entirely separate things. After all the UK went 16:9 SD in 1998, and has been shooting 4:3 content in HD quality (i.e. on film) for decades before we went 16:9 SD...

Quote:

I only ask because some networks here in the US frown upon new programming that has fake "archival footage" in 4:3 - requiring it to be 16:9.


UK broadcasters are allowed some latitude. The default for archive content within an HD 16:9 show is to ARC archive content to 16:9 full-screen unless there is an editorial reason not to. Full 4:3 shows are usually transferred as 4:3 pillarbox though - whether they are HD or SD.
NG
noggin Founding member

BBC Breakfast

Nathan_Connell1 posted:
I am not a regular BBC Breakfast viewer, I don't see how this programme is more popular than GMB, it's so dull, I tuned in this morning, turned it over within 2 minutes, both the presenters had a boring tone, the female presenter sounded very unprofessional, whilst the male presenter was very dull.

Don't think I'll be tuning in again.


People don't watch TV shows just for the presenters, the content and format are usually far more of a deciding factor.

After all - Susanna Reid got two-to-three times the audience on Breakfast that she does on GMB. She's still the same person, just presenting different content...

Plus GMB has competitions, adverts and far more 'fluff' than Breakfast does (at least in the 0600-0830 portion of Breakfast)

(And if you were talking about Steph McGovern - I don't find her unprofessional at all. She's got a North East of England accent, but I find her warm and pretty competent, and a pretty good presenter.)
Last edited by noggin on 27 August 2016 4:06pm - 2 times in total
NG
noggin Founding member

BBC One 2016

Inspector Sands posted:
Steve in Pudsey posted:
Certainly BBC Four had repeated BBC Yorkshire documentaries which have been shown in opt out slots. I wouldn't be surprised if some of them were joint commissions with some contribution to the funding from the network - if only to cover any increased cost of producing in HD

Would it necessarily cost that much to produce in HD?

It's pretty much the standard nowadays if it's an outside commission and unless the regional features production teams haven't upgraded their facilities in the last 10 years they will have HD capability (I know one edit suite bought for Inside Out was possible of doing HD about 10 years ago before there was even an HD channel).

Though of course there is extra cost in making a programme like that. I'd hope they'd get some funding in return for a network slot. It would still work out very a very cheap half hour for BBC4


I think most English Regions 'Inside Out' programmes are shot in HD (most BBC regions are using HD-capable Sony PMWs for acquisition) or can be, and many of them are edited in HD, as they rotate which region is used on BBC One HD in England. In terms of editing - I think most English Regions cut Inside Out in dedicated FCP (or similar) edits rather than on their Quantel edits (which are there for news)

Some 'Inside Out' stories have also featured on The One Show in HD.
NG
noggin Founding member

Olympics 2016

Rkolsen posted:

They also had Video a Descriptive service during Primetime and must say its a bit better than the coverage some of the analysts gave. I'm watching track and field recording right now and the VDS gives a bit more info.

http://www.nbcuniversal.com/article/behind-scenes-nbcs-2016-rio-olympic-games-coverage


Is VDS the equivalent of the UK 'Audio Description' service - where action is described for the visually impaired?

* EDIT - it's not geoblocked to the UK. Just watched it - and it appears VDS is Audio Description *

Also - an interesting contrast to the UK. The BBC also do a huge amount of work on the Olympics, with their own control rooms and studios, and split working between the host nation and the UK operation. However producing such a 'puff' piece would be a major issue here - as the Daily Mail would instantly start questioning why the BBC didn't just send two people and an iPhone to cover it...
Last edited by noggin on 27 August 2016 11:26am
NG
noggin Founding member

BBC World News from New Broadcasting House

seamus posted:

Speaking of which, I kind of miss the old New York broom cupboard:

*

I believe the BBC just has a DTL cam in New York currently. Does anyone know if its based in WNET, or is it elsewhere? I know the two organizations had a bit of an acrimonious change in circumstances a few years ago.


Ah - the PacMan desk!

That studio was an existing, tiny, WNET multi-camera studio which the BBC effectively 'bought out' for World Business Report etc. It had ancient late 80s/early 90s 4:3 SD cameras (though was luckily SDI not NTSC composite), but the projection screen in it was HD, and fed from an HD camera on the roof of the building (or an HD D-VHS deck when a recording was needed. Yep - D-VHS...) This meant it still looked crisp in close-ups which only showed a part of the screen.

World Have Your Say also used the studio for presentation occasionally.
NG
noggin Founding member

2016 Paralympic Games

TheMonkeyDaft posted:

Ade Adepitan, Arthur Williams present from 1pm-4pm with reports from Iwan Thomas in the Olympic Park. Then from 4pm-7pm, Sophie Morgan and JJ Chalmer present further afternoon action on Channel 4 and More4.


Interesting. Looks like Channel Four have decided not to repeat the 2012 presentation model of pairing a presenter with disabilities (who may not have been that experienced) with an able-bodied presenter (who may be more experienced). Instead it looks like they are going for a main team who all have disabilities. Might be seen as a brave move - but I found the able-bodied 'experienced' presenters often felt like the weaker link in 2012.
NG
noggin Founding member

BBC Breakfast

Steve Williams posted:

But then we had the Centres Of Excellence where only Bristol, Manchester and Birmingham made network programmes, and all the regional opt-outs moved to BBC2 and were all current affairs and documentaries, which didn't need studio space - so there was no need to have a big studio when all they were doing from a studio was the news.


Though some regions continued to use their studios for the BBC Two Current Affairs slots. BBC East certainly used to shoot links for their current affairs show in studio sometimes, and would use it for wider interview stuff too.
NG
noggin Founding member

BBC Breakfast

Steve in Pudsey posted:
Doesn't Tunbridge Wells have some interesting audio issues where they can't have more than one mic fully open without it sounding awful? Something to do with the cheap and cheerful conversion from newsroom to studio.

It was causing issues on Breakfast opts with live weather IIRC because the gallery setup doesn't let the single operator do sound and vision mixing simultaneously. Apparently experiments with the presenter having a mic fader were a disaster, they kept forgetting to fade themselves up - quite a difference from the Peter Levy style self op!


Sounds like an automix might be a useful solution. They're a very useful weapon in your arsenal in less-than-ideal environments when you need multiple people in the mix. (They are in wider use than many people may realise. The latest Calrec mixers can do it internally with no need for any outboard kit - though I doubt that is relevant to TW.)

If they also have issues with constant aircon noise - then Cedar or similar can be useful to reduce background ambience - though it's not a panacea.
NG
noggin Founding member

BBC Breakfast

London Lite posted:
Steve in Pudsey posted:
Pretty much every region that has moved has had a downsized studio. In fact London may be the only region to have moved and ended up with a decent sized studio.


BBC South Today still have a large studio in Southampton, but is pretty much the exception.



Southampton, Plymouth and Newcastle (who all got new or re-developed studios in the 80s) have decent sized studios. Most other regions - not sure about Nottingham - definitely downsized as they relocated.

Norwich was due to be upgraded to a larger studio after Plymouth and Southampton on their All Saints Green site. I believe that foundation work had already started when it was cancelled...
NG
noggin Founding member

Olympics 2016

One thing I have been thinking of more and more - is that the Connected Red Button service could really do with one of the best things that Linear Red Button used to have back in the day. A multiscreen.

It's a non-trivial thing to generate in the IP domain - as services start and stop (and it would no doubt need to be a constructed sepearate video stream - not generated in your receiver) but it really would make 'at a glance' navigation and discovery a massive amount easier.
steveboswell and Brekkie gave kudos