NG
noggin
Founding member
NG
The multiple microphones appear to be causing the problem that we can hear the other side conferring over whoever is speaking.
I think that was probably a conscious choice to allow interjections, I wouldn't expect mics to be taken down fully during a debate style show.
noggin
Founding member
EU Referendum
The debate on BBC1 seems to have gone belt and braces with mics - one on the lapel, a Madonna mic and one on the desk for each participant.
The multiple microphones appear to be causing the problem that we can hear the other side conferring over whoever is speaking.
I think that was probably a conscious choice to allow interjections, I wouldn't expect mics to be taken down fully during a debate style show.
NG
It then switched to 25p and this may have co-incided with the switch from SD to HD - but it certainly has been 25p for a good long time.
I don't think Casualty has ever been shot on film. Even in the early days in the 80s, the location stuff was shot on video I think.
As for iPlayer, on some platforms there are now 1280x720/50p and 960x540/50p profiles, which are deinterlaced 50i with full motion, so these days iPlayer CAN deliver fluid motion on shows shot 50i natively (Entertainment, Sport and most other studio-based shows). Not all platforms yet receive these profiles (my Sony UHD Connected Red Button set was still stuck at 25p last time I checked, but my PC, my Chromecast - with the right settings adjustment - and my Apple TV 4 all happily run the 50p profiles)
noggin
Founding member
Casualty
Casualty was originally shot 50i, and for a brief period a horrible 25p 'film effect' was added in post. This was a really early version (I think it was something like 75% field drop/25% field blend in a low-resolution Charisma DVE - not the decent quality ARC100/ARC110 or Alchemist processing that followed. It looked dreadful.) After a brief period the show returned to 50i and continued that way for a long time.It then switched to 25p and this may have co-incided with the switch from SD to HD - but it certainly has been 25p for a good long time.
I don't think Casualty has ever been shot on film. Even in the early days in the 80s, the location stuff was shot on video I think.
As for iPlayer, on some platforms there are now 1280x720/50p and 960x540/50p profiles, which are deinterlaced 50i with full motion, so these days iPlayer CAN deliver fluid motion on shows shot 50i natively (Entertainment, Sport and most other studio-based shows). Not all platforms yet receive these profiles (my Sony UHD Connected Red Button set was still stuck at 25p last time I checked, but my PC, my Chromecast - with the right settings adjustment - and my Apple TV 4 all happily run the 50p profiles)
NG
Chances are they are parked next to each other... Probably easier to source from the BBC truck tailboard to tailboard?
I'm assuming the BBC are host rather than Eurosport/Discovery? (Unlike the Davis Cup where Eurosport/Discovery are host?)
noggin
Founding member
The Sport Thread
Yeah that's right dvboy, just surprised British Eurosport had the BBC graphics.
Chances are they are parked next to each other... Probably easier to source from the BBC truck tailboard to tailboard?
I'm assuming the BBC are host rather than Eurosport/Discovery? (Unlike the Davis Cup where Eurosport/Discovery are host?)
NG
I'm not sure I'd use the word 'silly' for an organisation that owes people who worked for it significant sums of money - in some cases as high as tens of thousands of pounds...
Think they are in need of a "can't pay, we'll take it away" special version. However, I doubt the illustrious owner has paid for any broadcasting equipment & is probably all on tick
Neither. He contracts (or contracted) production companies to make his content, and hired facilities rather than buying (though I think a Tricaster owned by the Arise company may have been installed to reduce costs further...)
noggin
Founding member
Arise News
It's a bit silly really. On off, On off.
I'm not sure I'd use the word 'silly' for an organisation that owes people who worked for it significant sums of money - in some cases as high as tens of thousands of pounds...
Think they are in need of a "can't pay, we'll take it away" special version. However, I doubt the illustrious owner has paid for any broadcasting equipment & is probably all on tick
Neither. He contracts (or contracted) production companies to make his content, and hired facilities rather than buying (though I think a Tricaster owned by the Arise company may have been installed to reduce costs further...)
NG
The BBC did just that a few years later with the CRV + Charisma integration (you probably didn't need to do it in the VM) for the 'Not VR' cut glass news look though, and ITN always had a pretty impressive graphics department. Not that I'm saying that IS how they did it (and it could have been pre-recorded earlier) - just that the tech the BBC used in 1993 wasn't unavailable in 1988. (Though the person who made it work - much missed - was at the BBC)
However ITN may well have had a Harry by then - and it would have been very simple to have fixed the hands that way, assuming they hadn't just rendered off various time variants.
Worth noting that Channel Four News used to render their headlines/titles on a Quantel Harry suite (which was the Harry Disc recorder, Encore DVE and Paintbox - or if you were really posh a Mirage) to get the nice bevelled glass edges on the wipes - not something the BBC would have considered doing. (I'm not sure that BBC News ever had a Harry...)
noggin
Founding member
The 1988 News at Ten titles
I can't imagine ITN could tie their vision mixer, a DVE, and a caption generator to timecode from a VT replay of a blurred set of titles to render a set of clock hands. Not in 1988 anyway. I stand to be corrected of course but I'd have thought a selection of titles with clock hands at 00, 01, 02 etc would be far more likely, with the gallery choosing the one most appropriate.
The BBC did just that a few years later with the CRV + Charisma integration (you probably didn't need to do it in the VM) for the 'Not VR' cut glass news look though, and ITN always had a pretty impressive graphics department. Not that I'm saying that IS how they did it (and it could have been pre-recorded earlier) - just that the tech the BBC used in 1993 wasn't unavailable in 1988. (Though the person who made it work - much missed - was at the BBC)
However ITN may well have had a Harry by then - and it would have been very simple to have fixed the hands that way, assuming they hadn't just rendered off various time variants.
Worth noting that Channel Four News used to render their headlines/titles on a Quantel Harry suite (which was the Harry Disc recorder, Encore DVE and Paintbox - or if you were really posh a Mirage) to get the nice bevelled glass edges on the wipes - not something the BBC would have considered doing. (I'm not sure that BBC News ever had a Harry...)
Last edited by noggin on 19 June 2016 7:40pm - 3 times in total
NG
Very impressed David. Top work!
noggin
Founding member
Teletext data as .vtc files
PNGs: http://horman.net/tvforum/pngs.zip
And a Datablast!
I took a few liberties with the font and the graphics blocks and took a few shortcuts, but it should be fairly accurate.
And a Datablast!
I took a few liberties with the font and the graphics blocks and took a few shortcuts, but it should be fairly accurate.
Very impressed David. Top work!
NG
http://www-uxsup.csx.cam.ac.uk/~bjh21/BBCdata/SAA5050.pdf That's the "Mode 7 chip" used in a BBC, and includes a basic bitmap for each character. It also includes the control codes which may be of use.
The Mode 7 bitmap characters were based on a 5 x 9 matrix. HOWEVER - the bitmap wasn't displayed directly - the SAA5050 was cleverer than that. It did some nice on-the-fly character rounding to smooth out the jaggies (which was also interlace aware). From memory it used to add a quarter pixel where it detected a diagonal - though I may be wrong. (**EDIT - and the data sheet confirms it **)
If you look on the internet you can find both at least two Mode 7 style OTF/TTF fonts - one of which is pretty close (and goes blocky when at large type sizes)
noggin
Founding member
Teletext data as .vtc files
This page seems to cover most of the control codes.
I'm trying to find an accurate bitmap of the BBC B's teletext characters, but I'm having trouble. All the emulators either use a non-authentic font, or draw anti-aliased characters
I'm trying to find an accurate bitmap of the BBC B's teletext characters, but I'm having trouble. All the emulators either use a non-authentic font, or draw anti-aliased characters
http://www-uxsup.csx.cam.ac.uk/~bjh21/BBCdata/SAA5050.pdf That's the "Mode 7 chip" used in a BBC, and includes a basic bitmap for each character. It also includes the control codes which may be of use.
The Mode 7 bitmap characters were based on a 5 x 9 matrix. HOWEVER - the bitmap wasn't displayed directly - the SAA5050 was cleverer than that. It did some nice on-the-fly character rounding to smooth out the jaggies (which was also interlace aware). From memory it used to add a quarter pixel where it detected a diagonal - though I may be wrong. (**EDIT - and the data sheet confirms it **)
If you look on the internet you can find both at least two Mode 7 style OTF/TTF fonts - one of which is pretty close (and goes blocky when at large type sizes)
NG
The RISC PC (and Archimedes) had a horrible Mode 7 typeface compared to the nice character rounding that the SAA5050 did in the BBC Micro.
noggin
Founding member
Teletext data as .vtc files
Might dig out the RISC PC from under the stairs, it can do proper mode 7 graphics, so could be used as a source of the character bitmaps.
No direct data transfer though as it only has a floppy drive and I don't own any discs or other drives...
No direct data transfer though as it only has a floppy drive and I don't own any discs or other drives...
The RISC PC (and Archimedes) had a horrible Mode 7 typeface compared to the nice character rounding that the SAA5050 did in the BBC Micro.
NG
noggin
Founding member
Wimbledon 2016 (being shared with Eurosport)
Reminds me of the days of BSB - when they also shared Wimbledon ISTR?
NG
I wonder if that means Sky were using 1440x1080 on their servers internally and have now switched to 1920x1080 (and also moved from 8-bit to 10-bit masters - though the latter is slightly moot until we get 10-bit broadcasts - which presumably HEVC on Sky UHD will support?)
noggin
Founding member
Sky Movies Rebrand To Sky Cinema
From the press release:
"To improve the HD, Sky is using a new internal master format that provides a third more pixels and four times the number of colour shades of the current HD offered."
Movies on Sky already look pretty good in HD, didn't realise the current mastering has room for that amount of improvement.
"To improve the HD, Sky is using a new internal master format that provides a third more pixels and four times the number of colour shades of the current HD offered."
Movies on Sky already look pretty good in HD, didn't realise the current mastering has room for that amount of improvement.
I wonder if that means Sky were using 1440x1080 on their servers internally and have now switched to 1920x1080 (and also moved from 8-bit to 10-bit masters - though the latter is slightly moot until we get 10-bit broadcasts - which presumably HEVC on Sky UHD will support?)
NG
I don't get this part. I can understand Ofcom requiring a PSB-regulated channel to have a certain minimum news output, but why would Channel 5 need permission to increase that output?
Or am I misreading something?
If they were also applying to reduce their quota elsewhere (say in the, probably more expensive, current affairs genre) you would need to apply I would expect.
noggin
Founding member
Five News from ITN
Quote:
When Viacom took control of Channel 5 it gained permission from Ofcom to increase the amount of peak time news programming by 20% from a minimum of 100 hours to 120 hours annually.
I don't get this part. I can understand Ofcom requiring a PSB-regulated channel to have a certain minimum news output, but why would Channel 5 need permission to increase that output?
Or am I misreading something?
If they were also applying to reduce their quota elsewhere (say in the, probably more expensive, current affairs genre) you would need to apply I would expect.