noggin's posts, page 320

BBC World News from New Broadcasting House

Fox used Widescreen 480i 16:9 as their production format when ABC, NBC and CBS went 720p and 1080i. Fox then deinterlaced this to 480p 16:9 for distribution. They switched to 720p later, but still years ago.

16:9 SD is rare - but not unheard of - in the US, but hasn't taken off as it has elsewhere.



Some letterbox, some centre cut, some use AFDs - but in most cases this is a way of dynamically or statically controlling 16:9 HD to 4:3 SD downconversions, with 16:9 SD still very rare.

Yes - probably because it was the format used in the UK for most 16:9 content broadcast on 4:3 outlets (both 16:9 HD and 16:9 SD before)


Doubt Discovery originated in 14:9 - it's not an acquisition standard (Super 16 film is close to 15:9) Suspect it is more a case that these shows were co-productions with European broadcasters and shot 16:9 SD (or HD) and the programme delivery in SD was 14:9 letterbox not 4:3 full-screen or 16:9 letterbox. If the original production had been shoot-and-protect 14:9 (as most UK 16:9 SD was) then 14:9 letterbox would have been the standard UK compromise for 4:3 viewers.

Things you don't hear or see on TV anymore

Every programme commissioned for transmission on BBC One/Two/Three/Four/CBBC/CBeebies has a tape (or now digital file) delivered to BBC Archives for retention. Whether they are retained in definitely is then a decision for BBC I&A. Most shows delivered on tape are, but when tape formats die there is then a discussion about whether every episode of every show needs to be retransferred to a new format, and whether some older players are retained to cope with ad hoc requests of stuff that hasn't been transferred.

(Do we need every episode of Kilroy transferred from 1" or D3 to DigiBeta and data tape?)

BBC News may have different policies for the News Channel.

Eurovision 2016

Think the whole thing is battery powered - camera is also running off batteries AIUI. Not sure whether the video gets back RF or over fibre (which presumably is handled like one of the support wires and is also used foer control) There certainly isn't any SMPTE fibre carrying power involved...

Judging by the pictures it is using a Sony P1 or very similar as the camera - which produces pictures identical to other Sony lightweight and full-size studio cameras (same sensor and processing, just no SMPTE or Triax back-end stuff or prompt/talkback)

The 3D Spiders that have been used in previous years have a compromised payload weight I think - so the cameras are usually smaller and lower quality (they often show 'small lens' artefacts and have had 'white lined' on highlights in the past)

Eurovision 2016

It's made by Spider, but it's not a conventional 3D 'Spider cam' (which is a wire cam which has the ability to fly anywhere in the stadium and has been (over)-used on many ESCs recently) which has full X/Y/Z positioning (within reason).

It's their 'Bowcam' which is a wire cam that goes in a single linear path but can rise and fall on that path. It's taking the role of the central arena rail cam sometimes used on previous contests AIUI, which would go in a linear direction, but had far more limited height change control

http://www.spidercam.tv/products/bowcam/
http://www.spidercam.tv/eurovision-songcontest-2015/

Government White Paper on the BBC

They are appointed by the Government. However neither are supposed to have any editorial input on a day-to-day basis.

The big proposal is/was the creation of a single unitary board (which would be both BBC employees and government appointed directors, with a few non-aligned) which would be a combined operation and WOULD have day-to-day editorial input. That's the real worry. Government appointed officials deciding what programmes the BBC makes, what news it covers, where it schedules content? Well that's verging on Putin's Russia...

The other role of the BBC Trust is regulation of the BBC, and complaint resolution, and that would be farmed out to Ofcom (who already have some control)... The appointment process of Ofcom members would then be a bigger issue too. Particularly if they are tasked with judging BBC impartiality...

Eurovision 2016

It WAS demonstrably flawed (Votes cast for some shows were arriving 24+ hours late), and AIUI the SMS voting operators have yet to demonstrate that they can collect and collate the volume of short code SMS votes that Eurovision, Strictly etc. would generate in the brief voting window that is available.

Eurovision 2016

Yes - but they wouldn't be able to vote using that number would they? They'd need to dial the phone number of the country they were voting in.

Malta can't deliver a phone vote result to the EBU awarding points to their own country, whether the votes are from inside or outside the country... It's the other 41 countries that can award Malta points...

Eurovision 2016

Other countries are happy to ignore the inherent issues that were discovered with short-code SMS in the UK (some votes were delayed by more than 24 hours on shows that used them when the UK did allow SMS voting). This has been decided as clearly unacceptable. If other countries are happy to use a system that has been proved flawed in the UK, that's a decision they can take. It could be their voting volumes are lower, their SMS implementation is different, or they just don't care about it...

Personally I'm quite glad to be in a country that has higher ethical standards and wants to count every vote...

The Blue Peter cat has nothing to do with this. The widespread issues discovered when phone and text voting and competitions were investigated unearthed all sorts of failures in the system - not just editorial, but technical. (Though the overriding issue with SMS appears to be that the technical flaws were known about, but not acted on editorially)

Is there an easier way to get TV recordings to a hard drive?

Sounds like a Windows driver issue. My T210, 292e and 290e all work fine in Linux for long periods of time.

BBC Studios

Totally agree with everything apart from the above. Using external recorders (Nanoflashes usually) with EX3s was bog-standard for HD production from late 2009 - as the EX3 camera met BBC HD specs, but the recorded didn't. Bolt on a Nanoflash shooting at a decent bitrate in a decent codec, and you got a Frankencamera which met specs and didn't cost the earth. When shows like The One Show went HD, 6 years ago in 2010, the EX3+Nanoflash combo was widespread, so I'm not sure I'd describe external recorders as 'in its infancy'.


Tapeless self-shooting in HD on EX3+Nanoflash was the first real low-cost HD acquisition we had that met BBC HD specs, and pre-dated the XF305 by a year or so. (Some show workflows meant that 35Mbs in-camera EX3 recordings were also allowed - but usually only on live shows not pre-recorded)

Eurovision 2016

No - I think the point being made is that Maltese TV put out a composite graphic that suggested Maltese viewers could vote for Malta, rather than blanking the Maltese number and removing the phone number for their showing of the Malta recap element.

Eurovision 2016

Yes... Spain, France and Frans (for Sweden)...