noggin's posts, page 56

Coronation Street

Overscan is really a function of the display you are watching on, not of the way the programme is shown.

Chances are that modern displays are less overscanned or not overscanned at all (I've disabled overscan on our TV entirely - but by default most flat panels simulate a small amount of overscan still) - so things that would have been hidden by significant overscan on most TVs when the episodes were recorded and not seen by most viewers, are more likely to be seen these days.

(However in many cases they may well have been seen on even overscanned TVs and just left in on the basis 'Joe Public never clocks a damn thing')

BBC News (UK) presentation - Reith launch onwards

In the Eastern counties I think the Cambridge to Norwich circuits were 140Mbs PAL (x2 I think), then I think at least one of the 140Mbs circuits was replaced with more 34Mbs ETSI? This was because even pre-sub-opt Cambridge had a busy down-the-line studio and edit suites that used to cut for the main Look East programme in Norwich and play live into the programme (or tape feed close to air)

The circuits from other local radio stations to Cambridge or Norwich were usually analogue microwave via receive points at Sandy Heath, Tacolnestone or Sudbury. Sandy's microwave RX was received and then fed via a mid-point or two to Radio Cambridgeshire at Hills Road, where it could be fibre to Norwich and from then routed to London should it have been required (again via 140Mbs - and later possibly 34Mbs circuits)

BBC News (UK) presentation - Reith launch onwards

In the 4:3 PAL days the main regional circuits were 140Mbs PAL composite digital, though at some point some 140Mbs circuits were split into 4 x 34MBs ETSI compressed circuits (which added more latency ISTR) I think the ETSI codec was component internally - but I think the I/O as presented to regional centres was still PAL composite analogue.

However there were other analogue circuits within regions (microwave analogue PAL was widespread) - and in London there were bits of LoCo still running until well into the 16:9 days I think. (16:9 PAL composite analogue was used by News once News went widescreen, just as Beta SP was... )

BBC News (UK) presentation - Reith launch onwards

The Leicester Square (and Piccadilly Circus?) inject points were PAL analogue composite in input terms (often ENG camera operators would need talking in to switch their cameras out of SDI output - as it was switchable on some ISTR) I think they may have still been part of LoCo (London Coax) The camera ops would have to book out a large key and a rucksack of gubbins to plug in ISTR.

2019 General Christmas election.

Freedom of Expression is a cornerstone principle that most BBC management are signed up to. They extend this to staff - within reason.

BBC News (UK) presentation - Reith launch onwards

In the days of analogue microwave PAL composite circuits - yes, it was common for local radio facilities to use the same technology (and often the same infrastructure) as terrestrial FRV trucks. (So the receiver dishes at receive sites - often the main TV transmitters - would need to be remotely panned between the local radio site and the FRV location if both were in the same show, and if you wanted to do a DTL from a local radio station 'out of hours' you'd need to ensure someone came in to remotely pan the dish, as well as routing the circuits out)

Very little, if any, of this infrastructure was upgraded to SD component digital microwave, or HD, and fibre connectivity along with IP (some fibre is pre-IP) means there is no major reason to use microwave solutions these days.

There MAY be a few analogue microwave PAL composite circuits still in use - but I certainly hope not...

Future of Sky Cinema linear channels?

For a lot of audience members - having a curated, scheduled movie service still has a value, particularly now the 'watch from beginning' option is available. I suspect even when things move to entirely IP delivery, having some suggestions of what to watch at a particular time of day on that day of the year will still have value as a 'linear offer', even if there is no longer a linear delivery option.

International News Presentation: Past and Present

I thought it was a bit strange that they were relocating so soon after launching as a newsroom show.

International News Presentation: Past and Present

Interesting that Morgonstudion is mentioned as moving. Given that they only recently launched in their newsroom home, it's an interesting move.

BBC News (UK) presentation - Reith launch onwards

Yep - though for audio you will also see BGAN in use. The BBC routinely do radio lives using a BGAN terminal at ISDN bit rates or a bit higher. The small BGAN modems look like laptops (the lid is the aerial)

BBC News (UK) presentation - Reith launch onwards

Yep - here Ka-band rather than Ku-band is used for our VSAT IP solutions. They also allow you to get a decent IP connection to your newsroom computer for script editing / running order checking etc.

International News Presentation: Past and Present

The previous LED-wall-based set only occupied a relatively small area of the studio, and initially there was another set in the same studio for Aktuellt ISTR (before they moved to share the Rapport set)

Prior to the set that has just been replaced, the previous version of the Rapport set shared the space also with a set for the local ABC News, which also came from that studio in Stockholm (ABC was retired as a region and Stockholm's local news is now sub-regional as the previous larger regions were split into smaller areas, and Stockholm's local news now comes from a regional hub outside of Stockholm)