noggin's posts, page 69

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NG
noggin Founding member

Peter Sissons has died.

itsrobert posted:
Wasn't N3 also the original home of WSTV News when it launched as a standalone once a day bulletin in 1991? It moved into N1 in October 1993.


BBC World Service TV originally started in a different studio (not N1, N2 or N3) elsewhere in TV Centre I believe. (It was either on the 6th or 7th floor and involved roller blinds for the set)
NG
noggin Founding member

Peter Sissons has died.

james-2001 posted:
Wasn't N3 the studio that had the window into the newsroom? Presumably closed off by 1998 then.


I believe so - there was a wall replaced by glazing that was then re-instated. N3 used to regularly do the c.1997 signed Breakfast News bulletin (which was shown delayed via a, then pretty radical, Profile server)
NG
noggin Founding member

Peter Sissons has died.

Worzel posted:
A brief behind the scenes clip of what looks like N6 being used in the blue VR era in this report (around 1:40 in).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQxIb6DbL_A


The control room/gallery is not N6 - it's possibly N2 I think. The layout is wrong and the equipment is too old (you can see a CDL rather than Sony vision mixer. N6, N8 and N9 all had Sony 7350s, N1, N2 and N3 had CDLs)

Looking at the studio shot the lighting and cameras make me think it's not N6 (as the cameras aren't LDKs) and it doesn't look like N2 as the camera isn't on a Radamec robotic pedestal - so it may be N1 or N3 (which were remote PTZs but not robotic). As it looks like BBC One output I think it's probably N3 (which had a smaller desk in it than N2 or N1)

Chances are Nick Higham or his producer just used generic Six O'Clock News library pictures.

https://tvforum.uk/forums/post1025073#post-1025073 may be of interest.
NG
noggin Founding member

The Sport Thread

toby lerone 2016 posted:
Good to see him back and for me one of the top pundits in any sports and surprising the BBC have managed to keep him on their coverage for the last 15 or so years.


The BBC take athletics a lot more seriously, and give it a lot more network time (and thus give pundits a lot more, and higher quality, work), than any of the big 4 US networks.
Jeffmister and UKnews gave kudos
NG
noggin Founding member

The five main PSBs switching to 14:9

elmarko posted:
Cool that Clunes has an input about that.

Also surely sets are more complex now and have more... electronics and gizmos.


The mid-90s 'Virtual' BBC News cut glass look had quite a lot of electronics and gizmos.
NG
noggin Founding member

Peacock ....

Plektrum posted:
DVB Cornwall posted:
Roku's investment structure is complicated. One thing is certain Sky helped the company with at least some initial funding in it's early days and development phases. Since then there's been an IPO and there is general shareholder involvement. The company trades on NASDAQ. Whether those involved in the early days via Bond investments have been repaid or had that investment been converted into ordinary stock (shares) it's unclear. Usually the stock route is followed.


They disposed of their Roku investment as noted on their Q4 17/18 report -

https://static.skyassets.com/contentstack/assets/bltdc2476c7b6b194dd/bltb5ae6aa43f0f02bb/5b59667384622d3c1d7a010a/Q418%20Press%20release_FINAL.pdf

4
On 27 March 2018, the Group completed its disposal of its investment in Roku Inc. consisting of 2,571,740 shares for an aggregate consideration of £58 million. A profit of £49 million was realised on disposal, being the excess of the consideration above the initial cost of the shares (£9 million).


Aha - looks to have been a good investment on Sky's behalf.
NG
noggin Founding member

Peacock ....

Mouseboy33 posted:
noggin posted:
Mouseboy33 posted:
What stripped down box are you referring to? Could you clarify?


I'm assuming that refers to a NowTV-type device, as sold in the UK.

Sky got Roku (who they partially own, and now I guess NBC Comcast partially own via the Sky merger) to engineer custom, cut-down, Roku boxes and sticks specifically branded for their Now-TV service, which are sold at a very low cost.


Not quite sure if thats completely accurate. Roku licenses its technology and proprietary operating system (Roku OS) to service operators including Sky and Telstra, and TV brands such as TCL and Philips. I dont think that Comcast/Sky has a ownership stake in Roku. Could you provide proof of the any Comcast ownership stake in Roku?


Sky's NowTV boxes are (or were) custom/OEM Roku hardware devices - not just licensed Roku OS running on another platform.

https://newsroom.roku.com/es-mx/node/77

https://newsroom.roku.com/press-release/roku-receives-60-million-investment-leading-institutional-investor-bskyb-hearst

However that may not mean Comcast inherited that investment I guess.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/roku-ipo-5-things-to-know-about-the-streaming-device-company-2017-09-05 suggests that Sky sold Roku stuck at the time of the IPO - though it's not clear what percentage of Sky-owned stock that was.
Last edited by noggin on 2 October 2019 7:28pm
NG
noggin Founding member

BBC to switch off red button text

whoiam989 posted:
I remember reading a news about Samsung selling an 'Evolution Kit', which would implement next-level standards on older sets, to customers.


Yes - at one point Samsung sold very slim, premium LCD TVs with a single power+video cable from a second box that handled tuning, HDMI switching etc. duties. I think the aim was for that second box to be upgradeable/replaceable whilst you kept the same display on the wall.

However the major developments that have driven replacement TVs have been display rather than source related (Full HD->4K, SDR->HDR etc.) so that concept probably died a death.

Quote:

I think there should be a global standard for such kit, so the customers can update their TVs to the latest standard without having to buy a new set, regardless of manufacturers.


I think that the market for that is kind of covered by third party set top boxes like Apple TV 4K, Amazon Fire TV stick, Roku Streaming Stick etc. - you replace those rather than your TV if you want to upgrade your online connectivity ? Or do you mean a way of replacing MHEG5 with HbbTV in the field ? I doubt that kind of thing will happen - as the timescales for those kind of upgrades are once every 10 years or more - which is 'replacement TV' territory.
NG
noggin Founding member

What if Carlton acquired LWT instead of Granada?

BeanosOnToast posted:
This somewhat confuses me in the series of ITV franchise takeovers following the enforcement of the Broadcasting Act 1990, considering Carlton shared the same transmission facilities as its weekend counterpart at The London Studios, you'd think that, considering their well-established integration, Carlton Communications would have swooped in for LWT in late 1993-early 1994, before Granada Group PLC had the opportunity to. especially if it meant a larger commitment to home-grown programming.

I mean, technically they were united with the formation of ITV plc in 2004, but the franchise names had been well defunct on-screen for nearly two years, aside from a mention in credits and production endboards.


Were there still restrictions that prevented the ITV London weekday and ITV London weekend franchises being owned by the same licence holder in the early 90s? That might explain it?
NG
noggin Founding member

BBC Breakfast - 16th July onwards

I love the way people here, who have no idea of the constraints teams are working with on the ground, love to jump to conclusions. I can think of a number of reasons the Politics Live desk may not be available or suitable, and none of them revolve around lacking common sense...
NG
noggin Founding member

BBC to switch off red button text

Markymark posted:

I vaguely remember that set now ! And also an HD CRT, with a very shallow tube (that would have consequently had very sharp deflection angles, and therefore challenging geometry and convergence !)


Yep - was that the Samsung HD CRT? I think it was the only HD Ready CRT sold in the UK (It <just> managed to meet the specs ISTR) Everyone hoped it would be great. Sadly it wasn't... If only Sony had sold their DRC1250 sets with a 1080i HDMI input in the UK...

Quote:

Don't dis on the OnDigital boxes, it was only the change to 8k that killed them, they had no problems coping with the Split NIT, that killed many early Freeview boxes (and Sony TVs).

My 1998 Pace box worked perfectly right up to my local DSO in 2012


Ah - I thought it was the split NIT that did for them before the 2k/8k changes. I think that killed the Pace DTVA (though that ran so hot I think it was probably for the best it became obsolete. It melted the case of my Sony 28" WEGA SD 16:9 CRT...)
NG
noggin Founding member

BBC to switch off red button text

Markymark posted:
Stuart posted:
As some have said, many people still have CRTs in bedrooms & kitchens, and won't want the hassle of having to buy and plug in a DVB-T2 STB
'.


I can't think of any CRT TVs that had digital tuners built in, so by definition any in use are already being fed by DVB-T1 boxes, so it's a case of a box swap


There were OnDigital CRT IDTVs marketed by Philips - but I think they will have been rendered obsolete by the 2k->8K change, if not the earlier change that also rendered first gen OnDigital boxes unusable? (I have a feeling Bush may have marketed some too)
London Lite and Markymark gave kudos