The Newsroom

BBC News 24: Presentation discussion

Graphics & set related (January 2008)

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RO
Ronant
Gavin Scott posted:
Ronant posted:
Could be interesting in the next few mins or so - News 24 are planning to show the England press conference which should start shortly... but is likely to coincide with the One o'clock News. So i wonder what will happen with N24 and the 1 now being in the same studio..?


Well don't leave us hanging Ronant.

What did they do?

Sorry they cut away from it at 12.56 because the One was coming up. Just said you can continue to watch it on Interactive. Dont know whether they would of done this if the One was in N6 or not really. There was only about another 5 mins of the press conference.
MA
mark Founding member
Reminds me of the ITV News Channel. Admittedly, they didn't give you the interactive option, but still very similar...
BR
Brekkie
Ronant posted:
Sorry they cut away from it at 12.56 because the One was coming up. Just said you can continue to watch it on Interactive. Dont know whether they would of done this if the One was in N6 or not really. There was only about another 5 mins of the press conference.



Well it was hardly an important news conference - and the English manager can't speak English anyway!
AN
all new Phil
All this talk of News 24 being unable to break away from the BBC One bulletins leaves a bad taste in my mouth, to be honest. I've never agreed with the simulcasting anyway, but the forthcoming changes will severely compromise the flow of the channel and its ability to cover rolling news - despite that being the whole purpose of the channel.

I just think that they're taking these cutbacks way too far, when there are other services that, in my opinion, are less important that could be sacrificed. I personally believe that the news should have as much money thrown at it as possible.
NE
newsmonkey
salfordjohn posted:
BBC WORLD NEWS AMERICA - WITH MATT FREI

Why is Frei in red? looks daft.


I think they thought so too - that's only in the trailer, it's in white on the big board on the show.
IT
itsrobert Founding member
all new Phil posted:
All this talk of News 24 being unable to break away from the BBC One bulletins leaves a bad taste in my mouth, to be honest. I've never agreed with the simulcasting anyway, but the forthcoming changes will severely compromise the flow of the channel and its ability to cover rolling news - despite that being the whole purpose of the channel.

I just think that they're taking these cutbacks way too far, when there are other services that, in my opinion, are less important that could be sacrificed. I personally believe that the news should have as much money thrown at it as possible.


I agree 100%. I'd rather they completely cut BBCi and instead kept News 24 and Nationals as they are now. Is there any reason why Ceefax can't be carried over to digital? I know BBC World carries Ceefax in digital so I can't think of any logical reason why BBC One and Two can't. If they're not watching television, most people get their news from radio or the internet. I never think 'ooh I'll press red' - I usually just stick with the main channel. For me, the whole interactive operation could go and I wouldn't notice the difference.
TG
TG
itsrobert posted:
Is there any reason why Ceefax can't be carried over to digital?


No reason, technically, on DSAT, indeed a cut-down version used to exist there - but ISTR that on DTT, teletext is not something they've chosen to incorporate into the digital signal - at least in the UK...
IT
itsrobert Founding member
TG posted:
itsrobert posted:
Is there any reason why Ceefax can't be carried over to digital?


No reason, technically, on DSAT, indeed a cut-down version used to exist there - but ISTR that on DTT, teletext is not something they've chosen to incorporate into the digital signal - at least in the UK...


But is that through choice or for a technical reason? If it's the former, there really is no excuse. Ceefax/Teletext is still functional and I think many people are going to get a nasty shock come DSO because they assume the old system will remain. I bet many people aren't expecting to have to get used to a completely new system.
FL
flaziola
Just after the weather the normal ad for WNA played plugging the program for 12:30, Chris has confirmed it will start at 12 tonight.
NW
nwtv2003
Just out of curiousity what do people have against BBCi? On DTT it does the job, the page numbers are the same, you have the choice to select what sub page you read, you can still keep an eye on the channel you're watching, and it does it at speed and I have found that with every piece of DTT equipment I've used over the years.

Ceefax although as popular and as useful it is, the technology is over 30 years old now, it's outdated and can be quite slow when you want to select a page and the fact you cannot chose a sub page really puts me off it. Granted maybe the BBC should consider using the Ceefax branding instead of BBCi for a litlte bit of continuity, as long as people are made aware of BBCi replacing Ceefax post DSO, I don't see an issue.

I don't see a problem with the BBC simulcasting the Ten, but I don't agree with the One simply as many stories tend to break during the daytime and with the Six to me it doesn't feel like Rolling News at all, it's more BBC1 than News 24, where as the Ten is a little more in-depth and is on when fewer stories break.
NG
noggin Founding member
TG posted:
itsrobert posted:
Is there any reason why Ceefax can't be carried over to digital?


No reason, technically, on DSAT, indeed a cut-down version used to exist there - but ISTR that on DTT, teletext is not something they've chosen to incorporate into the digital signal - at least in the UK...


The UK Sky DSat platform can carry CEEFAX style teletext - and the BBC did carry a near full CEEFAX service on BBC One and Two on satellite before BBC Digital Text (as BBCi was called then ISTR) launched. It was almost entirely removed - but then quickly a cut down version was re-instated (I think because all the Benelux cable viewers complained about the lack of news, listings and recipes) However it has been reduced again AIUI

The problem in the long-term for CEEFAX-style services is that they aren't very HDTV friendly - and would have to be decoded in the receiver, not the TV, once we move to HDMI/Component HD connections, as the VBI (Vertical Blanking Interval - the bits of the signal that aren't picture) carriage is only defined and implemented for standard def. No reason why HD boxes couldn't include CEEFAX decoding (at the moment Sky boxes just convert packets of CEEFAX data into a form that is inserted into the VBI and only decode p888 subtitles)

In the same way DVB-T can carry World Systems Teletext (aka CEEFAX) and in Germany and Sweden they do this. When I took my laptop and DVB-T USB stick to Stockholm I got CEEFAX-style SVT Text on my laptop in EyeTV...

HOWEVER - the UK DVB-T platform - initially developed by ONDigital - doesn't include WST - and instead uses MHEG5. As a result the first gen receivers didn't include text insertion facilities AIUI - and it is unlikely it will return.

I agree with many that CEEFAX has been a very useful tool - and BBCi still doesn't quite meet the functionality (though Freeview's version is MUCH faster than on Sky. As Freesat will be based on the Freeview digital text system - using MHEG5 - hopefully it will be faster!)

However 40x25 text and 2x3 character graphics (giving 80x75 pixels for graphics) in 7 or 8 colours on a 40" 1920x1080p HDTV does look VERY out of date - and the graphics facilities of WST are sorely lacking.
NG
noggin Founding member
itsrobert posted:
TG posted:
itsrobert posted:
Is there any reason why Ceefax can't be carried over to digital?


No reason, technically, on DSAT, indeed a cut-down version used to exist there - but ISTR that on DTT, teletext is not something they've chosen to incorporate into the digital signal - at least in the UK...


But is that through choice or for a technical reason? If it's the former, there really is no excuse. Ceefax/Teletext is still functional and I think many people are going to get a nasty shock come DSO because they assume the old system will remain. I bet many people aren't expecting to have to get used to a completely new system.


It is a decision to phase out CEEFAX. Broadcasting it AND BBCi takes up valuable bitrate - which could be used to improve picture and sound quality on other services. BBCi works much better on HDTVs and HDTV broadcasts. Duplicating CEEFAX on every BBC Mux and every BBC Transponder would take quite a lot of data - particularly as BBCi is already duplicated across all transponders.

However as I haven't had an aerial connected to my TV for about 5 years (It is DAed to the Freeview box and my DVD recorder - the latter just to keep the clock right) I won't miss it that much. I stumbled across it on a satellite channel recently - and it was almost too big to read on a 40" display.

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