You can tell how bad the PQ is at some of the SD sites are when they feature on News Nationwide. Look North Leeds for example despite the studio refit still has their awful cameras.
It was a set refit rather than a studio refit wasn't it? I don't think there were any major changes to the studio - apart from a relight?
The BBC made a 'non ideal' decision in buying Thomson TTV1707 cameras (they are effectively a Thomson 1657 camera with a digital component Triax camera cable system rather than analogue component I believe?). The 1657 was the camera that took
TVC into the 16:9 SD era (so is 20+ years old as a design) You have to be careful not to wind in too much artificial detail in them or you can make them look very noisy, and very... French (well they are a French camera...)
The 1707s have not worn well - but they have been in service for a long time... They were the first 16:9 camera most regions had (previously they had done the 14:9 letterbox/pillarbox trick with 4:3 studio cameras)
Millbank had them too but they were replaced when that operation was upgraded to HD. Thomson cameras have never lasted well.
The Thomson 1647s that some regions (and TVC) had in the 4:3 CCD era had known issues that caused all sorts of deterioration with age (usually capacitor related)
AIUI Norwich, Leeds, Tunbridge Wells all got the 1707s - as may other areas. BBC London didn't ever have them as they initially moved to the same site as the BBC training studio at Marylebone High Street which already had similar LDK100s/200s to those used in
N6,
N8 and N9 at the time (eventually replaced with Sony E30s when the Barcos arrived as the shutters in the LDKs didn't play nicely with the colour wheels in the Barcos). EastEnders was also using LDKs by then. The LDK was a MUCH better camera than the TTV...
