BBC North West Tonight

That's true, North West Tonight is now shown in full 16:9 and it appears to have been upgraded in technical terms, though there was a glitch last night, it so far doesn't seem as bad as it was, with reports not being aired because 'the tape jammed' or the titles rewinding live on air.

The titles' endcaps are awful - all the ratios and sizes are completely wrong

How did they do the changeover to new kit? OB scanner parked outside whilst the gallery was being tweaked or have they swapped into Studio A - the mothballed network studio?

Methinks they could have shifted basic VT playout etc. into the studio itself whilst there was a gallery refurb

They've switched to Quantel kit but that's all I know.

[QUOTE]

They've switched to Quantel kit but that's all I know.

What a coincidence.... I switched to Granada!

Does anyone know if North West Tonight will get a revamp.

I doubt it - it's only fairly recently that they got a studio refresh and adopted the BBC London style titles and music.

I think the technical changes at BBC Manchester have really made a difference to North West Tonight. The picture is much clearer and cleaner and the sound is better as well. Plus, it's now in widescreen. Before the changes, it looked muddy and sounded muffled.

Any ideas if BBC NW plan to update the title music to all the stings and titles.

The main bulletin and the luncthime seem to carry the Look North mix on the main titles but not on the sting after the headlines. The short bulletins dont seem to use it at all, and the closing theme on the 6.30 doesnt either, however I think the 3.20 bulletin might.

Personally I prefer the London style.

At the top of the Six O'clock News tonight we had the first few seconds of the headlines opt as "tonight on BBC London News", NW cut in after a few seconds with Gordon apologising before speedily reading the headlines and finishing before the titles. He handled it very well IMO. Seems to be happening alot more recently.

Though despite all the Upgrades that BBC Manchester has had, we still get some of the glitches, for instance this morning during Breakfast we had no NWT at all for the 6.25am slot, though I was watching via Digital and got to enjoy BBC London instead (umm Not), so I don't know if it was one of those problems; which has happened before, where the the Bulletin only gets shown on BBC One Analogue and not on BBC One Digital.

Either way, I wasn't best pleased, as I like having NWT on during Breakfast.

I'm a born-and-bred Mancunian, but no doubt you lot in the North West will be jealous of the fact that we in Plymouth now (from 2 May 06) have something of the return of the logo from the pre-2000 era as part of the titles for the local bulletins and the 6:30pm main programme.
http://www.rp-networkservices.com/tvforum/uploads/spotlightmay2006_copy1.jpg
It represents the lenses of a lighthouse and formed one of the best idents I have ever seen on a local news programme......it's a pity they can't bring back the whole title sequence and music - it was fab!

1999 Titles here
Courtesy of TV Room
EDIT: This is the new one as a MediaPlayer file:
10:30 Bulletin May 2006

Its like NWT but just a fancy version.