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BBC 1 Globe laserdisc for sale on ebay

(September 2006)

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DE
deejay
Steve in Pudsey posted:
deejay posted:

The OU machines were U-Matic, but were in a completely separate continuity suite known as OU Con. This was a self-operated presentation suite which could be run by just one person (the announcer) and serve both channels simultaneously! This is why OU of the period contained a lot of clocks, holding slides and music. The announcer could open one channel with an announcement and a "follows shortly" slide, open the other channel, go back to the first channel and introduce the programme and so-on until either channel closed down and went back to Ceefax/Testcard whatever, or they handed control to the full galleries down the corridor.


I hadn't realised OU Con handled both channels simultaneously. But I guess that explains why you often saw a black screen with "OU" in the top left corner before programmes start, indicating that OU Con was in circuit.

Did this suite have two seperate NODDs?


Maybe, though I only remember it being able to control the Laserdiscs for each channel. Possibly it will have had switchable control over the BBC1 and 2 NODDs ... someone else may know...!
DE
deejay
thegeek posted:
deejay posted:
The main galleries in the old manual Pres area may have had Beta SP machines in later years which were used for emergency fillers. I've think I recall someone saying that they did have a shelf of breakdown fillers on Beta...
IIRC you still see the occasional SP standby, as well as D3s and Digis.


By the time the old manual control rooms had closed and the D3-based transmission area had taken over, all standbys and fillers were transferred to D3 with the exception of Obituary tapes (which were still run manually from the master network control room as they didn't trust the automation enough to handle such a scenario then!).

As far as I know, there is now no material for the domestic BBC Channels held on Beta SP.
NG
noggin Founding member
Inspector Sands posted:
deejay posted:

tvarksouthwest posted:
2) MHP has footage of BBC2's 1987 Christmas ident rewinding on air. The tape noise does not look like Betacam, however - what other format could it have been?


In 1987 it was probably 1" ... ? I'm sure someone will confirm when the BBC adopted the D3 format. D3 became the BBC's standard video format until programmes started to be made in widescreen, when DigiBeta became the format of choice instead.


D3 was launched in 1991 but the first BBC use was for the 1992 Seoul Olympics, according to: http://www.vtoldboys.com/vt4.htm

I'd have thought it would have been on the standard 1" tape, however Pres might have prefered it some where locally (like the regular) symbols were rather than in the basement. AIUI the pres areas did have some VT machines for playing OU programmes - if these weren't Beta, then perhaps U-matic or MII?

Where is this clip, SImon?


Timescales and games a bit out there.

Seoul was in 1998 - and was (I think) the first major use of Beta SP in production.

Barcelona was in 1992 - and was when D3 was introduced. (The Barcelona games were "Panasonic" - the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Games were "Sony" - and when DigiBeta got its first major outing)

Barcelona and Albertville in 1992 (Summer and Winter) were also covered in 1250/50 HD - and were the last time that both Winter and Summer games were held in the same year, they are now offset by two years.
GE
thegeek Founding member
deejay posted:
By the time the old manual control rooms had closed and the D3-based transmission area had taken over, all standbys and fillers were transferred to D3 with the exception of Obituary tapes (which were still run manually from the master network control room as they didn't trust the automation enough to handle such a scenario then!).

As far as I know, there is now no material for the domestic BBC Channels held on Beta SP.
Now you come to mention it, I'm probably getting mixed up with World/Prime material. (It's been a while since I've been in the MMO)
MU
mulder
Quote:
Quote:

Did this suite have two seperate NODDs?

Quote:

Maybe, though I only remember it being able to control the Laserdiscs for each channel. Possibly it will have had switchable control over the BBC1 and 2 NODDs ... someone else may know...!


I'm sure I've got a tape of some old OU pres (from the early 80s when the blue on yellow background ident was still in use), where the ident appears to just be a still on a slide as opposed to a luma-keyed model. So, it appears that if the version in the NODD was not available, they could switch to a slide version.
DE
deejay
thegeek posted:
deejay posted:
By the time the old manual control rooms had closed and the D3-based transmission area had taken over, all standbys and fillers were transferred to D3 with the exception of Obituary tapes (which were still run manually from the master network control room as they didn't trust the automation enough to handle such a scenario then!).

As far as I know, there is now no material for the domestic BBC Channels held on Beta SP.
Now you come to mention it, I'm probably getting mixed up with World/Prime material. (It's been a while since I've been in the MMO)


Maybe. Some of World and Prime's back catalogue is probably still BetaSP, though more and more DigiBeta material was coming through the last I heard, particularly for Prime.
IS
Inspector Sands
noggin posted:

Timescales and games a bit out there.


Er, yes, just a bit.... although:

Quote:

Seoul was in 1998 - and was (I think) the first major use of Beta SP in production.


That'll be 1988 Wink
BT
Baroness Trumpington
deejay posted:
The main galleries in the old manual Pres area may have had Beta SP machines in later years which were used for emergency fillers. I've think I recall someone saying that they did have a shelf of breakdown fillers on Beta...

The arrival of the single emergency filler Beta SP machine in each of the network galleries was a very sensitive issue, union-wise, at the time. It was "allowed" on the understanding that the machine would only ever be used to play out fillers from the standby shelf at short notice, if no machine was available to play it in the basement VT area. I don't think those machines saw very much action!

Re the glimpse of a Christmas symbol rewinding, there were certainly quite a few Christmasses where the seasonal animation for the trails would resolve into the Christmas symbol at the end, so the junction would have a VT trail, then stick with the same VT for the symbol. However, it was easy for an inattentive VT op to hear and see the end of the trail, assume it was finished with, take the machine out of remote and press Rewind.

Rewinding tapes in vision was a not infrequent occurrence in OU Con, too. Well, it was late at night, people were tired, there was the Club bar not far away. Rolling Eyes

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