BBC HD

The testcard is such intense image it can damage modern screens, hence why during the promo loop its only shown for 2 mins at a time. Therefore they're not going to show it constantly.

They did this during Wimbledon last year too.

Didn't they only do it for BBC HD last year - for the 3D trial (as BBC HD carried 3D stuff which benefits from 1920x1080 as it uses 960x1080 for each eye feed, and would look very soft at 720x1080)?

I don't have any recollection of BBC One HD being 1920x1080 during Wimbledon - thought it was just BBC HD. AIUI both have switched to 1920x1080 this time - wonder if it is because there will be a summer of lots of live TV (Jubilee, Wimbledon, Euro2012, Olympics) which will all have a lot of 1920x1080 originated material, whereas usually BBC One HD and BBC HD show a lot of pre-recorded material, much of which is 1440x1080 (HD Cam and DVC Pro HD are prominent acquisition formats that use 1440x1080 subsampling) - though increasingly XD Cam HD422 and AVC Intra are being used and they are 1920x1080 formats.

I have no idea about resolution. I was talking about using static slides to improve the quality on the other channel.

Ah - hadn't realised as there was no quote - my bad.

The Bitrate was rather low at 7.27mbps was expecting 12-14mbps maybe its worth trying with native HD content and sport like the Euros.

Slightly odd bit of scheduling next weekend: BBC HD are largely following BBC Three in showing the Radio 1 Hackney Weekend (which appears to have had the year's Glastonbury budget chucked at it) - except for the 8pm slot on Sunday, where Florence + The Machine & Tinie Tempah have been unceremoniously shoved out the way for Chris Packham's "Secrets of our Living Planet", which is on at the same time on BBC Two.

That hour of the concert is repeated in HD, but not until 0045, after the F1 highlights.

I imagine that a first-run BBC Two Natural History series is probably deemed more worthy of 'HD' broadcast than another hour of festival coverage? AIUI Natural History is one of the genres that gets very good 'HD ratings' - as the content really benefits from the improved picture quality.

Plus BBC HD is clearly being moved towards being BBC Two HD in waiting...a couple of years ago it might have been shifted for that occasion but now the BBC2 output is being given priority.

I guess this time next year there'll be no way to watch this sort of thing (i.e. Radio 1's Big Weekend) in HD at all, unless it gets a BBC Two repeat?

Given that the content is likely to continue to be originated in HD even if broadcast in SD, I wonder if it will pop up in 'HD' on iPlayer? (Albeit at the low bitrate and in 720/25p)

That would be a good compromise - I've a feeling at the moment it doesn't appear in "HD" on iPlayer until it's been broadcast in HD on the TV so maybe that rule would have to be changed? (if I'm remembering it clearly)

Yes - so I suspect it won't happen. Don't think it's a rule - more a workflow.