BBC News Thread

I'm *sure* someone must have mentioned this, and I just haven't noticed - but I love the new location graphic, *underneath* the Live one. Looks far better than that crappy one over the tower, and it also looks far nicer (and works far better when it isn't live) than when it was next to it.

Now, if only they'd sort out the text in the titles, we'd be fine

What do you think is wrong with the text in the titles? I think it looks a lot better now that they've made it bolder - I was looking at some clips I did when BBC World re-launched, and it was almost impossible to read the headline, as the text was so thin that it almost blurred into one when it was spinning round so fast. It's much easier to read now that it's bold.

It's difficult to explain - it's just simply not as smooth (and the resolution doesn't seem as good either) as the pre-rendered BBC NEWS logo one. And I'm *sure* it must be possible to get it as good - you're only rendering at TV image resolution, so it shouldn't be too much hard work for the computers.

I still like it, don't get me wrong - it's a really clever idea (and original, unless anyone can tell me otherwise), and in the main quite well executed. And you're right - it certainly looks a lot better now it's bold than before.

Yes. Journos have to change the number of the start position

You are dead right.

The text is not being rendered in "broadcast quality". By this I mean that each field (50 if them a second) of the broadcast video signal doesn't have a unique image rendered for it - which is required for smooth movement (and a pre-requisite for most decent broadcast graphics devices on the market today)

Instead it looks like a cheap (though very clever) PC based system that is producing a frame of video (25 a second) with no movement between the fields (hence the judder) Additionally each of these 25 frames seem to contain more than one image - rather they contain a blend of two images (though these are not split between fields) which just makes the overall effect look messy.

The same is true of the ticker - which judders horrendously and is quite paintful to watch. It certainly makes an Aston look like a high quality text device.

It is such a shame the BBC could not fork out for a top quality system to make it look superb.

True. Its a common syndrome called an "in-house revamp"

Thanks, noggin. You always manage to brighten my day with a technical, but understandable, version of things



The worst thing is, it's such a good idea. If it was a poor design for the titles or anything, nobody would care that much; but it's just such a waste.

The version of the titles with BBC NEWS on them looks superb, but it feels oddly redundant as it comes up at the end of the titles anyway. I feel the same about the national titles, but I'd rather have a smooth slightly redundant version for that than the current messy version.

Why could they not pre-render it at decent quality prior to the TOTH? They would have the current non broadcast quality one as a fallback should the headline change in the last 15 mins or so of the hour (assuming it could be rendered in 15 mins)

With 2.2 zillion pounds coming from the licence fee, surely the beeb can afford a better PC to render the titles!

Presumably, they wouldn't have the equipment avaliable to do this. Besides, there's no reason why it couldn't be rendered properly live...

ah right, I assumed the current quality was a compromise because it was being done live