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BBC News Thread

(February 2004)

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MO
moss Founding member
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 Wink
IT
itsrobert Founding member
moss posted:
Now, if only they'd sort out the text in the titles, we'd be fine Wink


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.
MO
moss Founding member
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.
MA
Marcus Founding member
itsrobert posted:
tombas47 posted:
This morning the titles for Weekend 24 at 8am showed "BBC Weekend 24" text instead of "BBC News" spinning around the globe, but the text going at a different angle round the globe, diagonally instead of right around it. Has this ident been going round for a while cus I've only just noticed it!


Speaking of the titles - BBC World's titles have been spinning from the wrong place on the globe all afternoon. Had I not read it on here, I wouldn't have even noticed that it was wrong, but it's easy to notice now that I know the globe is meant to spin around the area where the news is happening. The top story this morning was the end of the North Korea talks, so the globe was spinning from East Asia. However, throughout the day, the top story has changed from that to both Haiti's unrest and an Israeli air strike, yet all the ones I have seen have still spun from East Asia. Can anyone explain why this is so - is it just the case that someone has forgotten to enter the new starting point?


Yes. Journos have to change the number of the start position
NG
noggin Founding member
moss posted:
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.


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.
RT
rts Founding member
It is such a shame the BBC could not fork out for a top quality system to make it look superb.
RE
Re-it-er-ate
rts posted:
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"
MO
moss Founding member
Thanks, noggin. You always manage to brighten my day with a technical, but understandable, version of things Smile

Re-it-er-ate posted:
rts posted:
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"


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.
SP
Steve in Pudsey
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)
HA
harshy Founding member
rts posted:
It is such a shame the BBC could not fork out for a top quality system to make it look superb.


With 2.2 zillion pounds coming from the licence fee, surely the beeb can afford a better PC to render the titles! Smile
MO
moss Founding member
Steve in Pudsey posted:
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)


Presumably, they wouldn't have the equipment avaliable to do this. Besides, there's no reason why it couldn't be rendered properly live...
SP
Steve in Pudsey
ah right, I assumed the current quality was a compromise because it was being done live

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