BBC One

most menus contain clips from programmes that are already being trailed so there's no need to get hold of the tapes...and those that do require tapes are only needed for a short time to be ingested into their server.

it doesn't actually take more than one dedicated person per channel. towards christmas there is an extra person who works between bbc one and two.

I say bring back the old style trails, but that's probably because I'm resistant to change and I grew up with them. You would need to do them for everynight but perhaps on Saturdays and Sundays because the schedule is so fluid on those days, so it would be good to know the timings.

Found this on You Tube
If you go to 1:50 onwards, you will see behind the scenes of the 1990 BBC 1 Christmas Ident

There was a problem with Capes at 1000 this morning - audio with CA was fine but the video failed to play and was frozen at the start.

The BBC Newsroom has been essentially tapeless for a few years now. Tape is only used for archiving and recording PasBs and some backups. (In fact News 24 launched semi-tapeless in 1997 - and was pretty much entirely tapeless by 1999ish - with a mix of Profiles and Avids, with tape really only used for archive and the occasional rushes tape)

All incoming BBC and Agency feeds are recorded to server, and all editing is done from or on the server, with playout coming from a gallery playout server or the edit suite direct (and occasionally from the central production server).

Field crews still shoot on DVCam (Beta SX in the nations and some overseas bureau) tape and when rushes are delivered back to TVC these are digitised from a VT machine, but most rushes are either edited on-site (often using Laptop PCs - though sometimes field edit packs consisting of multiple VT machines in a Laptop-style format) or fed back - and in both cases are recorded onto server. Some packages are now FTPed or similar back rather than fed in real-time down vision circuits.

Similarly any archive is now loaded from tape by News Library, rather than the tape being delivered to the newsroom physically, usually.

Eventually the location shooting will move to a tapeless format - the P2 Flash format from Panasonic is tipped at the moment as it uses open standards, whereas Sony's XDCam (both optical and Flash based) uses closed standards. That said - Sony is doing well with XDCam in the US markets...

Tapeless for longer form productions is more tricky than a newsroom - as you have to be very clear about delivery systems. That said, it isn't going to be that far away... In the US, SD shows are syndicated using Pathfire, which is a network based distribution system, which doesn't require tape, and in many countries, commercials are now delivered as files rather than on tape.

Considering they're only just getting over last years scandals it's a bit questionable that the BBC are dedicated an entire interactive feed to a looped ad for a Doctor Who competition, even if it is for Children in Need.

AFAIK on network BBC 1 and BBC 2, when there is a symbol with a live CA voice over, they actually play two copies of the symbol (in this case Capes) at the same time. One copy is what you see on-screen (but its audio is mute), the other copy is the one you hear (its audio is routed to a fader which the CA can dip to suit themselves).

In the case you saw above, it's likely that one copy failed to run and the other ran ok.

Is this done so that there will be an ident onscreen in case one breaks down? And somebody should have a word with Peter Offer about his sound levels, he drowns out everything.

Not to mention the dulled down voice :-/

I don't have a problem with his voice, it's very old school in delivery, no frills and good diction. He reminds me a lot of Richard Straker. But it's like he would have been perfect in the days of the old spinning globe with no music, rather than speaking over the music in newer idents.

BBC 1 and 2 just gone black on analogue terrestrial in Wales - ITV1, C4, Five and S4C all fine.

C4 analogue in Wales?