BBC One on Friday morning

What? TCW? The widescreen test card based on TCJ based on TCF

(TC = Test Card)

EDIT: Sorry, Rik - looks like I was a bit too slow!

Do you mean what is Testcard-W, or something else?

Testcard-W is the widescreen version of Testcards F/J, which is sent out on digital delivery systems, or analogue transmissions in 16:9 mode.

Does anyone know if there's a 14:9 testcard?

(Edited by BBC Choice at 9:55 pm on July 25, 2001)

BBC Choice also seems to be down for 10 minutes between 03:10-03:20 on Friday morning.

BBC2 will reportedly be unaffected.

Apprantly the whole thing is just network tests, but why should this require BBC Choice & BBC News 24 to physically closedown?

Can I make a suggesstion, to organise a group, one person to watch each of the following....
BBC1 Analogue
BBC1 Digital (DSat)
BBC1 Digital ( DTT)
BBC1 Digital (DSat IRL)
BBC2 Analgoue
BBC2 Digital (DSat)
BBC2 Digital (DTT)
BBC Choice
BBC News 24
BBC Knowledge
BBC Parliament
BBC Text (needs to be tested)
Ceefax
BBC Radio Services (DSat) (should be unaffected, but you never know)

Any more please feel free to add to the list. I think this would be good to monitor, especially if in the unlikely circumstance that their power supply should fail during the testing!

I'll do BBC1 Analouge.

And BBC2 analouge.

BTW,Strange:The Radio times (for Thursday,since the scedlules cover 6:00 am-6:00 am) says

'1.15-6.00 AM BBC News 24'

While BBC Online in the scedlules section says

03:00 This is BBC News 24
The Testcard replaces the BBC's rolling news channel. BBC News 24 will resume transmission at 4.00am, with the latest national and international news from the BBC, presented by Martine Croxall.

Hmm....A late desicion?

While on BBC2:TWO Closedowns!

From Saturday morning (On the Friday page on The Radio Times) At 2:00-3:00,and 5:00-6:10 AM.

It will be a shock to see the testcard again (Hopefully TCJ,but it will probably be TCW)

The last time I saw it in 1998 (I was 9 or 10,and not really seen it before) i was scared stiff!

Want to know about the encounter,plus another story about my encounter with A black screen 'Closedown' on BBC1 circa.1993?

PM Me!

(Edited by Billy Hicks88 at 11:44 pm on July 25, 2001)

Come on,is it only me doing at least 2 of these jobs?!?!

Let's get some more people in!

(BTW The bit about the testcard on News 24 has been removed from BBC Online)

I'm doing BBC 1 Analogue but i'm recording it so a viewer will be requires (Billy Kicks) incase my video ges wrong/I set it for the wrong day.

Oh,Well I'm (Though I already was going too) recording it too.
But Who is doing:



Please?

(Edited by Billy Hicks88 at 2:28 pm on July 26, 2001)

Aaron,dont bother,its not worth the hassle of being accused.(In my opinion anyway)But go ahead if you want)

Stu


(Edited by Stoo at 2:31 pm on July 26, 2001)

Yes - I was going to anyway.

BBC Choice has (very oddly) been doing that for the past couple of months. It appears as a gap on Sky's EPG. I recorded it a while ago when I first noticed. All that happens is the static caption as normal, then Sky's own generated caption appears saying 'This programme is not available' or something and then it comes back at 3.20. Nothing amazing there I'm afraid!

Cheers, Asa

Don't have a heart attack will you

BBC Two normally closes down anyway. Usually if there's a fairly lengthy gap between the Learning Zone, an ident will be played followed by Ceefax but as this occurs on Saturday morning it has nothing to do with early tomorrows tests.

If you're really lucky over the weekend, the director is sometimes willing to play out a good length ident (Kebab! Kebab! He requests ) or if you're like BBC Two NI a few weeks back, a closedown clock!

Cheers, Asa

[quote="BBC Choice"] EDIT: Sorry, Rik - looks like I was a bit too slow!


14:9 is not (on the whole) a real video format - it is an intermediate display and conversion format - unlike 16:9 and 4:3 which are actually standards for shooting and editing. A testcard may exist - but I haven't seen or heard of one.

However some versions of Testcard W (in 16:9) I have seen have chevrons indicating 4:3 and 14:9 picture areas.

(In the early days of widescreen production in the mid/late 90s I know that a series of BUGS was shot on Super 16 film - and telecine transfered to VT for editing in 15:9. This 15:9 master was converted to either 14:9 for 4:3 delivery, or 16:9 for 16:9 delivery - but this is not a standard production technique to my knowledge...)