DA
Richard O'Brian's last/Ed Tudor Pole's first episode of The Crystal Maze on Challenge at the moment. It's a kids Christmas special. You will have to catch the start again in just under an hour to see Richard O'Brian ride off on his motorbike with his mother.
EDIT: Anyone else notice that Challenge seem to keep a programme on air right until the very end? What I mean is keeping the endcaps and 'end of part' graphics on screen for the full duration that they have available. A few weeks ago, an episode of Catchphrase had its 'end of part' caption on for about 7 seconds. This wasn't just paused because you could hear the audience applauding for the full 7 seconds. Today, The Krypton Factor 'end of part' was kept on screen for so long that I saw a couple of people stop clapping. The endcaps are often left on screen for unusually long periods of time. Obviously when these programmes were shown originally, they would have cut away before these things had played out in full.
For a presentation fan it is a very interesting way to play out the programmes. Maybe one day they will include the VT clocks at the start of programmes too!
EDIT: Anyone else notice that Challenge seem to keep a programme on air right until the very end? What I mean is keeping the endcaps and 'end of part' graphics on screen for the full duration that they have available. A few weeks ago, an episode of Catchphrase had its 'end of part' caption on for about 7 seconds. This wasn't just paused because you could hear the audience applauding for the full 7 seconds. Today, The Krypton Factor 'end of part' was kept on screen for so long that I saw a couple of people stop clapping. The endcaps are often left on screen for unusually long periods of time. Obviously when these programmes were shown originally, they would have cut away before these things had played out in full.
For a presentation fan it is a very interesting way to play out the programmes. Maybe one day they will include the VT clocks at the start of programmes too!
Last edited by David on 5 June 2011 9:15pm
PT
That wasn't Su Pollard. That was Jessica Martin doing Su Pollard (obviously a bit too well)..
Well there we go, I didn't even realise!
Just watching a Cruise Ship themed 3-2-1. Stan Boardman, Mike Osman impersonating Jack Duckworth, Su Pollard, men in shoulder pads! Looks very dated now.
Britain's Got Talent eat your heart out
Britain's Got Talent eat your heart out
That wasn't Su Pollard. That was Jessica Martin doing Su Pollard (obviously a bit too well)..
Well there we go, I didn't even realise!
WP
Twas the same under Flextech. I believe it's because the most requested episode on the forums was Rich's last/Ed's first, so they moved this to the front of the queue.
Why do they not show the Christmas specials in order?? It doesn't make sense.
Twas the same under Flextech. I believe it's because the most requested episode on the forums was Rich's last/Ed's first, so they moved this to the front of the queue.
:-(
A former member
Why do they not show the Christmas specials in order?? It doesn't make sense.
Twas the same under Flextech. I believe it's because the most requested episode on the forums was Rich's last/Ed's first, so they moved this to the front of the queue.
I never understand why there never broadcast Bullseye Christmas special, ( there were 45mins long, with Challenge I dare say that would make them 50mins, add in blopper clip bingo )
NJ
If I remember correctly I remember reading that standard practice is a 10 second hold after the action finishes, followed by fade to black. Not included in the programme duration timings, the hold is intended so that transmission has something to leave on screen if the adverts don't turn up on time, and they're not meant to be seen. Of course on original transmission on ITV, the network feed would, I presume, have had a clean programme transmission that the regional companies simply opted into after idents and opt back out afterwards. I think. I don't claim to know everything, after all.
Of course, because Challenge runs off an automated play-out system, if the programme is configured to play to the end of the hold, then that's what it'll do. Mind you, leaving endcaps and end-of-part holds up on screen indefinitely is the least of the issues with the channel at the moment because there are still occasional issues with the continuity announcements that have been going on for a short while now.
Happened once on a Strike It Rich rerun. Went to a break, went through the break as normal , and crashed back into the programme about ten seconds before the break point. Went straight through, played out the entire 10 second hold and then promptly fell over. After a short while and a breakdown caption the second part eventually turned up with a 10 second VT clock preceeding it.
Neil Jones
Founding member
EDIT:
Anyone else notice that Challenge seem to keep a programme on air right until the very end? What I mean is keeping the endcaps and 'end of part' graphics on screen for the full duration that they have available. A few weeks ago, an episode of Catchphrase had its 'end of part' caption on for about 7 seconds. This wasn't just paused because you could hear the audience applauding for the full 7 seconds. Today, The Krypton Factor 'end of part' was kept on screen for so long that I saw a couple of people stop clapping. The endcaps are often left on screen for unusually long periods of time. Obviously when these programmes were shown originally, they would have cut away before these things had played out in full.
If I remember correctly I remember reading that standard practice is a 10 second hold after the action finishes, followed by fade to black. Not included in the programme duration timings, the hold is intended so that transmission has something to leave on screen if the adverts don't turn up on time, and they're not meant to be seen. Of course on original transmission on ITV, the network feed would, I presume, have had a clean programme transmission that the regional companies simply opted into after idents and opt back out afterwards. I think. I don't claim to know everything, after all.
Of course, because Challenge runs off an automated play-out system, if the programme is configured to play to the end of the hold, then that's what it'll do. Mind you, leaving endcaps and end-of-part holds up on screen indefinitely is the least of the issues with the channel at the moment because there are still occasional issues with the continuity announcements that have been going on for a short while now.
Quote:
For a presentation fan it is a very interesting way to play out the programmes. Maybe one day they will include the VT clocks at the start of programmes too!
Happened once on a Strike It Rich rerun. Went to a break, went through the break as normal , and crashed back into the programme about ten seconds before the break point. Went straight through, played out the entire 10 second hold and then promptly fell over. After a short while and a breakdown caption the second part eventually turned up with a 10 second VT clock preceeding it.
WP
If I remember correctly I remember reading that standard practice is a 10 second hold after the action finishes, followed by fade to black. Not included in the programme duration timings, the hold is intended so that transmission has something to leave on screen if the adverts don't turn up on time, and they're not meant to be seen. Of course on original transmission on ITV, the network feed would, I presume, have had a clean programme transmission that the regional companies simply opted into after idents and opt back out afterwards. I think. I don't claim to know everything, after all.
Of course, because Challenge runs off an automated play-out system, if the programme is configured to play to the end of the hold, then that's what it'll do. Mind you, leaving endcaps and end-of-part holds up on screen indefinitely is the least of the issues with the channel at the moment because there are still occasional issues with the continuity announcements that have been going on for a short while now.
Happened once on a Strike It Rich rerun. Went to a break, went through the break as normal , and crashed back into the programme about ten seconds before the break point. Went straight through, played out the entire 10 second hold and then promptly fell over. After a short while and a breakdown caption the second part eventually turned up with a 10 second VT clock preceeding it.
If my understanding of automated playout systems is correct, then all the problems are likely to be related.
My understanding is that digital "flags" are added to frames of a video dictating where the playout system should start playing (e.g. after the countdown, a frame or two before the titles start), where the playout system should pause for an advert break (and how many frames to skip when resuming), where the CA should kick in (if at all) in the titles, and where to end the programme.
It seems that when Sky moved Challenge over to their own playout facilities - these flags got screwed up. If they were able to import them from Red Bee, the process went wrong - however my guess is that they couldn't be imported over so they had to be added in manually from scratch en masse (which must have been a fun job!). Obviously when you're doing this with thousands of hours of content mistakes are bound to happen.
The problem also exists on some other programming which moved to Sky playout in January - I've noticed it on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on Living Loves for example.
EDIT:
Anyone else notice that Challenge seem to keep a programme on air right until the very end? What I mean is keeping the endcaps and 'end of part' graphics on screen for the full duration that they have available. A few weeks ago, an episode of Catchphrase had its 'end of part' caption on for about 7 seconds. This wasn't just paused because you could hear the audience applauding for the full 7 seconds. Today, The Krypton Factor 'end of part' was kept on screen for so long that I saw a couple of people stop clapping. The endcaps are often left on screen for unusually long periods of time. Obviously when these programmes were shown originally, they would have cut away before these things had played out in full.
If I remember correctly I remember reading that standard practice is a 10 second hold after the action finishes, followed by fade to black. Not included in the programme duration timings, the hold is intended so that transmission has something to leave on screen if the adverts don't turn up on time, and they're not meant to be seen. Of course on original transmission on ITV, the network feed would, I presume, have had a clean programme transmission that the regional companies simply opted into after idents and opt back out afterwards. I think. I don't claim to know everything, after all.
Of course, because Challenge runs off an automated play-out system, if the programme is configured to play to the end of the hold, then that's what it'll do. Mind you, leaving endcaps and end-of-part holds up on screen indefinitely is the least of the issues with the channel at the moment because there are still occasional issues with the continuity announcements that have been going on for a short while now.
Quote:
For a presentation fan it is a very interesting way to play out the programmes. Maybe one day they will include the VT clocks at the start of programmes too!
Happened once on a Strike It Rich rerun. Went to a break, went through the break as normal , and crashed back into the programme about ten seconds before the break point. Went straight through, played out the entire 10 second hold and then promptly fell over. After a short while and a breakdown caption the second part eventually turned up with a 10 second VT clock preceeding it.
If my understanding of automated playout systems is correct, then all the problems are likely to be related.
My understanding is that digital "flags" are added to frames of a video dictating where the playout system should start playing (e.g. after the countdown, a frame or two before the titles start), where the playout system should pause for an advert break (and how many frames to skip when resuming), where the CA should kick in (if at all) in the titles, and where to end the programme.
It seems that when Sky moved Challenge over to their own playout facilities - these flags got screwed up. If they were able to import them from Red Bee, the process went wrong - however my guess is that they couldn't be imported over so they had to be added in manually from scratch en masse (which must have been a fun job!). Obviously when you're doing this with thousands of hours of content mistakes are bound to happen.
The problem also exists on some other programming which moved to Sky playout in January - I've noticed it on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on Living Loves for example.
DA
This made me laugh.
[media:355b832932]http://up.metropol247.co.uk/davidlees/bullseye_mistake_edit.flv[/media:355b832932]
and you can catch it again at about 18:28 on Challenge+1 if you feel that would be something that interests you.
This clip also shows Bully waiting for his cue at the start of Bullseye.
[media:355b832932]http://up.metropol247.co.uk/davidlees/bullseye_mistake_edit.flv[/media:355b832932]
and you can catch it again at about 18:28 on Challenge+1 if you feel that would be something that interests you.
This clip also shows Bully waiting for his cue at the start of Bullseye.
NJ
So it's not unique to Challenge. Still, you'd have thought somebody would have noticed by now?
Not unusual, because that's how it's supposed to be on every transmission on any network I've ever seen the show.
Lifted from the 2005 gameshow marathon, even that shows Bully waiting for the bells, even if it has got the "wrong" theme tune on it for the era of the titles used:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdT0oT-1-PM
Something I wanted to know about Bullseye: When did the set get inverted?
If you watch early Bullseye, the audience is in its traditional place (behind the cameras) and all the major throwing happens with contestants facing the right as we look at it.
Somewhere along the line this was inverted so the cameras are on the opposite side of the studio with the audience in full view, but as far as the audience is concerned everybody is throwing to their right (as they'd have seen it all along) even though everybody from home sees everybody throwing to the left.
I think it changed somewhere between 1984 and 1987 and it may have coincided with the now legendary titles of Bully on the bus when they first appeared which I think may have been 1986.
Neil Jones
Founding member
The problem also exists on some other programming which moved to Sky playout in January - I've noticed it on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on Living Loves for example.
So it's not unique to Challenge. Still, you'd have thought somebody would have noticed by now?
Quote:
This clip also shows Bully waiting for his cue at the start of Bullseye.
Not unusual, because that's how it's supposed to be on every transmission on any network I've ever seen the show.
Lifted from the 2005 gameshow marathon, even that shows Bully waiting for the bells, even if it has got the "wrong" theme tune on it for the era of the titles used:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdT0oT-1-PM
Something I wanted to know about Bullseye: When did the set get inverted?
If you watch early Bullseye, the audience is in its traditional place (behind the cameras) and all the major throwing happens with contestants facing the right as we look at it.
Somewhere along the line this was inverted so the cameras are on the opposite side of the studio with the audience in full view, but as far as the audience is concerned everybody is throwing to their right (as they'd have seen it all along) even though everybody from home sees everybody throwing to the left.
I think it changed somewhere between 1984 and 1987 and it may have coincided with the now legendary titles of Bully on the bus when they first appeared which I think may have been 1986.
NJ
Don't think so, the current crop of episodes with 1988 dates on the credits make references to "here in Birmingham", and somebody else on TV Forum said the move to Lenton Lane happened from either the 1989 or 1990 series.
Neil Jones
Founding member
Was it anything to do with them moving from Broad Street to Lenton Lane?
Don't think so, the current crop of episodes with 1988 dates on the credits make references to "here in Birmingham", and somebody else on TV Forum said the move to Lenton Lane happened from either the 1989 or 1990 series.