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DOG Watch

(January 2011)

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JE
Jenny Founding member
I check BBC Four every now and again in the hope they've ditched their bug. No luck yet.
TT
Tumble Tower
DOGs = Digital On-screen Graphics

Either that or 'Digitally Originated Graphics'... both of which are obsolete terms as all TV graphics are digital and on-screen. In the industry they're more commonly they're known as 'bugs' (and there's a common bit of kit called a Bugburner which generates them)

I first found it on Andrew Wiseman's Television Room not long after I got my first ever DTT receiver (Pace DTVA) in summer 2002.

Oh and my mistake, according to that site DOGs = Digitally Originated Graphics. Somehow it seems to have erroneously stuck in my mind as Digital On-screen Graphics.
SP
Spencer
Out of interest, did BBC HD scrap its policy of removing the DOG for dramas and films when it reduced the size of the DOG? I've not noticed it DOG-less for a long time now.
SP
Steve in Pudsey
I wonder when the time will come that the bug is moved out of the safe area into the corner of the 16:9 frame so it's less obtrusive for the majority of viewers and non existent for those on a 4:3 set?
GE
thegeek Founding member
The other annoyance/problem with DOG's must be the danger of screen burn. Having still got a good old CRT set, I don't have that problem


Screen burn generally affects CRTs much worse than any other (commonly used) screen technology
Weren't early plasmas particularly susceptible? There's one in the BBC Club, no less, which still has a very visible News 24 tower.
BR
Brekkie
They should ditch on screen logos and have a simple text bug with some simple kind of code for each channel. Wink

I don't mind the channel logos - it's those which are used as promos which should be banned IMO, and especially those on music channels which tell you the name of the show you're currently watching - usually with a big hideous opaque colour logo.

And where possible, they should be bottom right - and nowadays outside the 4:3 safe zone.
NG
noggin Founding member
The other annoyance/problem with DOG's must be the danger of screen burn. Having still got a good old CRT set, I don't have that problem


Screen burn generally affects CRTs much worse than any other (commonly used) screen technology
Weren't early plasmas particularly susceptible? There's one in the BBC Club, no less, which still has a very visible News 24 tower.


Yep - and they still have image retention issues (though only in extreme cases are they permanent). LCDs can suffer burn in as well in very extreme cases. (I've used PC LCD monitors with burned in IE logos and Windows minimise/maximise/close buttons)

My dad's 37" Panasonic plasma has a very visible BBC NEWS logo from the BBC News channel dog/ticker combo burned into his.
JB
JasonB
They should ditch on screen logos and have a simple text bug with some simple kind of code for each channel. Wink


Don't tempt him! Laughing
ST
Stuart
I wonder when the time will come that the bug is moved out of the safe area into the corner of the 16:9 frame so it's less obtrusive for the majority of viewers and non existent for those on a 4:3 set?

That seems to be the policy on an increasing number of channels. Discovery Channel have just moved their DOG to match the position on the recently launched Discovery History. It's within the 16:9 safe area, I think, but certainly less obtrusive in the corner.

Sky1/2/3 and E4 already position their DOGs within the 16:9 safe area, so that it isn't fully visible (if at all) when viewed in 4:3.

I don't know if there are any statistics on the subject, but perhaps most TVs are now either widescreen or at least viewed in a letterbox format on a 4:3 screen. Perhaps DOGs positioned in the 4:3 safe area will become a thing of the past. That position (such as on BBC Three/Four) looks even worse when other channels have taken the decision to move theirs into the corner.
DA
davidhorman

Yep - and they still have image retention issues (though only in extreme cases are they permanent). LCDs can suffer burn in as well in very extreme cases. (I've used PC LCD monitors with burned in IE logos and Windows minimise/maximise/close buttons)

My dad's 37" Panasonic plasma has a very visible BBC NEWS logo from the BBC News channel dog/ticker combo burned into his.


Not that I'm saying it will fix that problem, but I've seen the Windows buttons thing and also teletext burned in on an LCD screen, both of which were almost completely fixed by leaving the screens showing bright white for a few hours.

David
MI
Michael
Most modern LCDs have a pixel-shift feature, where you can set the screen to shift one or two pixels left or right every so often, thus preventing more serious screen burns.
03
030293
What incentive is that to switch to HD


The better picture quality.

True you switch from BBC One to BBC One HD to enjoy far superior picture quality. The snag is you get a BBC One HD DOG in the top left hand corner of the screen, which surely spoils the picture, whereas you don't have a DOG on BBC One.

Isn't that enough to make some switch back to BBC One just to have a DOG-free picture? If BBC One can do without a DOG, why does BBC One HD need one?

Ditto ITV1 HD which has a DOG (whereas ITV1 doesn't).


As a TV Forum user, and one to look at TV branding and all that, The last thing I'd do is change channel because of a DOG. They seriously don't bother me much. The only one that I'm not keen on is the Nick DOG, because there's too much going on there -but I don't watch that. I was at someones house and their son was watching it.

It's only branding, and they have the right to do it how they want. The reason I think 'B1, B2 and I1' doesn't have a dog, is because those are the channels we've always had, so we know what they are (if you get me)

EDIT: Oh, and just saying, it took me longer to type that bloody code in, that it would to do the actual channel names. I even wrote that paragraph faster -.-

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