Granada late news taped????

Depends on the tape format.

But generally it looks the same as dropout on your VHS... little lines flashing across the screen momentarily, or if it's a big lump of dropout, a horizontal line travelling from the top to the bottom of the screen. This line will either be grey or a copy of the previous TV line, depending on the tape format and which head is being used (D.T. head etc)

It will travel much quicker than VHS dropout, as the tape travels faster within the palyer.

edited bit... Forgot to add, that's assuming it's analogue. Digital tape shows dropout as little blocks, a bit like your digibox having problems receiving the signal

(Edited by Techy Peep at 11:48 pm on Dec. 21, 2001)

It was there again tonight when I had a look, only seems to be prominent on the CSO background -- maybe it's just the chromakey equipment that's giving trouble.

maybe its the CSO background itself? Does it have any motion? If so, it'll be from tape & it's probably worn out

Hmm, hope they record a spare then!

What tape format do UK television stations use? And why only tape dropout on this bulletin and not on all recorded shows?

And why isn't this format been tried on home systems?

The tape dropout is everywhere, if you know what to look for.

The tape format used is most likely Betacam, a variant of the home Betamax system but high-band. It has in the past been possible to get home recorders with this standard, but they were too expensive and the tapes are difficult to get hold of to the average man on the street.

Almost all TV companies still use the format on a regular basis, however. You see the dropout when a TV company has reused the tape too much.

Very possibly -- there was no motion that I saw, but using a tape would make it easy to produce a moving background if it was required for whatever reason (I don't watch Granada News enough to know if they ever do that sort of stuff).

That tape did look well knackered though!!! I think I'd have chucked it out if I'd been using it on my home VHS recorder!!

One question though TP -- is it the head or external circuitry which 'covers up' tape dropout? Obviously on older recorders the dropout was just displayed as an ugly white/grey noise line. I've often wondered if the intelligence was in the head or a chip on the player's board, and if the latter could it be incorporated into an external box. I know it sounds like a strange question but there was a project I did years ago where we came across this problem but just swapped the older player out for a different one, and never really answered the question (I was an electronic engineer at the time).

you'll be surprised to find out that these news promotions are live in the carlton regions with the exception of carlton westcountry.

In fact, correct me anyone if I am badly wrong, but I think HTV West's MAIN news is taped - you can see tape freeze at the beginning, although this may just be a taped opening sequence[QUOTE]

Yes I saw that when watching it on Sky digital - 5 news also tapes its headlines as does Channel 4 News and ITV News.

That's coz they're chickens! Live life on the edge

I know the reasons behind recording opening sequences, but maybe if producers wrote their scripts long enough it'd give the TX operators time to load the main VT package

But News24's headline's aren't recorded (as far as I know) so what's the problem with any other news programme?

BBC National & International News programmes (BBC1, N24, World, 60secs, Newsnight, Newsround etc...) coming from London don't have pre-recorded openings, because they have the resources to do it live.

Most regions pre-record their openings because they don't have enough on-line VT machines to play all the headlines & titles & cue up the first report. Steadily though, as they go onto automation systems and video servers for playout, this small drawback will no longer exist

(Edited by Techy Peep at 1:59 am on Dec. 24, 2001)

PM on Radio 4 always used to record the opening headlines, so they could time the script to the music. That was until some eager trainee played out the whole thing at the worng speed one day. From then on they did it livehttp://web.ukonline.co.uk/tv.home/forum/emoticons/shocked.gif