In praise of....

I do watch a lot of BBC Four, as it's one of the few top-notch offerings on Sky Digital, and its presentation, imo, is second-to-none.

The dynamic, sound-reactive idents are excellent, as with the range of backing tracks.

I love the "NEXT" 'slide', with the 9 altering photographs and "Albatross" playing in the background.

Creatively, the trailers are excellent and the use of the fonts, colours and positioning looks excellent, even if it is non-centred in widescreen.

Which channel's presentation continues to impress you, and why?

Ahh yes, BBC Four.

It's not just it's presentation which is outstanding, it's the content too. A bit too much emphasis on music for my taste, but some of the documentaries such as Light Fantastic are brilliant.

Also, a few months ago they were showing US sitcom 'Curb your enthusiasm' which is brilliant.

It's a pity the standard of presentation that we see on BBC Four cannot rub off on the likes of BBC One & News 24.

An interesting thing to consider is that BBC4's sound activated idents were introduced BEFORE the BBC1 dancers, yet BBC4's material still seems fresher and newer than the pap that is the dancers idents.

BBC FOUR is fantastic... documentaries from the Storyville range have been first class! Etre et Avoir was breathtaking.

BBC FOUR and BBC TWO presentation rocks! It will be interesting to see what finally replaces the Dancers on BBC ONE. I would think we will see new idents next Autumn on BBC ONE... it feels like they will only be around for about another year now that there is a new controller.

It is the best channel for pres and content, I've filled hundreds of videos with it's timeshift programmes!

I think the BBC are now showing documentaries they did not make under the storyville name, like the fog of war and kasparov versus the machine.

I'd like to see the BBC revive some of its other documentary strands, like modern times, they were usually good films

How do these sound activated idents work, anyway? Are they generated on the fly as the announcer speaks?

Yes I think so -- similar in concept to Windows Media Player's visual effects really, and very well executed.

Could this be a sign that pres enthusiasts prefer old-fashioned "devices" as idents, rather than pre-recorded logos and live-action sequences?

Fantastic Sounds of the Seventies on again tonight! Loved it.

Kraftwerk...oooooh!

They are dynamically responding to the voice-over - but I don't know if they are generated live as the recorded announcement is played, or if the whole thing is now pre-recorded.

AIUI there isn't live continuity on BBC Four?

They're generated from a PC, the announcers audio (which could be from a microphone, minidisc , hard-drive or any other source) is fed into it and the ident is generated live on air. It does mean of course that every ident is unique.

As for BBC4, I caught their 'Britpop Night' by accident on Tuesday night.... a great night of programmes

That was fantastic, wasn't it? Can't believe it's been 10 years since Country House and Roll With It were released...