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PALplus broadcasts in the 1990s

(June 2014)

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NG
noggin Founding member
Yep - all the D3 machines I've ever seen have had "clever" front panels. The workhorse DigiBetas could have either a similar (though still not as nice) "posh" front panel, or the BVW-75-a-like LED "cheap" front panel. Guess which I saw most of at the BBC... (It was only usually in OB trucks you saw the clever panels)

Here's a DigiBeta with the clever (BKDW-515) panel : http://broadcastpros.com/wp-content/uploads/bpny13-sonydvwa500-505-1.jpg%20%20
Here's a DigiBeta with the commoner "dumber" panel : http://www.tekmg.com/images/Sony/Deck/DVW500.jpg
GE
thegeek Founding member
All my previous experience with professional VTRs until that point had been with Sony U-Matic decks - which meant zero learning curve when switching to DigiBetas Smile
WP
WillPS
Markymark posted:
Inspector Sands posted:
noggin posted:

Though the DTA had been opting out / blanketing for DVB broadcasts since 1998.

But going back to the original point, that still wouldn't have helped PAL+
Quote:

The NTA was master, but their PAL footprint should only have been imposed on PAL analogue viewers. (Apart from 4:3 PAL contributions - and the odd <spit> 16:9 PAL show...)

Except for the bit (until late 99) when the DTA wasn't 24/7 and at certain times the digital services were derived from the NTA. Then the few digital viewers were getting converted PAL for a lot of the time


Yes, I can remember weekend mornings in 98/99 the D-Sat and DTT versions of BBC 1 and 2
were soggy 4:3 PAL derived , and on one occasion the DTA was jacked in about 30 mins into
Grandstand. Better than Meridian, who in those early days seemed to have to manually
patch in any 16:9 programming to the DTT Tx path (otherwise it was soggy 4:3 PAL derived)
C4 on D-Sat was also just a coded 4:3 signal, derived from the London analogue output, although
DTT was properly component sourced with WSS from the outset.

I thought C4 was separate - but that might be to do with the DOG that appeared and lasted about a year on digital only.
VM
VMPhil
Can I just say, thanks to everyone's contributions to this thread, even if I can't understand some of it! Smile Really interesting and detailed insight into the early days of widescreen and digital.
MA
Markymark
WillPS posted:

I thought C4 was separate - but that might be to do with the DOG that appeared and lasted about a year on digital only.


The C4 DOG appeared on Good Friday 1999 (the same day that D-Sat adopted the same component
digital derived signal that DTT had been using) and lasted 6 weeks. There was outrage about it.
Only ever appeared on DTT and D-Sat. Lasted a similar short period that the DOGs on digital BBC 1 and 2
lasted (Oct 1st to Dec 1st 1998)

I seem to recall that Oct 98 to Easter 99, there was just a single stream of C4 on one of Sky's
transponders, possibly fed from an off air feed for C4 analogue. Then on Good Friday 1999,
all 6 LEMNUS regions appeared on a dedicated transponder of C4's ?
VM
VMPhil
Some low res captures from Andrew Wiseman's Television Room:

http://625.uk.com/dogwatch/fted.jpg

http://625.uk.com/digital/bbcone_wide.jpg

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