NG
Through the run of the series people have been winning prizes to have a fortnight holiday in Disney World, with spending money, and the chance to be in the audience for the show. Given that both Virgin and Disney are involved - I'm guessing it's a big product placement deal. I think I heard 200 as a number, but don't know if that was people or families.
I wonder what the Americans in the park or audience made of the show.
The show may be a little bemusing for a US audience - but the spectacle of a live TV show of that scale will be impressive, and make a huge impact - and it IS really entertaining.
I did wonder if having Cat Deeley (who goes way back with Ant'n'Dec to the days of SM:TV Live where all three co-presented) appear was to have a face that some US audience members might know (from So You Think You Can Dance) - even if they didn't get the Wonky Donkey references
Because of the time difference - the crew were in at 0400 I believe, in the dark, long before the public were in, as the show went out live at 1400 local time?
noggin
Founding member
Out of curiousity how many Brits were in the audience in Orlando? It sounds like the show was promotional consideration for Disney World.
Through the run of the series people have been winning prizes to have a fortnight holiday in Disney World, with spending money, and the chance to be in the audience for the show. Given that both Virgin and Disney are involved - I'm guessing it's a big product placement deal. I think I heard 200 as a number, but don't know if that was people or families.
Quote:
I wonder what the Americans in the park or audience made of the show.
The show may be a little bemusing for a US audience - but the spectacle of a live TV show of that scale will be impressive, and make a huge impact - and it IS really entertaining.
I did wonder if having Cat Deeley (who goes way back with Ant'n'Dec to the days of SM:TV Live where all three co-presented) appear was to have a face that some US audience members might know (from So You Think You Can Dance) - even if they didn't get the Wonky Donkey references
Because of the time difference - the crew were in at 0400 I believe, in the dark, long before the public were in, as the show went out live at 1400 local time?
NG
Not sure this kind of event is ever going to be regular in the future though! They're damned if they do or don't. I think it would be a shame if shows avoid popular tourist destinations for fear of it being seen as one big advert. We live in a very commercialised world these days, are the public not a bit more savvy to what is an ad?
Technically a top show, as it usually is. I'm sure it's not a simple operation - didn't Singalong have basically no delay?! Have a look at Simon Hardwick's tweets for details about the cue dot too!
I know black credits probably save all sorts of bother but it looks so much better when they do something a bit different, especially on an entertainment show like SNT. There had obviously been some communication as Pres didn't do a squeeze either.
I'm guessing that SingAlong is done with IP-style back-pack cameras (LiveU or WMT - using WiFi and/or bonded 3G/4G) and so if there was a good internet connection on-site in Florida (which I suspect there was ) you could have the WMT/LiveU servers on-site and have roughly the same delay as if you were in the UK, assuming a low latency network connection to the UK with a decent ping time and route.
noggin
Founding member
It felt like six weeks of promos for and one final hour-and-a-half advert for Disney World. Not the future of tv I look forward to.
Not sure this kind of event is ever going to be regular in the future though! They're damned if they do or don't. I think it would be a shame if shows avoid popular tourist destinations for fear of it being seen as one big advert. We live in a very commercialised world these days, are the public not a bit more savvy to what is an ad?
Technically a top show, as it usually is. I'm sure it's not a simple operation - didn't Singalong have basically no delay?! Have a look at Simon Hardwick's tweets for details about the cue dot too!
I know black credits probably save all sorts of bother but it looks so much better when they do something a bit different, especially on an entertainment show like SNT. There had obviously been some communication as Pres didn't do a squeeze either.
I'm guessing that SingAlong is done with IP-style back-pack cameras (LiveU or WMT - using WiFi and/or bonded 3G/4G) and so if there was a good internet connection on-site in Florida (which I suspect there was
) you could have the WMT/LiveU servers on-site and have roughly the same delay as if you were in the UK, assuming a low latency network connection to the UK with a decent ping time and route.
AL
Not sure this kind of event is ever going to be regular in the future though! They're damned if they do or don't. I think it would be a shame if shows avoid popular tourist destinations for fear of it being seen as one big advert. We live in a very commercialised world these days, are the public not a bit more savvy to what is an ad?
Technically a top show, as it usually is. I'm sure it's not a simple operation - didn't Singalong have basically no delay?! Have a look at Simon Hardwick's tweets for details about the cue dot too!
I know black credits probably save all sorts of bother but it looks so much better when they do something a bit different, especially on an entertainment show like SNT. There had obviously been some communication as Pres didn't do a squeeze either.
I'm guessing that SingAlong is done with IP-style back-pack cameras (LiveU or WMT - using WiFi and/or bonded 3G/4G) and so if there was a good internet connection on-site in Florida (which I suspect there was ) you could have the WMT/LiveU servers on-site and have roughly the same delay as if you were in the UK, assuming a low latency network connection to the UK with a decent ping time and route.
It's actually just done by Skype.
It felt like six weeks of promos for and one final hour-and-a-half advert for Disney World. Not the future of tv I look forward to.
Not sure this kind of event is ever going to be regular in the future though! They're damned if they do or don't. I think it would be a shame if shows avoid popular tourist destinations for fear of it being seen as one big advert. We live in a very commercialised world these days, are the public not a bit more savvy to what is an ad?
Technically a top show, as it usually is. I'm sure it's not a simple operation - didn't Singalong have basically no delay?! Have a look at Simon Hardwick's tweets for details about the cue dot too!
I know black credits probably save all sorts of bother but it looks so much better when they do something a bit different, especially on an entertainment show like SNT. There had obviously been some communication as Pres didn't do a squeeze either.
I'm guessing that SingAlong is done with IP-style back-pack cameras (LiveU or WMT - using WiFi and/or bonded 3G/4G) and so if there was a good internet connection on-site in Florida (which I suspect there was
) you could have the WMT/LiveU servers on-site and have roughly the same delay as if you were in the UK, assuming a low latency network connection to the UK with a decent ping time and route.
It's actually just done by Skype.
Skype. Producer/tech set up during the day, one family member is in on it. Initial surprise hit is done with normal tv hence reaction delay
— Simon Hardwick (@simonhardwick) April 9, 2017
PE
peterrocket
Founding member
There's an article a while back that went to detail about how it worked, and how there were two cables that went to a truck parked round the corner, plus a reverse vision feed.
They basically added a new channel to the RF aerial feed and tuned BBC One in on the tv to that, so they got a clean feed instead of the normal BBC ONE on their tv - that way allowing them at one point to play in something else whilst Noel explained to everyone else what was going on.
It also went into detail about how they 'hid' the cameras - putting a few VHS tapes on the TV a few days before so the punter getting caught wouldn't notice a few days later when one of the boxes is swapped for one with a camera in it.
They basically added a new channel to the RF aerial feed and tuned BBC One in on the tv to that, so they got a clean feed instead of the normal BBC ONE on their tv - that way allowing them at one point to play in something else whilst Noel explained to everyone else what was going on.
It also went into detail about how they 'hid' the cameras - putting a few VHS tapes on the TV a few days before so the punter getting caught wouldn't notice a few days later when one of the boxes is swapped for one with a camera in it.
DE
And of course everything being analogue, it was virtually instantaneous with no discernible delays whatsoever. Bounce round the country singalong sequences on Children in Need and The Last Night of the Proms have caused engineers headaches ever since distribution and reception went digital.
IS
The only really clever thing technically was the small camera and they were far from uncommon in those days. In fact they were one of those technologies that shrunk and shrunk and then the digital version came out and it was bigger.
In many ways it would be more difficult to do today - more latency on the feeds making timing difficult, and getting the 'clean' feed of bbc1 back to their set in a way that isn't noticeable is trickier.
Incidently I assume the return feed wasn't just for play ins but also so they could send a clean feed of the programme audio back so the 'victim' couldn't hear himself. In fact there was presumably some sort of jiggery-pokery on the sound desk to cancel out Noels voice coming back via the TV and microphones in the house.
In many ways it would be more difficult to do today - more latency on the feeds making timing difficult, and getting the 'clean' feed of bbc1 back to their set in a way that isn't noticeable is trickier.
Incidently I assume the return feed wasn't just for play ins but also so they could send a clean feed of the programme audio back so the 'victim' couldn't hear himself. In fact there was presumably some sort of jiggery-pokery on the sound desk to cancel out Noels voice coming back via the TV and microphones in the house.
Last edited by Inspector Sands on 9 April 2017 6:30pm
IS
Not PAL and NTSC as such as they're obsolete analogue formats. However they will have been using local equipment which would all work at 60 or 30 frames a second which would have been converted to the 25fps used in the UK
This is an odd question but the appearance yesterday had a different appearance yesterday than normal including the VT play outs. Would this have something to do with PAL to NTSC conversion or would that not affect things these days?
Not PAL and NTSC as such as they're obsolete analogue formats. However they will have been using local equipment which would all work at 60 or 30 frames a second which would have been converted to the 25fps used in the UK
Last edited by Inspector Sands on 9 April 2017 6:42pm