Subtitles

OK - please explain.
On News 24 at 3ish today at times the subtitles were behind the reports/newsreader and sometimes in front.
Why?
I know they were done by a stenographer because:
a) they were appearing sylable by sylable (sp?)
b) they made a mistake!

I can't get subtitles on News 24 - It doesn't even have a teletext page!

Because stenographers follow scripts in the same way presenters do.

Also, they pre-type subtitles, and they can appear syllable by syllable as opposed to block text.

even for reports?

News 24 Teletext is only available on analogue cable and sky digital until november IIRC. See teletext.mb21.co.uk for more.

Because the intro's to packages already exist in an electronic form in the shape of ENPS, CEEFAX download that text and transmit it - they don't need to type anything. Autocue also download the text.

For the packages, the chances are that they have already been broadcast, therefore the stenographers have already typed it in. The system looks at the unique code given to every package, in the same way as a barcode, and recalls that information when required. At some stage, a stenographer may look back at what they have typed during a package & correct it for next time.

When it is subtitled live, that is when you will see a delay.

Hope this helps


(Edited by techy peep at 12:18 pm on July 17, 2001)

yeah, but sometimes it was behind in a clip/studio and sometimes infront. So it seems to be a mix?

If it's in front of the voice, then it's either recalling it from the script, or from disk.

If it's behind, it's either being typed live, or the stenographer was late hitting the 'transmit' button on saved material

Ooh - there's a transmit button!

I thought they just typed and it went out!

They do type! They only hit 'transmit' when recalling pre-prepared text.

Once the dictionary has converted the stenographers code into english, it is transmitted. That's why sometimes you see phonetics, because the dictionary (although very complex with algorithyms to knock your socks off with!) cannot convert to English for some reason