TV Centre gains a 4th HD Studio (temporarily)

Looks like BBC Studios and Post Production (the new name for BBC Resources now they don't have OBs) have had to temporarily equip another TV Centre studio with HD gear to cope with demand.

http://www.bbcstudiosandpostproduction.com/about/archive/090608_eggheads.html

Looks like Eggheads is being shot in TC3 - which has been tempoarily upgraded to HD - and they couldn't do it in one of their 3 existing HD studios... TC1 was doing the Saturday night stuff, TC4 doing Jonathan Ross and TC8 doing Eight out of Ten Cats. I guess they want to do a block of Eggheads without setting and striking.

Wonder when TLS, Teddington and Fountain will start producing in HD - there does appear to be a market, and the BBC seem to have a lot of the work at the moment. (Teddington did a temporary set-up for The Green Green Grass, and TLS have parked HD OB units outside for Sky HD shows they do.)

Surely BGT/X Factor will want to move to HD soon considering how important they are for ITV, which is bound to put some pressure on Fountain to upgrade.

It'll also add a couple of extra shows to the lonely 1-a-day on ITV HD...

The last X Factor was filmed in HD at Fountain, ITV just didn't transmit it in HD. Not sure about BGT.

Sure the capability exists at Fountain in any case.

Noel's HQ was broadcast live in HD from Fountain for Sky 1. The original 'one off' was from TVC also in HD.

Of course it could have been done as an OB.

An interesting development. Two thoughts though:

1) What will HD bring to the Eggheads format?

2) Why are they not permanently equipping TC3? As the studio which traditionally has been used for music performances (because of its accoustic properties) would a lot of the programmes which are produced there not benefit from HD?

You beat me to it, do we really need to see Daphne or CJ in HD...



Doesn't Jools Holland come from Studio 3?

Possibly not much. However, if the goal is to get all TV shows in HD in the next few years, it's good to push shows like this one, which won't really need too much extra work for HD (improve the set and makeup, really) to make it seem like HD will be the 'norm' for telly and not just a way of watching certain special programmes in more detail.

What will HD bring to X Factor? Does HD really benefit anything but Drama and Nature programing?. I don't really see the point in HD Karaoke myself.

I think it's moved to TC4 so it can be in HD.

Well X Factor is a fairly visual show, Britain's Got Talent even more so. HD may mean that the pyrotechnic and other effects don't look as ropey as they do on ITV1 DSat and it's YouTube equivalent bandwidth

More repeat value? Eggheads will probably still be being repeated in years to come when everything is made and shown in HD. If its only available in SD it will stick out like a 4:3 programme would today or a black and white programme would in the late 80s.

If anything I think it would help get rid of the awful pixelation you get on the SD channel whenever the shots of big crowds appear, especially when they speed the shot up. The compression artifacts are painful to watch. It's not always about the higher resolution.

Plus as has been said, the sets and look of the X-Factor and BGT are quite elaborate. Might as well get the best out of them.