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Ulster Region DSO

10/24 October (October 2012)

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NG
noggin Founding member
BillyH posted:
I can't believe I'm saying this but that was very, very poignant indeed.

To think it was less than fifteen years ago when digital television launched, and now here we are in an analogue-free country...I remember first hearing about the switchover about a decade ago and scoffing at the idea, thinking surely it would never happen. But there we go.

In a few months I've got a cousin being born. He'll never have lived in a five-channel, analogue television world. It'll be to them what the likes of black & white 405-line TV has always been to me - ancient history.

Funny how you can feel old at the age of 24...


Odd though - it isn't a hugely different timescale from our last switchover!

VHF 405 BBC and ITV services switched off in January 1985 - 21 years from 625 UHF launching in the UK with BBC Two in April 1964 (and experimental colour didn't arrive until 1967ish AIUI), and only 16 years after BBC One and ITV launched on 625 UHF in November 1969.

(And we've already had mini-digital switchovers, with 2k DVB-T replaced by 8k - making some early receivers obsolete, and one mux switching from DVB-T to DVB-T2)
NG
noggin Founding member
dvboy posted:
noggin posted:
BillyH posted:
As someone on Twitter said, this so should have been done for every region's switch-off.


Were they watching this? Once is surely more than enough...


It's not a bad show but you feel a bit lost if you don't live in the area. I'm sure I would have enjoyed a Central one.


Nope - not feeling lost. Recognise a lot of the local characters. Just not really feeling the entertainment. And technically the VTs were awful - you'd think with an archive-heavy show you'd keep an extra eye on aspect ratios...

Nicely understated presentation by the BBC One NI pres team though. Nicely done.
IS
Inspector Sands
Photo from The moment that BBC1 was switched off (presumably inside BBC Belfast)
https://twitter.com/glenncartmill/status/260875542289580036/photo/1
MA
Markymark
Two things I noticed last night, BBC NI dropped the 22:32 national weather bulletin, but there seemed no need to, they filled the gap waiting for the common junction with UTV with trailers.

Secondly, the news scripts make regular use of saying something has happened 'here '. I don't think I've ever heard any other local or regional station use that term that extensively. I found it a bit odd, don't know why, perhaps because I wasn't 'there' !!
RI
Richard
Markymark posted:
Two things I noticed last night, BBC NI dropped the 22:32 national weather bulletin, but there seemed no need to, they filled the gap waiting for the common junction with UTV with trailers.

Secondly, the news scripts make regular use of saying something has happened 'here '. I don't think I've ever heard any other local or regional station use that term that extensively. I found it a bit odd, don't know why, perhaps because I wasn't 'there' !!


People in NI often use "here" particularly if they are being politically sensitive. Another alternative is "locally".
BC
Blake Connolly Founding member
Markymark posted:
Two things I noticed last night, BBC NI dropped the 22:32 national weather bulletin, but there seemed no need to, they filled the gap waiting for the common junction with UTV with trailers.


NI is the only nation or region that doesn't take the national weather after the Ten (aside from situations when the local news is specially extended by a couple of minutes, like Wales did after the hit-and-runs the other day), you might notice Northern Ireland doesn't usually get a mention in the forecast.
RI
Richard
Blake Connolly posted:
Markymark posted:
Two things I noticed last night, BBC NI dropped the 22:32 national weather bulletin, but there seemed no need to, they filled the gap waiting for the common junction with UTV with trailers.


NI is the only nation or region that doesn't take the national weather after the Ten (aside from situations when the local news is specially extended by a couple of minutes, like Wales did after the hit-and-runs the other day), you might notice Northern Ireland doesn't usually get a mention in the forecast.


Never noticed that! How long has that happened for?
GE
thegeek Founding member
Richard posted:


That good ol' clock was generated by a box called a GNAT - Generator of Network Analogue Time.

It's a box that looks like this:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8184/8118449760_6abf13b7de_z.jpg

You can read more about it in this tech note [pdf]

I believe someone in Belfast kept hold of theirs when they were told to dispose of it!

the COW globe was generated by a very similar box - in fact, this GNAT is sitting on top of one.

Lovely little send-off by the folks in Belfast. A bit of a nod that it's one for the anoraks, but I'm pleased that they indulged us!
RI
Richard
[quote="thegeek" pid="846649"]
Richard posted:
Paul Clark posted:


Wonder was the clock still in the system?


That good ol' clock was generated by a box called a GNAT - Generator of Network Analogue Time.

It's a box that looks like this:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8184/8118449760_6abf13b7de_z.jpg

You can read more about it in this tech note [pdf]

I believe someone in Belfast kept hold of theirs when they were told to dispose of it!

the COW globe was generated by a very similar box - in fact, this GNAT is sitting on top of one.

Lovely little send-off by the folks in Belfast. A bit of a nod that it's one for the anoraks, but I'm pleased that they indulged us!


Definitely! Thanks very much for posting. So that was presumably the analogue version of the clock, rather than the digital version (which was available in widescreen).
PE
Pete Founding member
I'm informed that the clock used was a recording of five minutes of clocky goodness generated a few days ago as plugging the GNAT into an HD pres suite was too much of a clart.

The idea of the digit al teddy sitting on top of the actual globe model was just delightful.
PL
plymouthbloke1974
So, now UK switchover is complete, and the Irish Republic completed theirs at 10am this morning, are there any other analogue TV services still alive in Europe, or is Ireland the last land to switch?

Also I think we took far too long to do ours. We should have done the whole damn lot in one go, like in the USA, Ireland and Germany.
IT
itsrobert Founding member
I'm blown away that they dug out both the Balloon era clock and the COW! It was so great to see them again - takes me back to my childhood. Whenever I see the clock I just want to say in an Alan Dedicoat voice "This is BBC One in the North West. Now at six o'clock the BBC News with Huw Edwards and Gordon Burns..."

I'll get my coat.

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