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I think they are separate for S4C. I would have thought that scheduling a live programme with plenty of capacity to fall off air, overrun etc would be a good enough reason to put an announcer on the late shift.
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(18-09-2022, 09:10 AM)Steve in Pudsey Wrote: Possibly a quicker reaction than it looks - S4C is played out from a pres suite at BBC Wales, which I assume is a similar spec to BBC Scotland. It looks like their desk takes 2 seconds to react after pressing a button
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Not neccessarily. It depends how the technical fault slate is put to air.
What you see in that video is the playout automation system (Morpheus) taking a few seconds to react to the "take next" command. This is fairly standard. In the playout suite I look after it takes around 2 second, and here it seems very similar. This "pre-roll" delay is very intentional, it gives the automation time to send the commands the relevant devices (in this video an ICE server) and sync up the main and backup copies of the channel so that they both cut in sync with one another.
So if the operator quickly puts the technical fault slate as an event in to the automation playlist and uses the automation to take it to air, then yes it would take a few seconds and the operator has acted very quickly.
However most playout operations assume that in the event of a fault the automation system itself could be at fault, and as such can't be trusted to put the slate to air. So most playout facilities have the fault slate continuously playing on a server on loop, and have a button on a control system somewhere to make a router switch, which changes the outgoing feed from the normal automation controlled source to the server playing the slate. Those switches are usually fairly instant, and to the best of my knowledge that is what the BBC do, so I imagine they've setup S4C the same. In fact on that video you can see the technical fault slate in the top left corner of the multiviewer, ready to go.
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Central’s newsreader was caught off her guard here during a GMB opt.
youtu.be
Credit: LufthansaTermimal - YouTube
I know the regions are switched to air by the GMB gallery or control room, presumably manually because the opt times are evidently flexible due to the nature of the programme. But how do the regions know they are about to be switched? Is there talkback or a verbal cue or countdown from London, or do they have to keep eyes (and ears) on the monitors? I assume they have a monitor showing a clean feed of GMB and another showing an off-air signal or the feed to the TX chain (so they know they are opted-in correctly). Errors like the one seen today make you wonder how clearly the opt outs are communicated to the regions.
THE NEXT POST FOLLOWS SHORTLY…
(This post was last modified: 22-09-2022, 09:18 PM by
Si-Co.)
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(19-09-2022, 11:22 PM)Orry Verducci Wrote: Not neccessarily. It depends how the technical fault slate is put to air.
What you see in that video is the playout automation system (Morpheus) taking a few seconds to react to the "take next" command. This is fairly standard. In the playout suite I look after it takes around 2 second, and here it seems very similar. This "pre-roll" delay is very intentional, it gives the automation time to send the commands the relevant devices (in this video an ICE server) and sync up the main and backup copies of the channel so that they both cut in sync with one another.
Back in the days where automation was controlling tape machines there would often be a 5 second delay between pressing take next and it cutting to a programme, as the source would have been programmed to take account of the 5 second pre-roll of the VT machine
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(22-09-2022, 02:16 PM)Si-Co Wrote: Central’s newsreader was caught off her guard this morning during a GMB opt.
youtu.be
Credit: LufthansaTermimal - YouTube
I know the regions are switched to air by the GMB gallery or control room, presumably manually because the opt times are evidently flexible due to the nature of the programme. But how do the regions know they are about to be switched? Is there talkback or a verbal cue or countdown from London, or do they have to keep eyes (and ears) on the monitors? I assume they have a monitor showing a clean feed of GMB and another showing an off-air signal or the feed to the TX chain (so they know they are opted-in correctly). Errors like the one seen today make you wonder how clearly the opt outs are communicated to the regions.
There's certainly talkback - this thread is about the piece of kit that used to provide an emergency feed of talkback by phone in case the usual circuit failed
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I guess there might well be an invisidot too?
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An interesting peek in a messed-up control room, from KTZO (now KOFY) San Francisco in the 80s:
youtu.be
Watch this space...
WestKnightTV - on DeviantArt
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Christmas 1986 with a catastrophic edition of The One O'Clock News.
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A week or two ago ITV news went down, does anyone have the footage for it?
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BT Sport 1 had an issue during WWE Monday Night RAW this week.
Video froze, went green then black. Grey screen with BT Sport logo appeared and at the same time as this appeared the BT Sport 1 LIVE DOG moved to the top left. Lasted about a minute or so before the programme returned.
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It would appear that the clock change is messing with the scheduling of all Box Music channels. I noticed with Magic that the programme that the EPG is listing does come on but it is delayed. The EPG is out of sync for Kerrang, The Box, Kiss and 4Music as well.