They could surely put something in line with the "kit" either in or
out of it to mask the line!

Contrary to popular belief TV stations do not have piles of spare equipment laying
about in order to perform instant fixes of this type. I can't think of any simple solution that
would mask line 23. Feeding the signal through a VTR might do it, but that would
be busy somewhere else being a VTR :-) With 15 or so feeds affected it is even
more unlikely that a bodge temporary fix could be initiated.

However in this particular case the MPEG coders need the line 23 ident, in order to
generate the widescreen flags for the programme stream, so masking L23 before
the signal hits the coder would be no good.

I do agree it is less than ideal that things have got to this stage, without the problem
being fixed.

They did enough DOG marked testing, why
on earth did noone spot this???

Perhaps they were watching the tests on widescreen monitors/TVs where
there's a bit of overscan and so they won't spot it.

Monitoring of pictures within broadcast stations should be done on
'underscanned' monitors, for this very reason. All broadcast quality
monitors have several display options. Overscan (like yer telly at home),
Underscan where line 23 (and lines 18-22) are clearly visible, V delay
where the entire vertical blanking area can be examined (so teletext data and
any other signals can be seen), and H delay so the sync pulses and
colour sub-carrier burst are visible. In addition often a waveform monitor
is also connected, this is rather like an oscilloscope where any part of the video signal can be
examined and measured .

Previously, in uk.media.tv.sky:

Dom Robinson said:

Perhaps they were watching the tests on widescreen monitors/TVs where there's
a bit of overscan and so they won't spot it.

Well it was plain sloppy then not to test 16:9 lbx and 4:3 centre cut
out presentation as these are both standard in all receivers.


--
Jack Bristow
To contact me, bypass SD6

Previously, in uk.media.tv.sky:

Mark Carver said:

They could surely put something in line with the "kit" either in or
out of it to mask the line!

Contrary to popular belief TV stations do not have piles of spare equipment laying
about in order to perform instant fixes of this type.

Well they ought to make it a priority to go out and buy some pronto
because someone's ****ed up big style. Of course this probably doesn't
seem to be too important as it's only the regions isn't it, not
London...

Oh, but of course, it's down to some receivers.

Could we do a check? I've got a first gen Sky+ stb and it does it on
that. Is anyone not seeing it? And if not, what model of stb have they
got? I could check on my old black Grundig too..


--
Jack Bristow
To contact me, bypass SD6

"Jack Bristow" wrote in message
...
Previously, in uk.media.tv.sky:

Mark Carver said:

They could surely put something in line with the "kit" either in or
out of it to mask the line!

Contrary to popular belief TV stations do not have piles of spare equipment laying
about in order to perform instant fixes of this type.

Well they ought to make it a priority to go out and buy some pronto
because someone's ****ed up big style. Of course this probably doesn't
seem to be too important as it's only the regions isn't it, not
London...

Oh, but of course, it's down to some receivers.

Could we do a check? I've got a first gen Sky+ stb and it does it on
that. Is anyone not seeing it? And if not, what model of stb have they
got? I could check on my old black Grundig too..




E4 +1 had exactly the same problem, maybe a coincidence but it was
first reported on the 29th in the digital spy forum.
It seems E4 have sorted the problem out while the BBC can not/will not or
are content to just have the problem listed on their website.

Dots appear on my SKY+ (version1) but not on my Pace 2200 digibox.


Mike C

Mike_C wrote:
Dots appear on my SKY+ (version1) but not on my Pace 2200 digibox.

Same with me, V1 Sky+ yes, Mk 1 Pace no. I was playing about with a brand new
Pace Digibox last week, and that did not exhibit the problem.

On 10/8/03 8:32 pm, in article ,
"Jack Bristow" wrote:

Previously, in uk.media.tv.sky:

Dom Robinson said:

Perhaps they were watching the tests on widescreen monitors/TVs where there's
a bit of overscan and so they won't spot it.

Well it was plain sloppy then not to test 16:9 lbx and 4:3 centre cut
out presentation as these are both standard in all receivers.

However many Sky receivers (including my Pace) are happily blanking the line
23 WSS in all display modes... I for one would not have wished them to
postpone the launch of this useful service just to blank a few twinkling
dots at the top of frame...

Steve

On 10/8/03 10:50 pm, in article ,
"Mike_C" wrote:


"Jack Bristow" wrote in message
...
Previously, in uk.media.tv.sky:

Mark Carver said:

They could surely put something in line with the "kit" either in or
out of it to mask the line!

Contrary to popular belief TV stations do not have piles of spare equipment
laying
about in order to perform instant fixes of this type.

Well they ought to make it a priority to go out and buy some pronto
because someone's ****ed up big style. Of course this probably doesn't
seem to be too important as it's only the regions isn't it, not
London...

Oh, but of course, it's down to some receivers.

Could we do a check? I've got a first gen Sky+ stb and it does it on
that. Is anyone not seeing it? And if not, what model of stb have they
got? I could check on my old black Grundig too..




E4 +1 had exactly the same problem, maybe a coincidence but it was
first reported on the 29th in the digital spy forum.
It seems E4 have sorted the problem out while the BBC can not/will not or
are content to just have the problem listed on their website.

E4 presumably only had one coder, rather than 15, and their aspect ratio
signalling, ARCing and encoding are also presumably generated in the same
building... The BBC have 15 regional centres, with the aspect ratios of the
network fed to them, where they then all have to be ARCed between 16:9 and
4:3 locally, prior to being encoded locally...

If Sky supported AFDs in their receivers - as most DTT Receivers do - then
this would not be an issue (and the ARC in every region would not be
required...)

Steve

Previously, in uk.media.tv.sky:

Stephen Neal said:

I for one would not have wished them to
postpone the launch of this useful service just to blank a few twinkling
dots at the top of frame...

Oh, well stuff the rest of us then. It doesn't affect me much either
as I have a 16:9 tv and only see it when watching BBC1 upstairs on the
portable. I still feel for the people who are seeing the lines on all
ws BBC1 programmes.

Incidentally, which region are you watching, you are aware that London
isn't affected? You have the smugness of a Londoner :)


--
Jack Bristow
To contact me, bypass SD6

Jack Bristow wrote:

Previously, in uk.media.tv.sky:

Mark Carver said:


They could surely put something in line with the "kit" either in or
out of it to mask the line!

Contrary to popular belief TV stations do not have piles of spare equipment laying
about in order to perform instant fixes of this type.


Well they ought to make it a priority to go out and buy some pronto
because someone's ****ed up big style. Of course this probably doesn't
seem to be too important as it's only the regions isn't it, not
London...

Oh, but of course, it's down to some receivers.

Could we do a check? I've got a first gen Sky+ stb and it does it on
that. Is anyone not seeing it? And if not, what model of stb have they
got? I could check on my old black Grundig too..




Pannysonic Silver Box (Not Sky+) Second gen of the standard Pannysonic
Sky box.