Yorkshire TV Gold ident shown on Paramount TV

That's what I don't get. The liquid gold YTV ident pushed the boundaries of affordable technology (I stress 'affordable' because of course better things were possible then, but certainly not at the budget on which British TV idents are made).

Yet today, when something like YTV's liquid gold would be a fairly straightforward project that could be delivered quickly and very cheaply, the actual technology used to make a lot of modern idents is nothing that couldn't have been done in the 1950's.

BBC and ITV idents are poor at best. Channel 4s idents are better, but still aren't as inspiring and well created as they used to be.

Its not just terrestrial that this has happened to. Take channels like Sky One. Sky ones idents have been FANTASTIC over the years, but look at it now!

People just don't bother anymore.

I actually don't think you need to use lots of computer graphics to create strong idents and branding though. A prime example is the BBC One Balloon which was stunning without the need for digital animation.

On the other hand I'd agree that ITV's idents are crap, and not a patch on the likes of Carlton's hearts.

Back onto topic, i captured the yorkshire ident, hoorah.

Of course being me, i had to edit it to make it appropriate to my imaginary television company

http://benp.sytes.net/stabby.mp4

I think it depends - it's easier to do "live action" idents that look good as editing facilities are more advanced now.

Also a lot of 1980s computer-generated stuff was sheer balls, which was only done for show - take the 1984 title sequence to 3-2-1 where Dusty Bin became computer-generated. They killed him! He looked nothing like Dusty Bin at all...

Check out the videos on TV-Ark and see what I mean!

Yes it is true that some CGI idents are made just to show off the fact that CGI exists, and with examples like 3-2-1 it does put you off CGI Idents.

However you only have to look at the YTV gold ident and the LWT "Your Weekend ITV" 3D ident to see that CGI can be used to make an ident a classic.

What about BBC FOUR? Their idents are possibly some of the best on UK TV.
I also think Channel 4's Forest/Woodland Ident is superb.

Yes actually, i didn't include BBC Four in that statement. Infact even BBC Threes idents are good in my opinion. I was thinking of terrestrial only really.

Well with sky's ident's, I think Sky Sports has a dissapointing ident, it's not very good for a channel which easily has the best sports coverage and sports graphics in the world today!

Now if only people could see the german channel Premiere Sport's ident, that is real masterclass of live footage and computer generated animation at work!

Am I the only one who thinks the CGI Fish in the Home & Away title sequence is a tad tacky?

I still think the original C4 ident (and accompanying music - that was important to its success) was SO ahead of its time.

But I thought the original Central ident for its first couple of years was also fantastic.

No you're not. I can't stand them either, but they are put to sleep at the end of the current season (20 August on five).