The Newsroom

BBC News Studios

Discussion of BBC News Studios across the globe (March 2012)

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OF
oflahertya
I thought the BBC had their own grid that was run and maintained by the Beeb
SP
Steve in Pudsey
Electric companies playing silly buggers isn't that unusual! I know of a venue which was supposed to have two independent grid feeds, but unbeknownst to them someone at the supplier had tied them together upstream, so when the inevitable power cut happened, both feeds were lost and off went the power.


Much like the two paths for the NICAM radio distribution that both went through the same room with dodgy air con and both failed due to overheating a few years ago. It tends to take a failure for these things to be discovered, unfortunately.
DO
dosxuk
I thought the BBC had their own grid that was run and maintained by the Beeb


That's the first I've ever heard of that. It seems rather unlikely to me, even back in the days when the BBC owned everything they used.

Electric companies playing silly buggers isn't that unusual! I know of a venue which was supposed to have two independent grid feeds, but unbeknownst to them someone at the supplier had tied them together upstream, so when the inevitable power cut happened, both feeds were lost and off went the power.


Much like the two paths for the NICAM radio distribution that both went through the same room with dodgy air con and both failed due to overheating a few years ago. It tends to take a failure for these things to be discovered, unfortunately.


Radio 1 wasn't it? I remember reading the aftermath report detailing what happened. Like you say, it's not till stuff goes wrong till you find out someone else has made a normally unnoticeable mistake.
SP
Steve in Pudsey
It was the whole lot! Radio 1 was affected by a separate fault which prevented it going into RBS mode at Sutton Coldfield so the northern half of the country got silence on R1 until Arqiva could get an engineer out to it.
MY
myan
It's Studio C that has the fake London background - Studio E is the domestic studio with the newsroom backdrop.

DTV posted:
I might be making this up but I think I read somewhere that Studio E and the Newsroom Studios are on a different circuit to Studios A-D so that in the event of a Power Cut they could keep at least one studio going. Of course if that is true they could temporarily move World into the WS Studio.


It certainly makes sense - back in the days when Radio 1 was based in the original continuity area at BH they fell off air briefly during Simon Mayo's breakfast show due to a power cut. Their other con stayed powered, so Mayo was able to move there, with the next show (I think it was Mike Read sitting in for Simon Bates who was on his Round the World trip) who were preparing being kicked out.

I don't know whether the two cons were on different circuits or whether just one of them was generator supported.


Yup, it's Studio C, I got it mixed up now, used to get it right.

So I guess the daytime backdrop is from a live feed through a cam mounted on Broadcasting House, I presume, while the night time image is still a live image of the city, only that the sky is digitally removed, and replaced with a gradient of different shades of dark blue to mimic some sort of night appearance, which is why there aren't stars (probably too small) or moon that we see. (Or is the night image just a still photo?)

Talking about dark night image, I feel there are certain presenters that look brilliant using that backdrop, while some don't look quite so striking. For instance, I think Babita Sharma looks excellent on her Newsday overnight broadcast with the night time Studio C backdrop, but she looks so-so under the lighting of Studio B when she presented Impact infrequently.
HO
House
myan posted:
It's Studio C that has the fake London background - Studio E is the domestic studio with the newsroom backdrop.

DTV posted:
I might be making this up but I think I read somewhere that Studio E and the Newsroom Studios are on a different circuit to Studios A-D so that in the event of a Power Cut they could keep at least one studio going. Of course if that is true they could temporarily move World into the WS Studio.


It certainly makes sense - back in the days when Radio 1 was based in the original continuity area at BH they fell off air briefly during Simon Mayo's breakfast show due to a power cut. Their other con stayed powered, so Mayo was able to move there, with the next show (I think it was Mike Read sitting in for Simon Bates who was on his Round the World trip) who were preparing being kicked out.

I don't know whether the two cons were on different circuits or whether just one of them was generator supported.


Yup, it's Studio C, I got it mixed up now, used to get it right.

So I guess the daytime backdrop is from a live feed through a cam mounted on Broadcasting House, I presume, while the night time image is still a live image of the city, only that the sky is digitally removed, and replaced with a gradient of different shades of dark blue to mimic some sort of night appearance, which is why there aren't stars (probably too small) or moon that we see. (Or is the night image just a still photo?)

Talking about dark night image, I feel there are certain presenters that look brilliant using that backdrop, while some don't look quite so striking. For instance, I think Babita Sharma looks excellent on her Newsday overnight broadcast with the night time Studio C backdrop, but she looks so-so under the lighting of Studio B when she presented Impact infrequently.


All the World News backdrops in Studio C (and B of course) aren't real - the C ones are high-resolution video and photos that have been edited and then stitched together, and fed into the LED screens from a server. No camera, nothing live.

Trust me, you don't get such rich blues filling the skies over London day in day out. If it was a live shot, you'd see a lot more miserable grey and cloud.

The only background that isn't as artificial is the News Channel balcony shot used in studios A and C during the five and nine o'clock hours, though even that is a single recording rather than a live shot.
BA
bakamann
House posted:
All the World News backdrops in Studio C (and B of course) aren't real - the C ones are high-resolution video and photos that have been edited and then stitched together, and fed into the LED screens from a server. No camera, nothing live.

Trust me, you don't get such rich blues filling the skies over London day in day out. If it was a live shot, you'd see a lot more miserable grey and cloud.


I actually wonder, BBCWN hour (The World Today) airs at 05am local time... but why are they using the sunny daytime backdrop on Studio C? I don't think the sun rises over there at that time.
SP
Steve in Pudsey
At this time of year the sun rises at 0450 in London.
DO
dosxuk
I actually wonder, BBCWN hour (The World Today) airs at 05am local time... but why are they using the sunny daytime backdrop on Studio C? I don't think the sun rises over there at that time.


I left work at 5am on Saturday and it was most definitely sunny. It starts getting light around half three ish.
MY
myan
House posted:
myan posted:
It's Studio C that has the fake London background - Studio E is the domestic studio with the newsroom backdrop.

DTV posted:
I might be making this up but I think I read somewhere that Studio E and the Newsroom Studios are on a different circuit to Studios A-D so that in the event of a Power Cut they could keep at least one studio going. Of course if that is true they could temporarily move World into the WS Studio.


It certainly makes sense - back in the days when Radio 1 was based in the original continuity area at BH they fell off air briefly during Simon Mayo's breakfast show due to a power cut. Their other con stayed powered, so Mayo was able to move there, with the next show (I think it was Mike Read sitting in for Simon Bates who was on his Round the World trip) who were preparing being kicked out.

I don't know whether the two cons were on different circuits or whether just one of them was generator supported.


Yup, it's Studio C, I got it mixed up now, used to get it right.

So I guess the daytime backdrop is from a live feed through a cam mounted on Broadcasting House, I presume, while the night time image is still a live image of the city, only that the sky is digitally removed, and replaced with a gradient of different shades of dark blue to mimic some sort of night appearance, which is why there aren't stars (probably too small) or moon that we see. (Or is the night image just a still photo?)

Talking about dark night image, I feel there are certain presenters that look brilliant using that backdrop, while some don't look quite so striking. For instance, I think Babita Sharma looks excellent on her Newsday overnight broadcast with the night time Studio C backdrop, but she looks so-so under the lighting of Studio B when she presented Impact infrequently.


All the World News backdrops in Studio C (and B of course) aren't real - the C ones are high-resolution video and photos that have been edited and then stitched together, and fed into the LED screens from a server. No camera, nothing live.

Trust me, you don't get such rich blues filling the skies over London day in day out. If it was a live shot, you'd see a lot more miserable grey and cloud.

The only background that isn't as artificial is the News Channel balcony shot used in studios A and C during the five and nine o'clock hours, though even that is a single recording rather than a live shot.


Those are some very sensible things, and I thought it was live feed all along. Didn't think about the weather affecting the sky. So i guess it's all precorder and edited, and the same clips being played over and over for each bulletin. Urgh, talk about artificials. I think I'm a little put off now that I know it's not live.
BA
bakamann
myan posted:
Those are some very sensible things, and I thought it was live feed all along. Didn't think about the weather affecting the sky. So i guess it's all precorder and edited, and the same clips being played over and over for each bulletin. Urgh, talk about artificials. I think I'm a little put off now that I know it's not live.


I guess it will just be hassle that BBC have to buy 3-5 more HD cameras then "stitch" them together, but the efforts get screwed when the wind is too strong then the camera has a misalignment.

I'm more disappointed that they don't use the Studio C backdrop as a newswall, ala-Al Jazeera English, instead of making it a "window."
LW
LeeWN
myan posted:
Those are some very sensible things, and I thought it was live feed all along. Didn't think about the weather affecting the sky. So i guess it's all precorder and edited, and the same clips being played over and over for each bulletin. Urgh, talk about artificials. I think I'm a little put off now that I know it's not live.


I guess it will just be hassle that BBC have to buy 3-5 more HD cameras then "stitch" them together, but the efforts get screwed when the wind is too strong then the camera has a misalignment.

I'm more disappointed that they don't use the Studio C backdrop as a newswall, ala-Al Jazeera English, instead of making it a "window."


I like to see the globe animation used in Studio B instead of the "window", or a clearer shot of the News Channel balcony backdrop used on the Five and Nine.

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