molly44 Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 anyone noticed he symbols on the upper left hand corner of the bbc 1 channel?. i have seen these twice now, mostly the come on when the news is on. they look like a little house and a car to me. i am hallucinating? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyofborg Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 they are subminimal symbols designed to turn the brains of viewers to porridge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molly44 Posted November 21, 2011 Author Share Posted November 21, 2011 i thought i might need new glasses!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VideoPro Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 They are guide markers for the signal switching technicians at broadcast centres. Usually to indicate that a program segment has a certain number (typically 30) of seconds before it ends. On the BBC news, it would be used when a live report made elsewhere is shown. That way, the tech knows when to switch back to the studio camera so that viewers see the news presenter. They are also used to help regional switching centers know when they can change to a local signal. Example: the news comes from London and changes to the BBC North signal in Leeds for local news or weather. On commercial TV, they appear to help the regional office switch signals for ad breaks with local content. The precursor is the "end of reel" marks on films, 10 and 2 seconds before it runs out. The projectionist watches for them, swaps projectors and the film keeps running. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAC33 Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 The BBC--aka-- big,brother corporation is used to programme the sheep. They programme/teach us not to think,but only to beLIEve what they're telling us. 1984? Absolutely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molly44 Posted November 21, 2011 Author Share Posted November 21, 2011 yes i was used to seeing the little bars, even the occasional double bar that starts to flash, but i am sure these were two symbols, a house and a car. and where on for around five seconds, not enough time for me to get close to the screen for a closer examination. i really did think i was seeing things, thats why i thought i would ask if anyone else saw them tonight on bbc1 just before the weatherman came on the six o,clock news. ohh i am on virgin cable, unless it was something to do with them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VideoPro Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 House (home) icon = the studio. Car icon = outside broadcast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dosxuk Posted November 22, 2011 Share Posted November 22, 2011 Probably people in Leeds making sure everything is working properly before the local news, after last week when the technology decided not to play and they couldn't get Leeds or Hull on-air. Cue dots (for that is what they are called), are most commonly seen as the black/white stripey box mentioned. Those ones automatically play the adverts 5 seconds after it disappears on commercial channels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northernboy Posted November 22, 2011 Share Posted November 22, 2011 Seen them on ITV loads of times but only recently started noticing them on the BBC. You would have thought that digital technology could have cone up with something a bit more hi-tech than this by now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dosxuk Posted November 22, 2011 Share Posted November 22, 2011 You would have thought that digital technology could have cone up with something a bit more hi-tech than this by now? There's only one guarenteed signal between centres though, and that's the pictures. While there is almost always also voice communications going on, those signals aren't treated as critically. Furthermore, with the advent of digital, the pictures and sound may be slightly delayed compared to the comms, so if you cue solely on a voice cue, you don't know if you'll hit the point correctly. The main reason the BBC use them is to test that the local stations have "opted out" of the core BBC network signal (if they don't then you'd see BBC London instead of your normal local programme). And for these the only way to be absolutely sure is to change the picture somehow, and then see if you pick it up on satellite / terrestrial. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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