Frankie,
I can't speak for the domestic BBC, but no online World Service content
is transcoded from broadcast transport streams. All our radio comes
straight out of the audio router at Bush House into our encoders, with a
touch of limiting applied to prevent clipping if an SM/self-op goes over
PPM 6. Persian and Arabic TV are encoded directly from the uncompressed
SDI feeds. So there isn't any potential loss of quality with this
approach.
We also run strictly to the clock, so automated capture works for us.
--
Gareth Davis | Production Systems Specialist
World Service Future Media, Digital Delivery Team - Part of BBC Global
News Division
* http://www.bbcworldservice.com/ <http://www.bbcworldservice.com/> *
702NE Bush House, Strand, London, WC2B 4PH
________________________________
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Frankie Roberto
Sent: 10 September 2009 13:19
To: [email protected]
Subject: [backstage] BBC iPlayer - encoding from broadcast
rather than master tapes
Hi all,
Apologies if this has been answered before, but is there any
reason why the BBC iPlayer seems to only encode programmes from the live
broadcast stream, rather than, say, using the actual master
tapes/digital files? Sure, it might be simpler, but long-term it'd be
great to use the original source.
Some reasons for doing so:
* occasionally the live broadcast has errors (eg loss of signal,
or playout error)
* you could trim the programmes more precisely - no more having
to skip the last few minutes of previous programme
* no more "credit squeezes" and continuity announcements
trailing programmes that you can't actually watch
* you could even produce a slightly different edit of a TV show
- for example, with dramas like Doctor Who you wouldn't have text at the
end saying "Next week..."
Are there any plans for this? Seems like it'd be the obvious
next step in improving the user experience of iPlayer...
Frankie
--
Frankie Roberto
Experience Designer, Rattle
0114 2706977
http://www.rattlecentral.com
