"Dave Platt" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Arfa Daily wrote:

I reckon that TV companies must now use these laptops with very rough RTCs
!
Have you noticed that now programme material is not networked from one
region into some or all of the others, and adverts are no longer 'local',
there is not any need for accurate cueing points around the network, so
advertised starting times are not even nodded at ? I checked the starting
times of about half a dozen programmes tonight, using the teletext clock,
which I believe to be accurate, and not a single one started within 1
minute
of the correct time, and a couple of them were off by several minutes.
Just
another manifestation of declining standards throughout the civilised
world
... :-\

At least some of that starting-time error seems to be a deliberate
policy by the stations/networks. By de-synchronizing a network's
start times from those of its competitors, the network can make
channel-surfing less attractive to the viewer... by the time you
finish watching a show on that network, the shows on the other
networks have already started and you'd miss something by surfing away.

It's a frightful bother who use DVRs and VCRs to time-shift programs...
losing the first or last minute of a show is quite common.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO

Very possible Dave. But on that score, one thing I've found is that when you
decide to go channel hopping on the satellite programmes, it seems to be the
law that the first channel you surf to, will be in a commercial break, then
the next, then the next, then the next, then the .....

And you're right about them going straight into content, with the opening
credits following later. It drives me up the wall as well, when opening
credits are running at the rate of one every 20 seconds or so, and it
doesn't get to "directed by" (always the last one) until 10 minutes - or
more sometimes - into the show. Worst that I've come across in recent years
for annoying openings, was "The Shield". That one had an opening sequence of
what happened in some storyline two seasons ago, as if you can remember, and
then the opening credit sequence started, running over the top of the new
storyline. That I could live with, except that each character name was on a
black screen, so some scene important to the current episode is running, and
for two minutes, you keep getting a black screen with a white name on it,
obliterating what's going on, whilst the sound continues to run, just to
taunt you.

Does anyone know where in the world the school of half-arsed camerawork and
editing techniques is ? Must be a big place, as it seems that networks won't
take on anyone any more, who hasn't graduated from it ... :-)

Arfa