TV Breakdown Appreciation Thread

[Inspector Sands]

Bit of an odd one, the opening titles of Tots TV go a bit wrong

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnG1LU5dZK4

[James2001]

Presumably there must have been a feed coming from Yorkshire, presumably for another programme that day, and they cut to it by accident.

Was CITV still taking feeds from originating regions rather than playing shows out themselves (apart from Central shows, of course) at this point? Would have been quite a complicated setup, with the feeds being sent to Central, then sent from them to the network, I've seen clips of a fair few CITV breakdowns over the years when it's gone wrong.

[Larry the Loafer]

Presumably there must have been a feed coming from Yorkshire, presumably for another programme that day, and they cut to it by accident.

Was CITV still taking feeds from originating regions rather than playing shows out themselves (apart from Central shows, of course) at this point? Would have been quite a complicated setup, with the feeds being sent to Central, then sent from them to the network, I've seen clips of a fair few CITV breakdowns over the years when it's gone wrong.

IIRC the inaugural episode of Sooty & Co was delayed for a short while and the CA had to fill while, I presume, Granada were having issues. They made up for lost time by cutting the credits sequence short and fading to a Granada endcap. I can only assume that would've been Granada's playout, rather than Central going through to the efforts of sourcing one themselves.

[Markymark]

The sideways movement of the colour bars signal at 01:03 is a tell tale video feedback problem. Someone in Leeds or Birmingham, routed the output of something back up its input !

[Steve in Pudsey]

IIRC the inaugural episode of Sooty & Co was delayed for a short while and the CA had to fill while, I presume, Granada were having issues. They made up for lost time by cutting the credits sequence short and fading to a Granada endcap. I can only assume that would've been Granada's playout, rather than Central going through to the efforts of sourcing one themselves.

ISTR Tony Currie mentioned in the blue place that STV had copies of each company's endcap in case they needed to ditch out of a programme early. It had the benefit of making it look to the viewer like it was that company who cocked up their timings rather than STV

The sideways movement of the colour bars signal at 01:03 is a tell tale video feedback problem. Someone in Leeds or Birmingham, routed the output of something back up its input !

The way that the CITV DOG gets duplicated suggests Birmingham?

[Inspector Sands]

Was CITV still taking feeds from originating regions rather than playing shows out themselves (apart from Central shows, of course) at this point? Would have been quite a complicated setup, with the feeds being sent to Central, then sent from them to the network, 

Sounds complicated now but it was routine back then, that's just how the ITV network worked. Probably more complicated to send copies across the country

[Neil Jones]

The breakdown that I've posted before when Wizadora spontaneously rewound itself on air in 1993 and the fact Central just crashed into it before it rewound suggests they didn't have any control over the source:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbuRHtGJD9k

In fact that ident freezes at what I presume was the intended crossover point to (in that case) Meridian's playout.
I would argue if Central had any control over the source of Wizadora they wouldn't have come in halfway through the titles like they did, much less let it then do what it did.

Think they didn't have total control (when servers came along?) over the output until probably the 1998 relaunch.

[Markymark]

Server playout for ITV 1 for most programmes, (and certainly network programmes) didn't start to come along until the early 00s, when LNN took on, and adopted a lot more centralised playout. The great Oct 2002 ditching of regional pres was part of that too

[Inspector Sands]

The breakdown that I've posted before when Wizadora spontaneously rewound itself on air in 1993 and the fact Central just crashed into it before it rewound suggests they didn't have any control over the source:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbuRHtGJD9k

In fact that ident freezes at what I presume was the intended crossover point to (in that case) Meridian's playout.
I would argue if Central had any control over the source of Wizadora they wouldn't have come in halfway through the titles like they did, much less let it then do what it did.

The ident had frozen in vision but the announcer was still saying the pre-written/recorded script. So it looks like they (Birmingham) cut to the outside source at the correct time, but the source (Southampton?) had run the tape too early. 

You're right though, if they'd had direct control over it it might not have happened but of course it could well have still happened had everything been local

[Steve in Pudsey]

Quite surprising that the tape recued so accurately. Most rewind on air cockups I have seen end up with a VT clock on air.

I guess by 93 instant start (or 1 second) VTR was common and the operator might have stored the timecode for -1s so it recued using that?

[Markymark]

Quite surprising that the tape recued so accurately. Most rewind on air cockups I have seen end up with a VT clock on air.

I guess by 93 instant start (or 1 second) VTR was common and the operator might have stored the timecode for -1s so it recued using that?

By the look of the noise bars during the rewind, it was BetaSP. You could 'mark in' a point to play from, so just a simple button push

[JasonB]

The breakdown that I've posted before when Wizadora spontaneously rewound itself on air in 1993 and the fact Central just crashed into it before it rewound suggests they didn't have any control over the source:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbuRHtGJD9k

In fact that ident freezes at what I presume was the intended crossover point to (in that case) Meridian's playout.
I would argue if Central had any control over the source of Wizadora they wouldn't have come in halfway through the titles like they did, much less let it then do what it did.

Think they didn't have total control (when servers came along?) over the output until probably the 1998 relaunch.

Well, she is a Trainee Wizard after all!

[Robertclark125]

Someone once said, in the blue place, they had put the error on one bit of editing software, and ran the the programme titles from the beginning, and matching it up where it was paused. He said that, whoever was playing it out, started it when the announcer said "as if by magic"

[no1fanofthepals]

Someone once said, in the blue place, they had put the error on one bit of editing software, and ran the the programme titles from the beginning, and matching it up where it was paused. He said that, whoever was playing it out, started it when the announcer said "as if by magic"

Sorry, what is the blue place?

[TVNerd]

Sorry, what is the blue place?

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