Date   : Thu, 30 Jul 2009 17:10:31 +0100
From   : philpem@... (Philip Pemberton)
Subject: Fw: Fwd: ITV Teletext to shut down in January

Rick Murray wrote:
> <cynic>I await you OCRing for us the most insipid non-response form 
> letter ever written...</cynic>

Dear Sir,
Many thanks for your communication dated __29_July_2009____, in which 
you commented on:
   [x] general piss-poor state of English commercial television
   [x] general piss-poor state of English television (in general)
   [ ] criminally insane amount of money the BBC spends on Jonathan Ross
   [x] overlaid digital graphics on Digital TV channels
   [ ] poor video quality on Digital TV channels versus Analogue (PAL) TV
   [ ] sleasy, skeevy, and borderline illegal advertising on commercial 
channels after 8PM
   [ ] interference on shortwave signals caused by "Ethernet over Power 
Line" devices (e.g. HomePlug)
   [ ] all of the above

We regret to inform you that:
   [ ] we are unable to do a damn thing, because we have no teeth
   [ ] we don't actually care enough to do anything
   [ ] we're just here to do as little work as possible, for as much 
money as possible
   [ ] we're just going to sit on our backsides and ignore you as much 
as possible, possibly until the Times (or the Sun) get involved
   [ ] we're not going to take action against a broadcaster that's 
giving us back-handers
   [x] all of the above

Yours,

OfCon.

:)

> Let's just hope the Beeb get over their current obsession with getting 
> rid of people over fifty. Wasn't there a sci-fi film about that, that 
> people were 'removed' from society over a certain age (I think 30?).

Yes, but I'll be {$CURSE}ed if I can remember what it was called...

> Blob, splat, same difference. It is on ITV2, ITV3... Thankfully ITV1 is 
> not as yet 'infested'.

Probably because they weren't "infested" to begin with.

>> Is this blob only switched on during films?
> 
> It's on during all programming. If I remember I'll send you a still from 
> "Gossip Girl".

They do turn the thing off for adverts, though. Apparently this is 
because one broadcaster (can't remember who) left the DOG on 24/7. They 
aired an advert with a premium-rate phone number, and the DOG covered 
part of the blurb about the cost of said number. That broadcaster got 
fined quite severely by the regulatory agency in question.

(That last part pretty much rules out the UK, 'cos OfCon seem to prefer 
to leave things to sort themselves out...)

> Some can be justified - the "Lord Of The Rings" credits went on how 
> long? Yikes!

Ah, but the film was longer :)

> DVB-S sometimes carries English/Japanese audio options on 19.2E; and if 
> you have a FTA receiver you can get EuroNews in half a dozen languages. 
> However how much of this is supported by FreeSat?

Most of it should be if the receiver designers have done their jobs 
properly. Multi-audio is a feature of the MPEG Transport Stream and DVB 
baseline standards, as such *any* DVB-compliant receiver should be able 
to handle a channel with multiple audio tracks. Most can already -- for 
instance, if a channel is broadcasting 5.1 surround in AC3 and stereo 
MPEG-2, and the receiver doesn't have an AC3 decoder, then you just get 
the MPEG-2 track.

I have, however, seen some amusing examples of this falling over...

> As for DVB subtitling, it appears to be an "on or off" choice, even on 
> my FTA box. It isn't like a DVD player where you can pick a language. It 
> will exist (DTT/DVB/DVD all use MPEG2) but whether it ever got 
> implemented...?

The important question is, how many channels actually broadcast multiple 
subtitle streams?

If I was still at my last place of work, I could answer this for you.. 
by tying the Promax TV analyser to the 19.2 feed, then plugging its ASI 
output into the AD952 transport stream analyser. Of course, I don't have 
access to those kind of toys any more :(

Cheers,
-- 
Phil.
philpem@...          
http://www.philpem.me.uk/