Date   : Mon, 01 Aug 2011 05:11:38
From   : rs423@... (Mick)
Subject: [BeebSoc] Auntie, dear Auntie

Rick Murray wrote:
> On 31/07/2011 00:36, Mick wrote:
>
>> Nonsense! Who developed Teletext???
>
> Granted, the Beeb developed teletext, but IIRC it was intended for 
> captioning rather than pages of information; although it did pretty 
> well at both tasks in the end.
So the original intention was not for public use? Captioning for what? 
Do you mean subtitles? . It still shows forward thinking and ability to 
adapt. Could you ever imagine the 'ATV Micro' appearing in the 80's? 
These days sponsorship is rife and it would more likely have been the 
Lloyds Micro, but back then?.  Also, the BBC actively encouraged 
internet use. Remember beeb.net? It was a welcome alternative to high 
AOL / Compuserve charges. It didn't compete very well at the end, but 
did okay to start with.



>
> Just a damn shame there's no accessible data feed on the digital text.
I agree. It surely would have been possible you have kept the old system 
and transcoded digital data to screen lines this assuming your TV allows 
the text function through an external input. I really don't like nor use 
the new glossy (lossy?) text services. I dial the page number for text. 
Wait... wait... wait...#Press text to enter... Wait...Wait... Then get a 
very unsatisfying menu containing nothing I want. Worth the wait? Nah! 
At least with original Ceefax, you get / got a rotating number so you 
have some idea when your page is / was due, plus an index page full of 
items of interest. Text dies (archives aside) on the 18th of April 2012 
(Crystal Palace) as far as I'm concerned. It's replacement a mere shadow 
of what it one was. Even if the technology worked, the content is not 
there.



>   ......My satellite decoder, a basic little Silvercrest jobbie, 
> actually has sufficient memory available to cache an *entire* service, 
> and it snapshots it in realtime.
Very nice. Is there any way of saving the complete cache to media?



> So if I tune to a channel, and let the page counter roll around, I can 
> then call up *any* static page instantly, from memory. The only thing 
> I need to wait on are subpage refreshes.
You could save sub pages with a beeb.



>
>
>> Who developed NICAM.
>
> No, the BBC commissioned it for internal networks.
So without Auntie, it probably wouldn't have existed? That's enough for 
me. :-P


>
>> I love Auntie and always will.
>
> I wish Auntie would stop trying to do ratings wars with commercial 
> stations.
I so agree with that one. I also think they should scrap Deadenders.  
Perhaps they could end it like they did Waggoner's Walk and have a UFO 
land. Or a massive gas explosion that kills everyone in an instant.  If 
the telly is on in the background and Emmerdale Farm comes on, I may 
just leave it on depending on my grumpy rating that day,  ditto 
Coronation St. But... as soon as I hear the first drum beat of the 
Deadenders theme sheer panic sets in. I rush around like a headless 
chicken trying to find the remote (even though I had it 5 seconds 
before) to turn it off. I couldn't react any quicker of my life depended 
on it.


>
>
> [btw, did I just see an advert for Big Brother on C5? won't that
>  f***ing programme just DIE already!?!?] 

Really? How awful. Never trust promises made by a commercial 
organization. Perhaps it's a repeat ;-)





>
>
>> Close down 6 music?
>
> I don't want to sound like an old git (yet), but I never *ever* in all 
> my years, "got" Radio 1..........

Being into punk, I only ever listened to John Peel (RIP) on radio 1. It 
was only in the 90's I really got into BBC radio. Namely GLR. Some idiot 
manager girl at the BBC then crawled out from under her rock  and 
promptly killed it !!!! Sigh  :-(   Her new baby / re incarnation of the 
station"London Live" lasted about six months I believe.



>
>
> Anyway, if I had to cull a random BBC station, I might consider Radio 
> 1 extra;
You'd be their only listener :-D  Perhaps you should try radio 2.


Mick.