TV in Britain

No Boss

Neener, neener, I banned your title!
Joined
Oct 8, 2005
Messages
6,889
Location
Wherever the Coast Guard sends me.
Car(s)
'07 Volvo XC70 Polestar, '01 Miata SE
Ok so here's the deal. Every time I force my girlfriend to watch Top Gear (it's boring to her, yeah I know!..... whatever, she's dumb.) she always asks "Why do all shows from the UK look like this?". I understand what she is saying. Sometimes when I watch BBC America the shows appear grainy or the colours a bit more dull. I was watching London Ink last night and I could see it there too. Frankly, I don't care, but for the sake of my sanity does anyone know why the pictures appear this way? That way next time she asks I can actually answer her instead of dying a little inside since I know she's not paying attention to the show.
 
They use the same cameras and gels that we do in the US, but the nanny-state sucks all the life out of everything - even color.

- Today's low-blow at the British Government brought to you by Blind_Io, the concept of Evil, and the letter B -
 
They use the same cameras and gels that we do in the US, but the nanny-state sucks all the life out of everything - even color.

- Today's low-blow at the British Government brought to you by Blind_Io, the concept of Evil, and the letter B -

http://img155.imageshack.**/img155/6016/carson2020mcmahonbo9.jpg

HI-OH!
 
Ok so here's the deal. Every time I force my girlfriend to watch Top Gear (it's boring to her, yeah I know!..... whatever, she's dumb.) she always asks "Why do all shows from the UK look like this?". I understand what she is saying. Sometimes when I watch BBC America the shows appear grainy or the colours a bit more dull. I was watching London Ink last night and I could see it there too. Frankly, I don't care, but for the sake of my sanity does anyone know why the pictures appear this way? That way next time she asks I can actually answer her instead of dying a little inside since I know she's not paying attention to the show.

Cos the weather's always like that?

I have no idea. Out of curiosity, if you watch a UK programme set in America - such as Oz and James series 2 - do you get the same effect?
 
No, because Oz and James were in California. I honestly think Britain actually looks the way it does on TV; like there is good architecture but for some reason all the colors were borrowed from East Germany.
 
Maybe something to do with the Pal-NTSC conversion :dunno:
Or it maybe that we are just a colourless contry in general.
 
Cos the weather's always like that?

I have no idea. Out of curiosity, if you watch a UK programme set in America - such as Oz and James series 2 - do you get the same effect?

What Blind said. That and Oz and James isn't shown here on BBC Am, AFAIK. It's weird sometimes because TG doesn't necessarily have the British drab when I watch it on BBC Am.

Maybe something to do with the Pal-NTSC conversion :dunno:
Or it maybe that we are just a colourless contry in general.

I was thinking that it may have to do with some sort of conversion.
 
Maybe something to do with the Pal-NTSC conversion :dunno:
[...]
... that?s my theroy too. Because some american shows look dreadfull on Telly over here. Like they halved the resolution and tried to compensate by turning up the colors ... especially a lot of 90ies Shows look so awful, it hurts.

But it?s just my theroy ... :dunno:
 
Ok so here's the deal. Every time I force my girlfriend to watch Top Gear (it's boring to her, yeah I know!..... whatever, she's dumb.)
You're clearly too good for her. Either that, or you're not doing your job.

The words "donkey" and "punch" come to mind.
Keedin'. :p
Seriously, domestic violence is never funny.
No slashes today, biznatches!
 
My guess is it's the filters they use on the cameras' lenses. That, and at the BBC you have a particular group of people doing camera work and post-production, and at American TV stations you have different groups, and it might just be that they go for a different look.
 
The words "donkey" and "punch" come to mind.
Keedin'. :p
Seriously, domestic violence is never funny.
No slashes today, biznatches!

:lol: at Blake.

You're lucky you can even force her to watch it! My g/f totally and absolutely refuses to watch anything car related. She can't even understand why I have an urge to wash my car when it gets dirty!!

Back to TV though, I've always noticed that the American soaps (Y&R, B&B etc) always look really fuzzy around the edges and it totally shits me.
 
^ :lol:

Soaps look just as fuzzy and dreamy over here as they do elsewhere. I think they rub elbow grease on the lens to achieve that look.
 
^Nah, the Australian ones never seem fuzzy. They are absolutely terrible though, just terrible. At least there are actors like Nicky Whelan to slightly improve things.
 
I'm just saying those American soaps look like this over here too, I know others aren't fuzzy peaches like the US shows.
 
It is all about the difference between PAL and NTSC.

PAL is actually a higher resolution format then NTSC and should look better but when converted to work on NTSC screens it comes out grainy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAL#Technical_details

Because the PAL format has greater resolution than NTSC, it is generally accepted as being of higher quality.[2] NTSC receivers have a tint control to perform colour correction manually. If this isn't adjusted correctly, the colours will be faulty. The PAL standard automatically removes hue errors by utilizing phase alternation of the colour signal (see technical details), so a tint control is unnecessary.

However, the alternation of colour information ? Hanover bars ? can lead to picture grain on pictures with extreme phase errors even in PAL systems. Usually such extreme phase shifts do not occur; this effect will usually be observed when the transmission path is poor, typically in built up areas or where the terrain is unfavourable. The effect is more noticeable on UHF signals than VHF as VHF signals tend to be more robust.



There is more from an international Comm class I took back in college but I don't remember all the specifics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTSC#Comparative_quality
Video professionals and television engineers jokingly referred to NTSC as "Never The Same Color" or "Never Twice the Same Color".[9] Reception problems can degrade an NTSC picture by changing the phase of the color signal, so the color balance of the picture will be altered unless a compensation is made in the receiver. This necessitates the inclusion of a tint control on NTSC sets, which is not necessary on PAL or SECAM systems.

However, the mismatch between NTSC's 30 frames per second and film's 24 frames is well overcome by an ingenious process which capitalizes on the field rate of the interlaced NTSC signal, thus avoiding the film playback speedup used for PAL and SECAM at 25 frames per second (which results in audio distortion). See Framerate conversion above.

There is no question the NTSC system reflects the technology of its originating era, but its compatibility and flexibility has been the key to its longevity over seven decades. The coming of digital television and high-definition television may end the need for analog television systems.
 
They use the same cameras and gels that we do in the US, but the nanny-state sucks all the life out of everything - even color.

Ok, whatever..

Here, the blue or green camera filter is annoyingly overused. It makes everything look communist.
 
It is all about the difference between PAL and NTSC.

PAL is actually a higher resolution format then NTSC and should look better but when converted to work on NTSC screens it comes out grainy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAL#Technical_details

Because the PAL format has greater resolution than NTSC, it is generally accepted as being of higher quality.[2] NTSC receivers have a tint control to perform colour correction manually. If this isn't adjusted correctly, the colours will be faulty. The PAL standard automatically removes hue errors by utilizing phase alternation of the colour signal (see technical details), so a tint control is unnecessary.

However, the alternation of colour information ? Hanover bars ? can lead to picture grain on pictures with extreme phase errors even in PAL systems. Usually such extreme phase shifts do not occur; this effect will usually be observed when the transmission path is poor, typically in built up areas or where the terrain is unfavourable. The effect is more noticeable on UHF signals than VHF as VHF signals tend to be more robust.



There is more from an international Comm class I took back in college but I don't remember all the specifics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTSC#Comparative_quality
Video professionals and television engineers jokingly referred to NTSC as "Never The Same Color" or "Never Twice the Same Color".[9] Reception problems can degrade an NTSC picture by changing the phase of the color signal, so the color balance of the picture will be altered unless a compensation is made in the receiver. This necessitates the inclusion of a tint control on NTSC sets, which is not necessary on PAL or SECAM systems.

However, the mismatch between NTSC's 30 frames per second and film's 24 frames is well overcome by an ingenious process which capitalizes on the field rate of the interlaced NTSC signal, thus avoiding the film playback speedup used for PAL and SECAM at 25 frames per second (which results in audio distortion). See Framerate conversion above.

There is no question the NTSC system reflects the technology of its originating era, but its compatibility and flexibility has been the key to its longevity over seven decades. The coming of digital television and high-definition television may end the need for analog television systems.

Right on. That's all I needed.... now I just have to translate that into Girl so she can understand.
 
Right on. That's all I needed.... now I just have to translate that into Girl so she can understand.

"Ummmm, so like, yeah, whatever! The colors look like, totally different cos we like use a totally different like TV system like ya know? Oh wow, what color is that on your nails? Wanna make out? *tehehehe*"

Good enough?
 
Last edited:
Top