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ABC/Compulsory 16:9


mrschimpf

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Just noticed tonight on-air during ABC programming that the bug and all the promos now take advantage of the full screen; the bug's all the way to the right in the 16:9 frame, along with promo bottom-thirds, and if you're watching on a 4:3 screen, things will be cut off from hereon out, and the AFD #10 order is probably going to to affiliates to send down the digital stream.

 

Saturday is the start of college football season, so if you wanted to give your last respects to the squashed ESPN graphics, that was probably last Sunday during the Little League World Series championship. And I suspect with Michael Strahan coming to GMA, they'll be adjusting things to a 16:9 package coming soon.

 

NBC pulled the trigger a few months back, and we all know Fox converted a decade ago. CBS and CW are it for things still fitting in a 4:3 frame.

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Just noticed tonight on-air during ABC programming that the bug and all the promos now take advantage of the full screen; the bug's all the way to the right in the 16:9 frame, along with promo bottom-thirds, and if you're watching on a 4:3 screen, things will be cut off from hereon out, and the AFD #10 order is probably going to to affiliates to send down the digital stream.

 

Saturday is the start of college football season, so if you wanted to give your last respects to the squashed ESPN graphics, that was probably last Sunday during the Little League World Series championship. And I suspect with Michael Strahan coming to GMA, they'll be adjusting things to a 16:9 package coming soon.

 

NBC pulled the trigger a few months back, and we all know Fox converted a decade ago. CBS and CW are it for things still fitting in a 4:3 frame.

Someone on this board mentioned that the sports graphics were adjusted either last week or the week before during the LLWS.

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Someone on this board mentioned that the sports graphics were adjusted either last week or the week before during the LLWS.

 

Yeah, I'm usually a heavy ABC viewer in-season but once the summer stuff/27 hours of The Bachelor comes on, I am well out o_O. I did check WatchESPN and indeed the LLWS championship was broadcast in 16:9.

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I noticed it too last night as well on WTVQ, even their bug was in the same location.

 

Does WTVQ's bug appear first in the location where the ABC bug appears and then transitions to the network one? That's what happens with WMAR and makes me think it's part of the networks equivalent of NameDropper HD/LYDIA (same hardware in use for NBC/CBS respectively) and is triggered by them.

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Does WTVQ's bug appear first in the location where the ABC bug appears and then transitions to the network one? That's what happens with WMAR and makes me think it's part of the networks equivalent of NameDropper HD/LYDIA (same hardware in use for NBC/CBS respectively) and is triggered by them.

 

Yup, all the ABC affiliates have a system like Fox's to trigger a local bug out of break and in network promos so they don't have to do it themselves (I think it dates back to the yellow 'we love TV' era), and I think it's also connected to their ABC.com system as the same bugs show up on programming there and Hulu.

 

WISN in Milwaukee (along with a few other Hearst stations) has their own bug on-screen at all times locally, even during network time; it always looked too odd in 4:3, but it works so much better in 16:9.

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WISN in Milwaukee (along with a few other Hearst stations) has their own bug on-screen at all times locally, even during network time; it always looked too odd in 4:3, but it works so much better in 16:9.

 

WBAL is like that as well. I have seen a lot of NBC stations where the bug pops up for a few seconds and disappears but for WBAL it stays up for the entire block. It pops up on screen just as the NBC logo appears - once in a while it will linger in for a second or two when the program goes to break. I wonder if their bug is triggered and kept in place until break by the NameDropper or if someone in WBAL entered the timings for which the bug was to appear.

 

But yes Hearst stations love their call letters and get the most use out of them.

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Does WTVQ's bug appear first in the location where the ABC bug appears and then transitions to the network one? That's what happens with WMAR and makes me think it's part of the networks equivalent of NameDropper HD/LYDIA (same hardware in use for NBC/CBS respectively) and is triggered by them.

 

That is correct. ABC's is called BrandNet, and it's a rebadged Harris/Imagine Communications IconStation (LIDIA and NameDropper both use a off-the-shelf Evertz system with customized software).

 

Some stations have additional media/bug keyers up or downstream from the network inserter, which is likely where those persistent local bugs are coming from. I believe I heard Hearst stations have Viz Ticker in the air chain to generate tickers and weather alerts/EAS. It could easily be set up to insert a local bug over programming.

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I believe I heard Hearst stations have Viz Ticker in the air chain to generate tickers and weather alerts/EAS. It could easily be set up to insert a local bug over programming.

 

They do - I remember watching some Vimeo videos that were still public back in 2012 instructing stations on how to use the diagrid. Is it possible for the Viz Ticker to trigger the local bug and keep it up / remove it automatically?

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They do - I remember watching some Vimeo videos that were still public back in 2012 instructing stations on how to use the diagrid. Is it possible for the Viz Ticker to trigger the local bug and keep it up / remove it automatically?

Easily. All these things run on GPI triggers from the station's master control automation.

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Does WTVQ's bug appear first in the location where the ABC bug appears and then transitions to the network one? That's what happens with WMAR and makes me think it's part of the networks equivalent of NameDropper HD/LYDIA (same hardware in use for NBC/CBS respectively) and is triggered by them.

Yes, it was in the same place as the ABC bug. Sorry for the delay.

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  • 2 weeks later...

here at TEGNA's Sacramento station we put the KXTV bug Glowing in the top Middle at every top of the hour during ABC shows. but in promos they put it on the bottom in black. sometimes it dissapears and just shows ABC causing the 10 part to clip and dissapear. during local shows theres no bugs. returning from a show they put the KXTV bug in a transparent black or white.

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