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Author Topic: Channel bugs on premium stations Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 12-22-2005 02:37 PM                     I was over at a friend's place and they had Showtime on. I'm halfway watching it when I notice a Showtime bug appears in the lower right corner!!! What the hell??? That is a PAID station! Is Showtime the only station doing this, or is HBO and the others all doing it too? If so, no way will I ever buy their service. Those bugs are like the CRAP code of tv. I wonder how much longer it will be before DVDs start coming with a studio bug in the corner.  |  IP: Logged Greg Mueller Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1687 From: Port Gamble, WA Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-22-2005 03:16 PM                        If I had Showtime I'd complain. I wonder if you could file a claim if you had burn in from a channel bug?  |  IP: Logged Paul Linfesty Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1383 From: Bakersfield, CA, USA Registered: Nov 1999 posted 12-22-2005 04:54 PM                     Brad, HBO has yet to start this, but STRARZ sure as hell has. They even squeeze the end credits upward to put extra promo info on the bottom of the screen along with overlapping the end music with their own drivel. Sometimes they even shrink the end credits to a fourth-sized box in a corner.  |  IP: Logged Jesse Skeen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1517 From: Sacramento, CA Registered: Aug 2000 posted 12-23-2005 12:59 AM                     Does Showtime have a bug on all the time now? Back in 1984 I watched some movies a friend had taped from Showtime (who frequently ragged on me because I didn't have cable) and a couple times a "Showtime" logo appeared onscreen for a few seconds, like UHF stations did at the time. No way would I put up with that on a premium channel. A few years later HBO started putting voiceovers on the end credits of movies annoucing what was coming on next. Again, totally unacceptable. I saw something on the Playboy Channel a couple years ago, and they had a damn RABBIT HEAD in the corner of the screen all the time! Cable started out so promising, but it's gone downhill ever since. Anyone who hasn't given up on it yet deserves whatever they get. Most cable subscibers have proven time and again that they'll bend over and take anything though.  |  IP: Logged Phil Hill I love my cootie bug Posts: 7595 From: Hollywood, CA USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 12-23-2005 07:07 PM                  ALL of the channel/service ID "bugs" BUG the hell outta me! Some take up a full 1/5 or more of the screen. It's also too bad that those jokers with the ticker tapes running along the bottom of the screen don't let their cameramen (cameraperson) know to properly frame for it and NOT full frame so one cannot see what is going on in the bottom of the pic! JFC! How stupit! I'm sure *they* could make onscreen IDs an optional display like CC and leave us poor viewers a clear pic if so desired. I would suggest petitioning the FCC to help, but they are more interested in censoring Howard Stern's dribble and Janet Jackson's Tit Nipple "Slip".  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 12-23-2005 11:44 PM                     quote: Phil Hill It's also too bad that those jokers with the ticker tapes running along the bottom of the screen don't let their cameramen (cameraperson) know to properly frame for it I don't understand (much less forgive) the bad camera work on a lot of news stations with those ticker things. For one thing, many studio cameras have a preview channel where the operator can see the preset from the switcher's effects bank in the viewfinder at the press of a button. The old Ikegami studio tube camera I used at my TV station job in Georgia had such a preset. Pretty damned easy to frame using that. And then you have these high end stations featuring computerized cameras that can be remotely controlled. Again, they can see what's happening. I think the bad framing is just laziness. But, yes, those tickers suck ass. I find them extremely annoying. Perhaps it is just a telling sign to the increasing irrelevance of broadcast TV in delivering news. Complete agreement here about channel bugs being annoying. Just about every channel on cable has them.  |  IP: Logged Paul Linfesty Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1383 From: Bakersfield, CA, USA Registered: Nov 1999 posted 12-23-2005 11:59 PM                     IMHO the worst is f/x. They actually added sound effects to their heavily animated promos during the program which would drown out the dialog.  |  IP: Logged

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