Author Topic: The Olympics-on-telly thread  (Read 12677 times)

redshift

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Re: The Olympics-on-telly thread
« Reply #25 on: 08 August, 2008, 04:06:19 pm »
The images on that Silk Road scroll-type widget - clearly not projected (#2 Son and I speculated about the possibility of there being a huge projector on a satellite in geo orbit above the birds nest, but decided if the sun can't make it through the Beijing mirk, nothing would ;)) so what is it - some vast LCD computer screen laying on the ground?

Ver ver neat stuff.
Missed it - I'll try to catch the highlights later - but I'd suspect any large screen would be some kind of pixel screen LED system.  We use them fairly regularly in the studio, and they're used at concerts a lot these days.  They seem to come in any size, built up from smaller panels, so they scale.  If you catch "Battle of the Brains" which has been running on BBC2, the categories are run onto just such a screen, but obviously on a much smaller scale.

<edit> Just seen a still on the Beeb's website, and I'd say it's that type of screen, laid flat.
L
:)
Windcheetah No. 176
The all-round entertainer gets quite arsey,
They won't translate his lame shit into Farsi
Somehow to let it go would be more classy…

Valiant

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Re: The Olympics-on-telly thread
« Reply #26 on: 08 August, 2008, 04:14:48 pm »
I would have thought far too flexible to be pixel led screens.
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redshift

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Re: The Olympics-on-telly thread
« Reply #27 on: 08 August, 2008, 04:50:00 pm »
Ah - didn't see moving pix, just the still.  I didn't know it was flexible!
L
:)
Windcheetah No. 176
The all-round entertainer gets quite arsey,
They won't translate his lame shit into Farsi
Somehow to let it go would be more classy…

Valiant

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    • Radiance Audio
Re: The Olympics-on-telly thread
« Reply #28 on: 08 August, 2008, 05:09:12 pm »
T'was folded when it was moved slightly, also they started reffered to it as the canvas. The giant led screen around the rim is really something else though.
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Rob S

Re: The Olympics-on-telly thread
« Reply #29 on: 08 August, 2008, 06:36:18 pm »
I listened to it on Radio 5....the firewoks sounded really pretty!! ;D and then I wandered down to the tv room at my lunchtime to see all the spectacular stuff had finished and the athletes were coming in....which itself is quite interesting when all the tiny nations come in dressed in national costume.

Regarding the screen round the stadium...the commentator on the radio said it was the largest in Asia and cost £18 million :o


Valiant

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Re: The Olympics-on-telly thread
« Reply #30 on: 08 August, 2008, 08:38:07 pm »
I'm surprised it's not the biggest in the world.
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Jezza

Re: The Olympics-on-telly thread
« Reply #31 on: 08 August, 2008, 09:02:38 pm »
T'was very impressive. Loved the drummers. Had a mild frisson of discomfort at the goose-stepping soldiers bearing the olympic flag, but overall it was excellent.

border-rider

Re: The Olympics-on-telly thread
« Reply #32 on: 08 August, 2008, 10:09:05 pm »
Still available if you hit the red button on digital TV

we're watching it now - just breathtaking :o

Rob S

Re: The Olympics-on-telly thread
« Reply #33 on: 09 August, 2008, 12:09:18 am »
Still available if you hit the red button on digital TV

we're watching it now - just breathtaking :o

I watched it on red button as the version at 1900 on bbc1 was crap......then I watched it again. :thumbsup:

ChrisO

Re: The Olympics-on-telly thread
« Reply #34 on: 09 August, 2008, 05:54:33 am »
Still available if you hit the red button on digital TV

we're watching it now - just breathtaking :o

I watched it on red button as the version at 1900 on bbc1 was crap......then I watched it again. :thumbsup:

Yes we missed the actual opening and though, never mind we'll watch it again on the BBC highlights programme.

They only had a brief clip, less than 10 mins. None of the scroll stuff. Spent more time talking about it and running pre-produced promos about themselves. Typical - over-produced, over-thought, over-expensive.

And the problem with red buttong is that I've just got a HD TV so the opening ceremony is the sort of thing that is made for HD, rather than a sub-SD image on red button.

Luckily Eurosport HD in their blessed simplicity have been replaying the ceremony a couple of times overnight. (BBC HD channel was running promos about BBC HD channel when they could simply have replayed the whole ceremeony).

So I'm watching it now in absolutely glorious detail. It is a fantastic show and brilliant in high definition.


Valiant

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Re: The Olympics-on-telly thread
« Reply #35 on: 09 August, 2008, 06:25:12 am »
HD is the stuff of gods.
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Adam

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Re: The Olympics-on-telly thread
« Reply #36 on: 09 August, 2008, 09:55:16 am »
I've just checked the schedules - it's SPORTS everywhere.  Is there no escape?

I'm off for a bike ride - I may be some time................
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.” -Albert Einstein

Re: The Olympics-on-telly thread
« Reply #37 on: 09 August, 2008, 11:18:58 am »
Lovely bike racing this morning...
Frenchie - Train à Grande Vitesse

Rob S

Re: The Olympics-on-telly thread
« Reply #38 on: 09 August, 2008, 11:42:15 am »
Road race just doesn't do it for me in the Olympics.....track is much better.

This is my first Olympics with a red button and I'm flicking through all the sports like a mad person!! ;D

redshift

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Re: The Olympics-on-telly thread
« Reply #39 on: 09 August, 2008, 12:31:08 pm »
Watched it using the red button last night.

The 'scrolling' screen (the centre strip of the stage) is a huge LED pixel screen.  The centre part is made up from 4 movable panels,* each of which is at least 20m x 20m.  Each panel is on a sliding / rising stage unit. There are two secondary panels which are the cyclinders sitting on top of the main unit, also movable.  The rest of the screen is non-movable panels, something like two further units each side of the movable ones.

When you first see it, it's covered (or switched to a dark input), apart from the 'scroll' cylinders.  As they move apart, the four movable panels are gradually revealed, and content is displayed accordingly.  At various points, the movable panels drop down, or slide past each other under the stage leaving a lowered section, or a gap.  This allows the 'printing' display, and the 18m globe to rise up from under the stage, for example.  Otherwise, the panels display whatever images are sent to them by the control system - which will have been programmed with the position and orientation of all the panels.  The scrolling is an illusion, caused by the cylindrical shape of the screens at the edge, combined with their movement, and the careful coordination of which panels are active.


*The panels are themselves made up from units about (say) 0.5m x 1m, similar to these from Barco
L
:)
Windcheetah No. 176
The all-round entertainer gets quite arsey,
They won't translate his lame shit into Farsi
Somehow to let it go would be more classy…

Re: The Olympics-on-telly thread
« Reply #40 on: 09 August, 2008, 12:48:23 pm »
I have noticed that following Athens, they are only filming Sharon Davies from the shoulders up.

Chris S

Re: The Olympics-on-telly thread
« Reply #41 on: 09 August, 2008, 12:51:53 pm »
I have noticed that following Athens, they are only filming Sharon Davies from the shoulders up.

What happened in Athens? Did something fall out?

Re: The Olympics-on-telly thread
« Reply #42 on: 09 August, 2008, 12:55:23 pm »
At the time it was dubbed nipplegate

Re: The Olympics-on-telly thread
« Reply #43 on: 09 August, 2008, 12:57:39 pm »
Thanks for mentioning the red button! Instead of the world's dullest sport, swimming, I can watch the dressage which you never get to see normally  :thumbsup:

Re: The Olympics-on-telly thread
« Reply #44 on: 09 August, 2008, 01:35:49 pm »
Thanks for mentioning the red button! Instead of the world's dullest sport, swimming, I can watch the dressage which you never get to see normally  :thumbsup:

Dressage...  :hand: is that a sport, really?!

I must admit to having a vested interest in swimming; relating to my background as a work as fluid mechanicist. However, the medley was quite exciting this morning.
Frenchie - Train à Grande Vitesse

Re: The Olympics-on-telly thread
« Reply #45 on: 09 August, 2008, 01:36:54 pm »
At the time it was dubbed nipplegate

Some people are a bit sensitive!  ::-)

They must have found a tall camera crew as she is a tall woman! She's quite nice too.
Frenchie - Train à Grande Vitesse

Re: The Olympics-on-telly thread
« Reply #46 on: 09 August, 2008, 01:40:16 pm »
Road race just doesn't do it for me in the Olympics.....track is much better.

I prefer the track too; but on a Saturday morning when it is pissing down, watching the last part of the road race was nice...
Frenchie - Train à Grande Vitesse

ChrisO

Re: The Olympics-on-telly thread
« Reply #47 on: 09 August, 2008, 03:03:15 pm »
OMG, I've discovered a bad thing about HD.

Sue Barker.

Her lipstick has bled a little into the quite deep lines around her mouth, which exaggerates them even more in a Very Scary Way.

It's not even noticeable in SD.


Zoidburg

Re: The Olympics-on-telly thread
« Reply #48 on: 09 August, 2008, 03:19:53 pm »
Not as scary as Fatima Whitbread

Imagine her getting you in headlock

Rob S

Re: The Olympics-on-telly thread
« Reply #49 on: 10 August, 2008, 10:46:49 am »
I've been waiting to get out on my bike all week, I've watched Nicole do the business and now it's one of those things about the Olympics....I'm staying in long enough to see if the British women can get the bronze in the archery!! :thumbsup: And then I'm going out!!