Dick Cheney and the X on CNN?
Not a political thread -- purely technical
Drudge is reporting on a tech glitch at CNN with the X appwaring over VP Dick Cheneys face durring live coverage of a speach, the techs say it was a glitch, and I do beleive them, but the way they explain the glitch seems fishy to me, why would a live-to-air production graphics system feed alignment grids, placeholders, ques or anything other than the finished product to the target feed without user intervention?
I found it most odd that the tech said
What in the hell does a reboot have to do with this? it was a single glitch, not a total meltdown...and no, most moddern OSs do not need frequent rebooting, particularly missiion critical systems, memory managment is way better than it used to be.
There are lots of video pros on these threads so this seemed like a logical place to ask.
Drudge is reporting on a tech glitch at CNN with the X appwaring over VP Dick Cheneys face durring live coverage of a speach, the techs say it was a glitch, and I do beleive them, but the way they explain the glitch seems fishy to me, why would a live-to-air production graphics system feed alignment grids, placeholders, ques or anything other than the finished product to the target feed without user intervention?
I found it most odd that the tech said
Quote:
much like you have to reboot your computer from time to time, we're going to reboot our computer from time to time to make sure it doesn't happen again.
much like you have to reboot your computer from time to time, we're going to reboot our computer from time to time to make sure it doesn't happen again.
What in the hell does a reboot have to do with this? it was a single glitch, not a total meltdown...and no, most moddern OSs do not need frequent rebooting, particularly missiion critical systems, memory managment is way better than it used to be.
There are lots of video pros on these threads so this seemed like a logical place to ask.
Comments
I think it was a technical glitch, but the "reboot" comment was really a dumb thing to say. What I imagine is that the contacts inside the button of the switcher flicked on ever so briefly, causing that to flash up on the air. We have to remember that there are still physical buttons and switches in a switcher that deal with the actual human interface.
All in all, I'd say CNN needs to get that switcher a look-see, but otherwise it's nothing to see here. Move along.
A: "You falsified intelligence to start a war"
B: "But you flickered a giant X over the vice presidents head"
Originally posted by Placebo
I'd really like to see a documentary of the production set of any live-air 24-hour news network. Christ that must be a stressful job.
It is. Did anyone get to see the behind-the-scenes show about ESPN SportsCenter? They had an hour prior to the show (of all the prep stuff) and then simulcast the actual SportsCenter show on ESPN2 and the behind-the-scenes LIVE on ESPN. Very cool!
Originally posted by CosmoNut
It is. Did anyone get to see the behind-the-scenes show about ESPN SportsCenter? They had an hour prior to the show (of all the prep stuff) and then simulcast the actual SportsCenter show on ESPN2 and the behind-the-scenes LIVE on ESPN. Very cool!
Saw it and loved it, would be a fun place to work if I gave a damn about sports.
Originally posted by CosmoNut
That "X" is a placeholder for the tape that plays their little CNN transition logo thing. That tape was cued up and set in the keyer on the switcher.
I think it was a technical glitch, but the "reboot" comment was really a dumb thing to say. What I imagine is that the contacts inside the button of the switcher flicked on ever so briefly, causing that to flash up on the air. We have to remember that there are still physical buttons and switches in a switcher that deal with the actual human interface.
All in all, I'd say CNN needs to get that switcher a look-see, but otherwise it's nothing to see here. Move along.
That is a totaly logical explanation...So why couldnt they have just said that a switcher buton crapped out, causing the the placeholder to be seen and that switch/dial/button and/or console has been pulled from service for repair, stuff fails, no biggy...why on earth make up some bullshit about rebooting the whole workflow (which in its self would be time consuming, power cycleing ALL of the gear in one of those rigs)
Originally posted by Placebo
I can't imagine havin to sync all that tape up while still maintaining a professional, appearing-to-be-preprepaired production aesthetic.
One would imagine that CNN has a teamof people doing this sort of thing, at least 4 producing/cueing/engineering the on-air stuff, a graphics person,, someone managing satalite feeds of news events and a seperate team of editors, and video digitizers/archivists, they would be crazy not to with the volume of tape they obviously handle.