The ITV thread 2007

[Somebody]

*watches AusGP qualifying show, actual qualifying 20 minutes off*

Grife, I'd forgotten how bad ITV's build-up is.

[ATF]

What did they do? I'm watching it in Spain so we only get 5 minutes build-up before quali!!

[cos]

*watches AusGP qualifying show, actual qualifying 20 minutes off*

Grife, I'd forgotten how bad ITV's build-up is.

What was so bad? What where you expecting from it anyway?

[Ian McC]

Thought it was just fine thanks :)

[Dave B]

I don't remember much about it, just the alarm clock going off at 2:20am. It seemed to be its usual self: nothing spectacular but did what it said on the tin.

[BeansBeansBeans]

I don't remember much about it, just the alarm clock going off at 2:20am. It seemed to be its usual self: nothing spectacular but did what it said on the tin.

Same as I thought really. All the interviews are incredibly dull, but it's kind of difficult to provoke interesting comments from today's PR sensitive F1 drivers, so ITV are hamstrung in that respect.

[LiamM]

I know its not ITVs fault, but did anyone notice the quality of the onboard cameras - semmed a bit poor compared to previous years.

Oh and you didnt have to watch the pre race build up, Aussie V8s was on Five

[Mp3 Astra]

I know its not ITVs fault, but did anyone notice the quality of the onboard cameras - semmed a bit poor compared to previous years.



Is that to do with Australian TV types or something? To me it looked like they had digitally zoomed in to make the cockpit take up more of the screen.

[Sleeper]

I'm just glad they got rid of those bloody chickens from last year.

[Somebody]

Mostly just dull as ditchwater, TBH. I usually don't bother, but since I was up so late to watch the quali, I thought I might as well.


Is that to do with Australian TV types or something? To me it looked like they had digitally zoomed in to make the cockpit take up more of the screen.
That was my impression too - they've switched from 4:3 to widescreen for this year, but I don't think they've changed the onboard cameras to allow for this, so they're digitally zooming'n'cropping to compensate...

[LiamM]

Ok now its Martin thats being stupid! Not sure if anyone else heard it, but definately early on in the race, he refered to Kimi as Michael!

[Mark]

I watched all the build up during qualy, but for the race I just fast forwarded until the start of the parade lap :D

Great to see F1 in Widescreen :D . Pity the graphics have still to be 14:9 within a 4:3 frame :(

[Spoonbender]

Ok now its Martin thats being stupid! Not sure if anyone else heard it, but definately early on in the race, he refered to Kimi as Michael!

Didn't hear that one, James Allen definatley did say Rubens was in a ferrari

[Giuseppe F1]

Didn't hear that one, James Allen definatley did say Rubens was in a ferrari

No he didnt - when Kimi came up to lap Rubens and started waving his fists at him, James Allen said Rubens USED to drive the Ferrari

[Mark]

Did you see at the end, Steve Ryder said that the BTCC is next week.

Buy that man a calendar.

[BDunnell]

I thought both commentators sounded rather jaded. The number of times they referred in qualifying to the excellent handling of the BMWs in exactly the same way every time was rather unnecessary.

[BeansBeansBeans]

I thought both commentators sounded rather jaded. The number of times they referred in qualifying to the excellent handling of the BMWs in exactly the same way every time was rather unnecessary.

They do handle beautifully though. I read an interview with one of their designers where he explained how the sublime handling was acheived, but to be honest it went way over my head.

[52Paddy]

I didn't think it was too bad. I suppose the fact that I now need to wear some glasses to help me see the TV made me grateful that I could watch the race at all...I did think the little quarrel over how to pronounce Robert Kubica's name was funny but pathetic. James Allen didn't make as many lame remarks as usual, or maybe I wasn't paying attention :|

[thesprog]

I thought it was a pretty decent programme (mind you I was half asleep).
The bit with Martin, Bernie and the Prime Minister on the grid walk made me laugh

[ChickenMcNugget]

There was definitely a rogue misplacement of driver name and car somewhere in that commentary. Otherwise, nothing really to talk of... ho hum. :|

[revmeister]

If you thought ITV was bad you should have heard the Speed Vision broadcast. It sounded as though the boys had been having a few drinks. Just terrible!

[NoahsGirl]

Did anyone notice Martin back tracking after DC admitted he was at fault in the incident with Wurz?

[SteveA]

Great to see F1 in Widescreen :D . Pity the graphics have still to be 14:9 within a 4:3 frame :(

It does look silly, but I think it'll always be like that so that its 4x3 "safe".

[Mark]

It does look silly, but I think it'll always be like that so that its 4x3 "safe".

Specifically 14:9 safe. As there will be people watching an analogue broadcast i.e. 4:3, on a widescreen TV, who then zoom the image to 14:9.

It's a pity tho, just look at BBC News 24 for an example of how graphics can look much better at the edge of the screen. If they could move the graphics off to the left and right it would look far, far better. But then they'd have to have a different feed and layout for digital than analgoue which is a lot of extra work.

[BDunnell]

Did anyone notice Martin back tracking after DC admitted he was at fault in the incident with Wurz?

Yes. I thought that was rather weak.

[wedge]

Nothing wrong with that.

Just been listening to the Beeb's podcast and Maurice Hamilton called the incident 50/50 because both drivers admitted their fault.

[Dave B]

In fact, Martin admitted "it wasn't as far back as I thought" once he'd seen the replay, long before DC's comments. I'll defend him on that one.

[Somebody]

Specifically 14:9 safe. As there will be people watching an analogue broadcast i.e. 4:3, on a widescreen TV, who then zoom the image to 14:9.
No, even when the basic picture is rated 14:9 safe, on-screen graphics have to be 4:3 safe. Partially because some digiboxes (NTL/Virgin and some Freeview boxes in the UK for instance) output only 16:9, 4:3 or 16:9 letterbox in a 4:3 frame. And guess what lots of people (including my parents, until they finally got a widescreen telly) do, especially when they have a 4:3 TV?

[That's not counting the possibility of other countries only outputting 4:3 still]


It's a pity tho, just look at BBC News 24 for an example of how graphics can look much better at the edge of the screen. If they could move the graphics off to the left and right it would look far, far better. But then they'd have to have a different feed and layout for digital than analgoue which is a lot of extra work.
Well, on their most recent relaunch, BBC N24 put their clock outside the 4:3 frame. SO far outside, in fact, that it wasn't even 16:9 safe! They moved it into the 16:9 frame proper after a week or so, then gave up and put it right of their logo, in the ticker bar, after complaints continued to flood in...

[They had clearly done absolutely no beta-testing of these graphics for "safe areas" on non-pro TVs, since graphics were also too high & low for the frame at first...]

[Marbles]

I think James Allen started toning it down mid-way through last year and rightly so. I like a commentator who gets excited about a race, as long as it's the same race I'm watching. Not somebody who's screaming at the top of his lungs when the race winner has a lap on the entire field and any battle for track position would have had to been conducted using ICBMs. As much as I disagree with his views sometimes, I've always enjoyed Brundle. It was an okay broadcast.

I must admit that I've got my fingers crossed because I don't recall hearing Ted Kravitz or any of his flabbergasting views on pit strategy, race strategy or race delaying protesters.