I just came to realize how much I love the fact I can watch television on my computer, home TV, and other things using amazing digital technology. Ever since I saw Monty Python and Faulty Towers when I was a boy on PBS, I have loved watching British produced programming. But back in the day the quality of the video I got to see was terrible.
Since the UK delivers AC power to the nation at 50Hz, they chose to use that clock for their television tech (much like today we have a crystal in our digital tech which drives the timing of the chips). Thus, they captured, stored, and broadcast their shows at 25fps. Meanwhile, North America chose to make AC 60Hz and we got TV at 30fps. The conversion process back then was very primitive, one process was to play the video on a very good calibrated CRT video screen and filming the TV with a high quality camera. It made the video dull, sloppy, and sometimes the frame would move on the screen. It was bad, but I loved the content anyway.
Later high quality analog devices were developed which could do the conversion without a video camera, but they were only slightly better as they solved the brightness and color issues, but the frame rate differences made the British shows appear jittery and weird. But with more shows being made available, like Doctor Who, BBC News, and others, I grew even more fond of their programming.
Next came the hundreds of cable channels seeking good programming and suddenly partnerships between the BBC and US channels, like A&E, PBS, Discovery, and others, would help produce shows shot on film then converted to video for local broadcast and I got to see the brilliant British talent to produce great programming without all the flaws of conversion.
But the more I saw, the more I wanted to see.
Then, through my music career, I started traveling all over the world, including England and Ireland, and I got to see the shows I was missing which didn't cross the Atlantic. I discovered some amazing comedy shows, like A Little Bit of Frye and Laurie, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, and the topical news mocking shows, which I loved dearly and dreaded not getting to see when I returned to the USA.
Then came the internet and enough bandwidth that I could download shows and watch them later. There were few available and the quality was often poor, but it helped me satiate my hunger for all things British. Not long after BBC America showed up on my cable service and it became my go to channel when I was randomly hoping to find something to watch, but they broadcast WAY too many shows I could watch in the US, like Star Trek: Next Generation or Masterpiece Classics shows I had already seen, but the good shows from the UK were still suffering from obvious conversion from 24fps to 30fps.
But in the past few years the internet has gotten fast enough, the business model clear enough, and the demand high enough, services like YouTube are making regular British shows available to watch. I can get hundreds of the great shows I love to watch, with their wordplay, educated historical reference, ironic and sarcastic humor, and openness about mocking everyone and everything without the extreme PC police killing the entertainment value.
And this is where my opening comments about digital technology changing everything for me...
When I watch British shows on YouTube or other sources, they can stream the native content at 25fps or 50fps (their high frame rate standard) and native color gamut (different than the US standard) and native resolutions (same as US), and I can watching them in all their glory because my screen can show any frame rate, color gamut, or resolution really well.
Joy!!!
This sounds terrible, but my love for British television is so strong I would love to move to England or Ireland and work from my home there.
Since the UK delivers AC power to the nation at 50Hz, they chose to use that clock for their television tech (much like today we have a crystal in our digital tech which drives the timing of the chips). Thus, they captured, stored, and broadcast their shows at 25fps. Meanwhile, North America chose to make AC 60Hz and we got TV at 30fps. The conversion process back then was very primitive, one process was to play the video on a very good calibrated CRT video screen and filming the TV with a high quality camera. It made the video dull, sloppy, and sometimes the frame would move on the screen. It was bad, but I loved the content anyway.
Later high quality analog devices were developed which could do the conversion without a video camera, but they were only slightly better as they solved the brightness and color issues, but the frame rate differences made the British shows appear jittery and weird. But with more shows being made available, like Doctor Who, BBC News, and others, I grew even more fond of their programming.
Next came the hundreds of cable channels seeking good programming and suddenly partnerships between the BBC and US channels, like A&E, PBS, Discovery, and others, would help produce shows shot on film then converted to video for local broadcast and I got to see the brilliant British talent to produce great programming without all the flaws of conversion.
But the more I saw, the more I wanted to see.
Then, through my music career, I started traveling all over the world, including England and Ireland, and I got to see the shows I was missing which didn't cross the Atlantic. I discovered some amazing comedy shows, like A Little Bit of Frye and Laurie, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, and the topical news mocking shows, which I loved dearly and dreaded not getting to see when I returned to the USA.
Then came the internet and enough bandwidth that I could download shows and watch them later. There were few available and the quality was often poor, but it helped me satiate my hunger for all things British. Not long after BBC America showed up on my cable service and it became my go to channel when I was randomly hoping to find something to watch, but they broadcast WAY too many shows I could watch in the US, like Star Trek: Next Generation or Masterpiece Classics shows I had already seen, but the good shows from the UK were still suffering from obvious conversion from 24fps to 30fps.
But in the past few years the internet has gotten fast enough, the business model clear enough, and the demand high enough, services like YouTube are making regular British shows available to watch. I can get hundreds of the great shows I love to watch, with their wordplay, educated historical reference, ironic and sarcastic humor, and openness about mocking everyone and everything without the extreme PC police killing the entertainment value.
And this is where my opening comments about digital technology changing everything for me...
When I watch British shows on YouTube or other sources, they can stream the native content at 25fps or 50fps (their high frame rate standard) and native color gamut (different than the US standard) and native resolutions (same as US), and I can watching them in all their glory because my screen can show any frame rate, color gamut, or resolution really well.
Joy!!!
This sounds terrible, but my love for British television is so strong I would love to move to England or Ireland and work from my home there.