https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/19/c4_subtitles/
Confusion continues to reign in the world of television, including UK national broadcaster Channel 4, weeks after a broadcast centre cockup
wrought havoc upon servers.
Things went horribly wrong at Red Bee Media's broadcast centre back on 25 September. Yes, that was the weekend before we ran an accidentally appropriate episode of Who, Me?
A fire suppression was triggered and severely damaged a lot of critical hardware. The net result was that a number of UK television channels (including the BBC as well as Channel 4) suffered a wobble. While others
have recovered, Channel 4 remains unable to provide accessibility
services,
such as subtitles or audio description.
A bit of background: an industry insider (who asked to remain anonymous) explained to The Register that TV companies generally provide several
items
to playout providers, usually file-based. Video and audio tend to be
batched together in one MPEG stream. Audio Description (AD) and subtitles arrive in another. And so on.
"In the 'olden' days of 2006, we manually got all of the different
components and placed them into the various different output servers," explained our insider.
The playout server described in our Who, Me? story would grab the video, audio, AD and subtitles - which explains its sudden shutdown in our story, that caused similar problems.
Automation took over in the last decade, meaning that skilled intervention was perhaps not so essential. Up until everything went wrong.
Red Bee posted a Twitter thread last week, apologising for the situation,
but insisting it was "getting back on track."
As soon as we receive the media (the programmes), our teams proceed to
create and add pre-recorded subtitles, audio descriptions and signing.
This
process has been disrupted since the incident in the Broadcast Centre in London on 25 Sep, but we are getting back on track. (2/3)
- Red Bee Media (@RedBeeMedia) October 15, 2021
We don't know how far away those tracks are. Presumably quite some
distance
if, after three weeks, Red Bee Media has yet to haul itself back onto
them.
Our source noted that it was not the first time the fire alarm had gone
off, but was the first time that nobody had managed to get to the override
in time. The thinking behind the system was apparently "kill the flames
and
sod the consequences." As for those consequences: "Now we know... it kills servers."
As for the hardware, hot-swap spares are likely limited and there is every possibility that parts of the kit could be quite difficult to find
nowadays. Red Bee Media got the pictures and audio up and running again quickly, but the ancillary systems (such as the ones dealing with
subtitles) are clearly proving problematic.
We have asked Red Bee Media to comment but it has yet to respond. A spokesperson told the BBC:
"Things are improving every day and we are able to deliver more and more accessible programmes, but we are unfortunately still experiencing issues with receiving the media for which our access teams create pre-recorded subtitles, audio descriptions and signing."
As for Channel 4, it fired up an emergency backup but reported that the system supposed to provide subtitles failed. The building of an entirely
new system is now apparently underway, according to a release emitted by
the broadcaster.
"Not only will this enable our channels to move back out of disaster recovery," it said, "but it also means we will be able to provide
subtitles, audio description and sign language services as well."
It's not great, and there is every chance that well over a month will have passed before full recovery. According to Channel 4, AD and sign language services were "irretrievably lost during the incident," making one wonder exactly what backup strategy was in place. We asked the broadcaster to explain how its backups worked (or if it was something it had outsourced)
but have yet to receive a response.
The ongoing woes are a salutary, and highly public, reminder to all administrators of organisations large and small. Check your backups.
Rehearse your disaster recovery. Customers have very, very long memories
The ongoing woes are a salutary, and highly public, reminder to all >administrators of organisations large and small. Check your backups.
Rehearse your disaster recovery. Customers have very, very long memories
Yes and the really ad hoc nature of access services proves once again that >disabled people are not thought of at the inception, just as the lack of AD >on many streamed versions of films and tv show by not having them available. >The films out there that are in the cinema all have captions and AD these >days, and as long as the cinema equipment what works so does the system, as >they are created by the content provider. If that is the case how come so >many fairly modern films shown on British TV just do not have any of these >services and notably the AD?
It is not rocket science if the content has already been made is it?
Those stations like CBS Great and Paramount channels need to get their >fingers out of their arses and get with the programme!
Brian
The BBC used to have routines for this kind of thing. Once while
exploring the rabbit warren that was Lime Grove Studios, a colleague
and I discovered the legendary Emergency Presentation Suite. I'd
previously read about it but never quite believed it was real, and
here it was. According to what I'd read, it was supposed to be kept >operational at all times in case some catastrophe should occur that
I think those who think they know better than us, think we wouldn't
It is not rocket science if the content has already been made is it?
accept American AD. Certainly, I don't _think_ I've ever actually
heard any, even on US programmes - except those where the AD is
clearly synthesized speech, which tends to be American.
Yes and the really ad hoc nature of access services proves once again that disabled people are not thought of at the inception, just as the lack of AD on many streamed versions of films and tv show by not having them available. The films out there that are in the cinema all have captions and AD these days, and as long as the cinema equipment what works so does the system, as they are created by the content provider. If that is the case how come so many fairly modern films shown on British TV just do not have any of these services and notably the AD?
It is not rocket science if the content has already been made is it?
The BBC used to have routines for this kind of thing. Once while
exploring the rabbit warren that was Lime Grove Studios, a colleague
and I discovered the legendary Emergency Presentation Suite. I'd
previously read about it but never quite believed it was real, and
here it was. According to what I'd read, it was supposed to be kept operational at all times in case some catastrophe should occur that
On 20/10/2021 13:33, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
The BBC used to have routines for this kind of thing. Once while
exploring the rabbit warren that was Lime Grove Studios, a colleague
and I discovered the legendary Emergency Presentation Suite. I'd
previously read about it but never quite believed it was real, and
here it was. According to what I'd read, it was supposed to be kept operational at all times in case some catastrophe should occur that
Someone once claimed to have seen firearms in a locked cupboard on one
site. Seems unlikely but who knows in the past when rules were much
less restrictive.
Though I was told of a new arrival at Penmon during the war, being a bit shocked when someone grabbed a rifle and started firing through the open window - he had seen a rabbit!
In article <skphog$dqb$1@dont-email.me>,
MB <MB@nospam.net> wrote:
On 20/10/2021 13:33, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
The BBC used to have routines for this kind of thing. Once while
exploring the rabbit warren that was Lime Grove Studios, a colleague
and I discovered the legendary Emergency Presentation Suite. I'd
previously read about it but never quite believed it was real, and
here it was. According to what I'd read, it was supposed to be kept
operational at all times in case some catastrophe should occur that
Someone once claimed to have seen firearms in a locked cupboard on one
site. Seems unlikely but who knows in the past when rules were much
less restrictive.
Though I was told of a new arrival at Penmon during the war, being a bit
shocked when someone grabbed a rifle and started firing through the open
window - he had seen a rabbit!
Certainly things were alightly like that at Fort William: Duck, rather than >rabbit and a shotgun, not a rifle.
Certainly things were alightly like that at Fort William: Duck, rather than rabbit and a shotgun, not a rifle.
On 20/10/2021 18:39, charles wrote:
Certainly things were alightly like that at Fort William: Duck, rather
than rabbit and a shotgun, not a rifle.
Our rigger handyman came back from a trip into town one day with a
couple of ducks or geese that he had shot down by the river.
and left one on Roy's desk - so Roy told me.
On Wed, 20 Oct 2021 at 10:11:11, Roderick Stewart ><rjfs@escapetime.myzen.co.uk> wrote (my responses usually follow points >raised):
[]
The BBC used to have routines for this kind of thing. Once while
exploring the rabbit warren that was Lime Grove Studios, a colleague
and I discovered the legendary Emergency Presentation Suite. I'd
previously read about it but never quite believed it was real, and
here it was. According to what I'd read, it was supposed to be kept >>operational at all times in case some catastrophe should occur that
Did you get the impression that it was indeed operational, or was it
covered in (at least metaphorical) cobwebs?
Was it full of - usable, but quaint - equipment, or similar to the >then-current such suites?
[]
(I can't help thinking of the spaceport in THHGTTG [radio version].)
On Wed, 20 Oct 2021 13:33:19 +0100, "J. P. Gilliver (John)" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:
On Wed, 20 Oct 2021 at 10:11:11, Roderick Stewart ><rjfs@escapetime.myzen.co.uk> wrote (my responses usually follow points >raised):
[]
The BBC used to have routines for this kind of thing. Once while >>exploring the rabbit warren that was Lime Grove Studios, a colleague
and I discovered the legendary Emergency Presentation Suite. I'd >>previously read about it but never quite believed it was real, and
here it was. According to what I'd read, it was supposed to be kept >>operational at all times in case some catastrophe should occur that
Did you get the impression that it was indeed operational, or was it >covered in (at least metaphorical) cobwebs?
Was it full of - usable, but quaint - equipment, or similar to the >then-current such suites?
[]
(I can't help thinking of the spaceport in THHGTTG [radio version].)
It looked a bit antiquated, like a lot of stuff at Lime Grove that was
still being used in the 1970s, but reasonably clean, and nothing
appeared to be missing or to have been plundered for parts. You get a
feel for whether an installation has actually been abandoned, or is
simply not in frequent use, and this was definitely the latter. I
guess they were taking seriously the possibility of an emergency of
some sort disabling Television Centre.
Rod.
a colleague, who was in the TA, said 2 properly placed 2lb charges of gelignite would be enough. Luckily he was on 'our' side.
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