Wednesday 7 October 2009

Comments - normal service will be resumed as soon as possible


I am unable to see or moderate comments at the moment. Bloggers says it is a known issue and they are trying to solve it. So sorry if you cannot leave a comment or it isn't getting moderated but it is out of my hands. Hopefully, normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

(For those who don't recognise it - the above picture is the old test card that the BBC used to show when it was off air! When there was a breakdown it would sometimes appear accompanied by an apology and the phrase 'Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible'. Known as Test Card F it shows Carole Hersee wearing a red shirt and red hairband, and Bubbles, the clown, surrounded by colour scales and test graphics. The card was transmitted from 1967 to 1998. Designed by Miss Hersee's father, George Hersee, a BBC engineer, it is being broadcast again on the BBC's high definition (HD) channel to help viewers tune their HD sets, and is currently shown for 90 seconds every two hours when programmes are not on air. Technicians have rescanned the card in HD to allow viewers to set the colour, contrast and sharpness on modern televisions. Carole - an eight year old in the picture is now 50 and was surprised to see she was back on TV in HD earlier this year.)

3 comments:

  1. That TV screen, I remember, had me rushing to twiddle the knobs, when we eventually got our first coloured set. Once sorted, I dared anyone to fiddle, as balancing colours was right up my art college student's street! Modern TV sets don't let you play with colours, like the old ones did; everything is now set to maximum glare, like it or not!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't know if the comment will apprar or not, but....

    The BBC make a reference to the "Normal Service will Resume as Soon as Possible" message by using an adapted version of the image on their 404 not found page. Try this link to a non-existing BBC page to see what I mean.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am commenting. So has the problem been fixed? Perhaps the old test card should be updated, but then if it ain't broke why change it.

    ReplyDelete

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