Have online videos lowered the standards of television production?

It was 2005 when video sharing became all the rage on the Internet following the launch of Google owned website 'YouTube', this website gave it's users the ability to watch videos and create their own to share with the world. The YouTube community to open to absolutely anyone, if you have a video recording device then YouTube is yours to use.

Videos on YouTube are incredibly diverse, almost anything can be found from mobile phone footage of teenagers at a party to a documentary about astra physics, from a cat on a skateboard to footage of the JFK assassination. Clearly YouTube has alot more to offer than TV ever will. In 1986 comedian Jeremy Beadle launched a show on ITV called 'Beadle's About' in which members of the public would be secretly filmed by hidden cameras whilst they were fooled by some of Beadle's pranks, this was a huge hit and even now the concept of hidden camera pranks still exist, YouTube has evidence of this as amature film makers go out with a handheld camera and pull pranks on the unsuspecting public and for it to be immediately shown on YouTube once it is complete, unlike 'Beadle's About' this wouldn't be planned ahead and no safety risks would have been considered, the creators would just go out and do it for the sheer thrill and enjoyment, it's not for money or publicity the creators just want to entertain the people who may be watching as is the case for any other YouTube video.

The idea of letting anyone in the world have the potential to become an online superstar may sound too good to be true but YouTube has flaws. Firstly it is very easy to find clips from movies, tv shows or even music videos which have been added to YouTube without permission from the production company leading to them suing the uploader of the video,  one incident of this kind was back in 2007 where a woman from Pennsylvania, USA posted a video of her 13 month old son dancing to 'Lets Go Crazy' a song by the singer Prince. Universal Music Group, the recording company ordered that YouTube immediately remove the video due to the use of the song without permission.

Secondly, unlike TV the content that goes on YouTube is not strictly monitored meaning that videos with unsuitable content (i.e. sex, violence, explicitory) can easily be uploaded onto the site just like any other video and it could be days or even weeks before they are reported to YouTube staff and deleted from the site. This corresponds to controversy in 2007 where a Yorkshire newspaper condemned a video which showed footage from the 1985 Bradford City Stadium Fire, YouTube removed the video but other copies of the footage were re-uploaded again later.

The most common filming device used for making YouTube videos are camcorders and webcams, as the most popular type of video that the site hosts are usually v-blogs which are basically video blogs of a particular person. Some work on YouTube is scripted but not professionally like what is done in the media, the reason for this is that it is an amature production and the creators are not being assigned by anyone or any particular company to create these videos.

How has the digital world changed the way we consume and create TV?

In this day and age TV has become a big role in people's lives, so much so that we are constantly finding new ways to watch it, from lounging on the sofa to watch the football to commuting on board a train watching the latest news bulletin on your laptop, TV is becoming something of a necessity in human culture.


These are the various ways people can watch television broadcasts:

Terrestrial TV - Standard broadcasting system transmitted via TV ariels. It is a simple transmission method because it is transmitted via radio frequencies does not involve the use of satellites or cables. A TV that still receives an analogue signal will most likely have only the five main terrestrial TV channels in the UK. (BBC 1, BBC 2, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel Five)


Digital Terrestrial TV -  Very similar to standard Terrestrial TV with the exception being the use of multiplex transmitters meaning it has to capability to receive various channels on one single frequency simultaneously.


Cable TV - Transmitted via radio signals using coaxial cables planted underground. It entitles the viewer to more channels than that of terrestrial or digital terrestrial and was the predecessor to the more advanced Satellite TV.


Satellite TV - Delivered by a satellite in outer space where the signal is then picked up by a satellite dish. For the best results, the satellite dish needs to be built into the outside of the house facing towards the direction of a satellite in orbit in order to get the best possible signal reception.

Multiplex - A bundle of TV services that have be digitised, compressed and combined into a single digital data stream for transmission. A receiver separates each service from this compressed data and turns it into a compatible form that can be transmitted onto a TV set.

Internet protocol Television (IPTV) - Basically this is where you can access television broadcasts on the Internet when you're away from the TV set. IPTV specialises in three different services these are:

•  Live television - Where the viewer can watch a TV channel online at the same pace as it is being broadcast on television, this is known as 'Live streaming' very similar to watching normal television only on a computer.
• Time shifted programming - The viewer has the ability to watch a programme online that was broadcast on television recently, this is incase the viewer missed a particular programme on it's original TV broadcast and wants to see it in their own time. The disadvantage being that only certain programmes may be available to view again. BBC iPlayer or ITV Player  are examples of time shifted programming.
• Video On Demand (VOD) - This is like a virtual library of various TV programmes, unlike time shifted programming it's content does not depend on whether it has been recently broadcast or not, it merely gives the viewer the ability to view a wide range of TV series, documentaries, music videos and movies whenever they want to watch them. Providers usually charge for using the service although if the viewer is subscribed to a certain package or deal then it can be free.

Digital cameras and film cameras are the only two types of camera used to produce TV material. Digital camera have become more common use in the filming industry because of their advancement from film cameras. The differences are as follows:

Digital Camera

• Higher quality
• All the film is captured onto a simple SD memory card
• An SD card can take in more footage than a tape
• SD card can be reused
• Becoming more common to use in filming so they are cheaper
• Easy to use
• Quick to set up and are compact

Film Camera

• Lower quality
• Film is captured on tape
• Tape can only hold so much film
• Tapes cannot be reused and are easy to damage which can ruin the film
• Used only by skilled film makers
• More expensive
• Not very compact because they are more delicate

The succession of the digital camera has meant that editing pieces of film is simpler because it can all be saved from the SD card to the computer. The editor can simply choose what shots they need using the timing on the camera, all they have to do it enter the time code into the computer's editing software and the computer recognises exactly what part of the video needs to be uploaded onto the system, this is much more time efficiant when they have plenty of footage to edit but don't want to waste their time by having to go through it all on the computer cutting it out bit by bit.

Brief History of TV in the UK and abroad

The five main terrestrial TV channels in the UK.

History of Broadcasting in the UK


Mainstream broadcasting in the United Kingdom began in November 1936 when BBC Television was launched using an analogue signal, at the time it was the only TV channel available in the country and was known as the 'BBC Television Service'. The channel became known as 'BBC 1' in 1964 when a new terrestrial TV station was created, this was 'BBC 2' a second channel made by the company. The BBC met their rival broadcaster in 1955 when 'ITV' was launched by the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), this was the first commercial TV channel in the UK. In 1981 the IBA launched 'Channel 4', a second commercial TV channel, it wasn't until 1997 when Channel 5 appeared on British screens making it the fifth and final terrestrial TV channel in the UK, this too was a commercially funded.




By 2012 analogue signals will be entirely replaced by digital in all parts of the UK. Most regions have converted to the system already, the process is done by switching off the analogue signal at one transmitter at a time.


Worldwide Broadcasting systems


In UK television broadcasting, we use the Phase Alternating Line simply known as PAL, it is a type of TV standard which encodes colour into analogue broadcasts. Here is a list of the different TV standard used in analogue TV today...


PAL
Origin: 1963 in Germany
Basis: 25 frames per second, 625 lines; 576 of which are used to show the picture.  
Phase Alternating Line. The first television broadcast using PAL was in 1967, the first two countries to use it where Germany and the UK, ever since it has become the most popular standard, being used in more countries than any other TV standard as it is used in Oceania, most of Europe, Africa and Asia as well as parts of South America.


NTSC
Origin: 1941 in USA
Basis: 29.97 frames per second, 525 lines; 480 of which are used to show the picture.
The National Television System Committee. The oldest type of Television standard, until 1953 it was unable to transmit colour television. Due to it's lack of advanced capability it is currently being replaced by ATSC in North America which is a more advanced version of NTSC. The standard is also used in small parts of South America, Japan and the Philippines.


SECAM 
Origin: 1956 in France
Basis: 625-line
Sequential Colour with Memory. It was the first television standard in Europe to transmit in colour and first used in 1967 on French channel 'France 2'. SECAM was bought by the Soviet Union, due to the cold war they refused to buy PAL from the Germans or NTSC from the Americans and decided to use the French system instead. As of today, the standard is still used in France despite the rest of Europe using PAL, most former Soviet states and several countries in Africa also use the SECAM system.

A world map with each country highlighted a certain colour depending on their TV standard.