Banner... (normally relates to the latest review)

[Kaladron]

Just out of interest...Is/was/will there be an archive of old banners?

[marcus]

Hasnt been so far, as they are all deleted to make way for new ones AFAIK. Jibber might have them though, if anyone was interested Im sure they could be uploaded somewhere.

[007]

Love the new one. It looks ace.

Kudos Jibber.

[nips]

Ok, you've turned me. I liked the old, mild, banners. However, especially this Spidey one is really vibrant and contrasts really well with the white background of the forum.

It's really quite good

[darkangel]

Nice banner this afternoon, but wtf is it?

[marcus]

Its the old BBC test card signals, an 80s thing if I remember rightly. Jibs is off on holliday for a couple of weeks so this is a generic banner to use whilst hes away. The full image would look like this -

[darkangel]

Oh those! I used to stare at that on TV for ages when I was younger, it was very hypnotic...

[Yoshimoto]

Awww...when i first saw the new banner i thought there was going to be a feature on calibrating your screen properly. If anyone of the writers are listening then that would make a very interesting article i think.

[MD]

Actually, it is the BBC Test Card F designed by George Hersee and featuring his daughter Carole Hersee, it was first broadcast in 1967. It has now been replaced by Test Cards J & W (For widescreen...). It basically has tests for...

Decoder performance, Reference generator, Sync separator, Resolution, Convergence, Colour picture, Aspect ratio, Picture size, Contrast, Bandwidth, Scanning linearity, Line synchronisation, Low-frequency response, Reflections and Uniformity of focus.

The X on the blackboard is more or less where the centre of the testcard is (not quite on F but it is perfect on J).

It's still not brilliant as there are other test cards which have more useful functions, like Test Card G (based on the Philips PM5544 test card generator)...

Here is a nicer version of said test card.


You can download the test card images from the BBC here. With this you can use it setup your monitor and TV perfect (unlikely I know...).

A history of Test Cards is here, it is a very nice trip down memory lane.

[rjpageuk]

And the girl in the picture is left handed, but they thought it looked nicer that way around so made her hold the chalk in her right hand.

No idea how I know that.

[MD]

Calibrating a screen can be quite tricky to do unless you have some test patterns, with a normal TV unless you have a service manual it can be fairly tricky to do as adjusting item 21 on a menu doesn't really give you much idea of what you are adjusting... some TVs will still have the controls inside the TV and could be fairly difficult to adjust... Ditto with arcade monitors, trying to adjust say pincushioning whilst the monitor is live can be fairly tricky and your hand is close enough to get a nice 22KV shock...

PC Monitors are easier to adjust because you can get the test cards easily and you generally can adjust everything... sadly PC monitor adjustment isn't really video games...

[MD]

And the girl in the picture is left handed, but they thought it looked nicer that way around so made her hold the chalk in her right hand.

Sadly it's an urban myth...

George wrote to the BBC in house magazine, Ariel in March 1997 stating that Carole has never been left handed, and that the reversal of the transparency was to correct an earlier accidental reversal.

[Brats]

All I know is that that clown is ****ing evil.....

[Super Stu]

Looks nifty.

[Ady]

That girl must be in her fifties by now...