TV News Interviews

Six6siX · 16 Aug 2017 at 16:09

I think this has been happening for ages now but I've only just realised that almost every interview with an expert or notable figure is being done over a really low crappy bitrate skype audio/video stream.

I'm not expecting UHD 4K with 10bit HDR or anything but a nice smooth 720 or 1080 stream can't be that far beyond their capability or bandwidth can it? It's 2017, not the 1990s for god's sake.

And while I'm at it, do these people not realise their heads look absolutely HUGE because they're sitting waaaay too close to the camera and the angle of their laptop/tablet makes it look like they have giant, cone shaped heads. Surely you'd position it somewhere suitable and level with your eye line if you knew you were going to be on National TV.

And don't get me started on the backdrops in whatever room of their house they decide to interview in. I've see dodgy walls, CRT TVs (!), messy bedding...wtf?! There's even a few clips of peoples kids running in halfway through screaming bloody murder.

What's going on? Why is this happening to me.

Bassmansam · 16 Aug 2017 at 16:28

Thekwango · 16 Aug 2017 at 16:30

Six6siX said:
Why is this happening to me.

cause you keep taking drugs!?!?

touch · 16 Aug 2017 at 16:39

Because we're more interested in what the experts have to say rather than what they or their house look like.

Six6siX · 16 Aug 2017 at 16:55

Thekwango said:
cause you keep taking drugs!?!?

This is a serious issue!

touch said:
Because we're more interested in what the experts have to say rather than what they or their house look like.

Helps if you can actually hear what they have to say over the crackly, artifact prone low quality audio stream. It'd be better to just read a statement, surely. I'd be more likely to take someone seriously as an 'expert' on national TV if they look as if they aren't speaking from a freshers dorm room or like someone straight off an amateur YouTube channel.

Werewolf · 16 Aug 2017 at 17:01

However if it's done by a stream they can be asked questions on things that may have just happened.
It's also more interesting for the viewer to see the person behind the statement, and in cases where what is saying may be controversial it lets you judge how well they believe what they're saying slightly better.

Six6siX · 16 Aug 2017 at 17:39

I agree with all of that.

My aim is not so much to debate the usefulness of said interviews but to try and figure out why they are all so shoddily set up and presented. It's just a poor effort all round.

Werewolf · 16 Aug 2017 at 18:36

A lot of people have poor connections even in this day and age, and you tend to only remember the times there is a problem.

The reason they tend to use Skype is probably because it's free software, easy to install (if not already) and use, and I suspect there is an interface that the likes of broadcasters can use to directly run the stream into an editing desk.

Going back 10-20 years it would have been a phonecall on what may well have been a crackling line.

Caged · 16 Aug 2017 at 19:23

Rent-a-gobs are easy ways for rolling news channels to get some content, and Skype is a cheap way of doing it vs. sending an OB team to their house or bringing them into a studio. Skype TX makes it easy.

I don't understand the requirement to have a backdrop of a city skyline that is clearly being added into the image rather than just a neutral backdrop of a wall or whatever.