Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on CBS HD

(Hi, I'm new here. Glad to be here!)

That's awesome news, if it's true. I'm just curious, but, where did you hear this news? Is it concrete information?

Hell ya. I tuned into him last night thinking, he's still on in SD? I dont know cbs so long with the other networks doing their late night shows in HD. Even Jimmy Kimmel is in HD. I suspect now that Lettermen is up in the rateings, they have finally taken a look at Craig Ferguson to see what he's doing.

Won't CBS have to buy him new cameras for that, rather than him having to continue to use their 20-year-old leftovers?

That show has been using Sony HD cameras for some time now. In fact, all stages in that facility use Sony HD cameras. What needs to be updated is the rest of the video infrastructure. It was their earliest digital SD studio using composite 4fsc & D2 tape, and it's the only one to use that format.

Question mark added to topic title.

And the source for this is?

Checking with my sources.

So, when he "broke the camera" several weeks back, and joked about the age of the cameras, etc., that was one of the newer Sony HD cams?

They are Sony HDC 900 & 950 series HD cameras that are a few years old.

It's about time. I hope Craig goes HD before that hack Carson Daly.

That show is even more of a trainwreck. Now they are broadcasting in windowbox format, on the HD channel!

If Ferguson is going to get a shot at being Letterman's successor, CBS is going to have to give him the budget to run a real show for the next three years. I really doubt CBS would promote him to 11:35 if all he does until 2012 is just a low budget British variety show where the host reads emails for 8 minutes every night and likes to open his show with singing animal puppets.

He's going to need a real set and a house band. If people think Conan's brand of comedy can't work at 11:35...

Part of the reason I like Ferguson is because his show has this low-budget feel to it. It does feel as if he does whatever the hell he wants to, and the puppets are awesome (lol@them blurring the puppet mouth when it was cussing the other night). But that's only part of it. Even with a new set, he'd still have the best monologue around and his interviews would still have that off-the-cuff feeling to them.

Puppets + Grand Master Flash? What's not to like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYyy1VUFav0

Did people build 4fsc composite digital studios in the US? If they did I'm amazed they've managed to keep one running this long. AIUI Grass Valley gave up on trying to build/sell a 4fsc PAL digital composite mixer - so we went straight from PAL analogue to BT601 SDI digital component.

The BBC did switch from 1" C format to D3 1/2" 4fsc Digital Composite in 1992 (in time for the Barcelona Olympics) - but that was mainly still feeding / recording analogue composite galleries, or BT601 SDI component galleries working into composite recording areas until the 16:9 switch was thrown in 1998 and Digital Betacam (first used in anger in 1994 at Lillehammer ISTR) was the format of choice. (For years the BBC ran a straight D3 = 4:3, DigiBeta = 16:9 policy)

Over here D2 was really restricted to station automation and advertising playout functionality ISTR. Ironically the BBC transferred most of their 2" QUAD PAL analogue archive to D3 - which itself is now majorly obsolete. (Luckily they also - latterly - recorded a TRANSFORM decoded DigiBeta version - and now they are archiving 1" C Format are also recording an uncompressed - 10 bit I think - data version via TRANSFORM as well)

Tell me something I DON'T know.

What he broke was the teleprompter mirror. The camera itself was fine.

Yeah, it was just a joke - like Craig's jokes, of course. He did milk that incident for a LONG time though. Come to think of it, that's the sort of thing he does every night!...

I admit I don't know much about studio/pro cameras. Are they full 1080p capable, etc?

The Sony ones CBS uses are. But given that 1080p requires a more complicated setup, I don't know how much they'd use it internally.

Now you're getting into your specific experiences, right? Weren't you actually involved in that 2" to D3 transfer project (mostly WHO)? When you say "latterly", is that to say that there were some 2" that did not get recorded to Digibeta?

I know, I know... all OT. I'll shut up now...

Not specific experiences. I don't work in archival. However I started working in the industry in the days of 1" and Betacam SP (with D1 3/4" digital component at the high end). I saw the adoption of D3 1/2" digital composite, and D2 3/4" digital composite - and the brief suggestion that 4fsc digital composite studio infrastructure might be a way forward. However digital component SDI overtook digital composite - and I'm not sure 4fsc was ever used for anything other than VTRs in PAL-land. (It was very useful for cloning)


Not me. I've never worked in archive transfers - but I am sort of across the BBC archive policy.

Initially 2" Quad was transferred just to D3 1/2" digital composite - accompanied by viewing copies on various formats (initially VCD and VHS). Then TRANSFORM decoding to DigiBeta was added to the transfer process - so both a D3 and a DigiBeta copy were created. Now we're into the 1" archive transfer process I think that the BBC has dropped the D3 dub (as D3 machines are quite tricky to keep running now - and there will need to be a D3 archival project soon) and instead do TRANSFORM copies to DigiBeta (2:1 compressed) and an uncompressed MXF wrapped component recording to LTO data tape.

The TRANSFORM decoder is mathematically reversible, so if a better composite decoding process is developed it will be possible to reverse TRANSFORM encode and then decode with the newer process. However TRANSFORM is very, very good.


Yep - AIUI quite a lot were archived to D3 1/2" composite digital only. I think the DigiBeta copies may only have been introduced when TRANSFORM decoding was possible. (I may be wrong though)

'Full 1080p' is marketing spin. No one broadcasts in 1080p. Only Blu-ray, a few select video games and a few select PPV movies from Dish or DirecTV are 1080p.

CBS is a 1080i network.

That is true. However most new broadcast studio and outside broadcast facilities are now built using the new "3G" (aka 3Gbs) HD-SDI infrastructure that has the capability of carrying 1080/50p and 1080/60p content (not just the 720/50&60p, 1080/50&60i and 1080/24-30p content that 1.5Gbs original HD-SDI could carry)

The current high-end cameras being installed - like the Sony HDC1500s and the ThomsonGrassValleyPhilips LDK 8000s (I think) - have 1080/50p and 1080/60p output at their camera heads, and new CCU and cable tech means that this will also be available on the CCU outputs.

Similarly vision mixers with 1080/50p and 1080/60p capability are imminent (if not here already)

It WILL soon be possible for studios and OB facilities to work entirely in 50Hz or 60Hz 1080p (it's been possible to work in 24-30Hz 1080p in some existing trucks for a number of years - as is the case with some music concert productions)

Of course there is no current means of getting this 1080/50p or 1080/60p signal from the studio and OB to a domestic TV yet - as the main network HD infrastructure is still 1080i or 720p - and there are no current adopted mainstream broadcast standards for 1080/50p or 60p broadcast.

HOWEVER if you build a studio to last 10 years or so - then you'd be foolish not to consider what might be round the corner. A lot can change in content distribution in that time.

I know that the new BSkyB (aka Sky) studio complex due to open in 2011 in West London has been specified to be 3G HD-SDI capable, and I believe they are ensuring that their OB contracts include a clause that can mean that suppliers have to allow for 3G 1080/50p production at some point. (Sky are also pushing ahead with 3D production tests - and 3G also allows 2 x 1080/50i signals to be routed down a single feed as well - so there are other reasons other than 1080/50p production to mean 3G infrastructure is sensible)

The new OB trucks used by the BBC for Wimbledon this year - OB3 and OB7 - are 3G HD-SDI equipped AIUI. (Though they currently run in 1080/50i - their cabling and routing infrastructure is 1080/50p ready)

I, for one, will be happy to see this happen. I love his brand of absurd humor (puppets, etc.), but the 4:3 SD bugs me.

Well, the CBS Morning Show is still in SD despite the show having discussions of the digital transition.

Those are 1080/24P. As has been mentioned in the past, it's possible to inverse telecine 1080/60i to 1080/24P with reverse 2/3 pulldown. IMO it's a major advantage that 1080i networks have over 720P. For Blu-ray and providers, the primary benefit of 24P distribution is improved encoding for both efficiency and the 4:2:0 color.

As sneals2000 was discussing, 1080/50P and 60P require either dual link 1.5Gbs or single link 3Gbs. Sony demonstrated dual link 1080/60P at NAB a few years ago on the 1500s. This is still at 4:2:2 color resolution, so I guess for full 4:4:4 one would need dual link 3Gbs (the second could be 1.5Gbs) or a single 4.5Gbs which I don't think is a standard.

The advantages are more than market spin. It would combine the advantages of 1080i and 720P. Sports would benefit from improved slo-mo. Production would be more future proofed and improved 50/60 hz conversions could result. However with 4K being used more for 24P production I wonder how soon 4K @ 50P or 60P might appear.

As for this show going HD, as the OP said it's about time. This will be the sixth late night show to go HD. The last SD one is "Last Call with Carson Daly". I wonder if there will be any calls in these forums for it to go HD. If it does, would there even be a thread created for it?

Yep ... those opening "musical numbers" could well be the most entertaining 2-3 minutes on TV.

I'm just curious what you mean by that as there is really no connection between the digital transition and HD TV...