Is it time for TV channel tattoos to get the flick?

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Is it time for TV channel tattoos to get the flick?

Dingbatt

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#245559 10-Feb-2019 16:36

I'm sitting here watching the cricket on my precious LG OLED worried as always about image retention (burn in) of static images. Because the action is pretty frenetic Sky is using a screen wipe to replay the action and as such is clearing the score ticker relatively frequently, but the SKY sport1 LIVE tattoo is pretty much there continuously.
For some reason the TV's processing doesn't dim the logo like it does on some channels (most notably the TVNZ ones). At least it isn't as bad as it was for the Aussie Open Tennis.

I remember when the tattoos were first introduced on FTA TV. TV3 sent out a bunch of stickers for people to stick on the corner of their screen. Not sure if anybody did but it was a clever piece of marketing all the same.

That got me thinking, what's the point of having the tattoos these days? When a button press tells you what channel you are on, what's up next, etc. Just marketing I guess.
The least they could do is make them move occasionally or better still disappear to give the pixels a rest.

And while I'm ranting, does putting a whole lot of junk on the bottom of the screen promoting the next three programs annoy anybody else?

It's driving me to streaming services!

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

rugrat

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#2175996 10-Feb-2019 17:10

I think CNN has a constant bright red logo, and Sky News.

I got an OLED within last 6 months, hope unlit screen doesn’t cause burn in because most movies, programs I watch are not 16:9 but wider aspect.

Sky movies works out cheaper for me then other methods for quantity, above box rental price $6 plus $15 for movie package, they don’t over write end credits, so for $21 all I can eat 6 month old plus movies prepared to put up with logo. Neon would be ideal but would rather have DD 5.1 then no logo.

stinger

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#2176011 10-Feb-2019 17:35

Channel watermarks are a fact of life, and I can't think of any channels in NZ and Australia that don't have on. Sky channels had watermarks well before TV 3 did.

I'm guessing it serves two purposes. Firstly, you know what channel you are watching, and secondly it's promoting their brand. Most channel watermarks are pretty transparent, so burn in should not be an issue.

LGSAM

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#2176018 10-Feb-2019 17:43

Watching TV1 or 3 morning shows and owning an OLED makes you realize how much static junk is placed on the screen . I try not to have my settings too high but do not want to completely ruin the picture quality either .

DjShadow

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#2176022 10-Feb-2019 17:52

OT I recall when TV3 did "teledots" back in the early 90's where you had to stick this thing onto the TV screen over some logo thing which would eventually burn into the dot proof you watched the whole TV program.

On topic: Could it be worth suggesting to the TV networks to maybe shift their watermark every 10-15 mins to another corner of the screen?

stinger

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#2176027 10-Feb-2019 18:06

DjShadow:

OT I recall when TV3 did "teledots" back in the early 90's where you had to stick this thing onto the TV screen over some logo thing which would eventually burn into the dot proof you watched the whole TV program.

Teledots were in 2000. Source: http://www.howden.net.nz/funstuff/?page=tvpage and I'm pretty sure I was in a certain place when the promotion ran.

LGSAM

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#2176039 10-Feb-2019 18:37

I think the OLEDs might be a little different to the Plasma's regarding burn in , you can probably get away with leaving static images on by accident for a couple of hours but its the day after day static stuff that eventually catches up on Oled . I suppose its still early days to know .

MickeyD

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#2176049 10-Feb-2019 19:07

I rely on the watermark so that comskip can work out what is commercial and what is part of the show. The new kodi finally processes the edl file for recorded tv playback too.

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Behodar

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#2176053 10-Feb-2019 19:17

I still remember the words "mental conditioning" in a letter published in TV Guide after the Teledot promotion finished and the logo stayed there 24/7 (except during ads, the one time where you can't guess which channel you're on by the type of thing that's playing...)

Dunnersfella

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#2176099 10-Feb-2019 21:11

I think it's time for the HUD in Red Dead to get the flick... damned thing will probably be burnt into my panel for the next year or so!

Oblivian

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#2176123 10-Feb-2019 22:37

Wonder if some buff ever thought it would be a great idea to assist who was leaking kiwi programs onto the Torrent scenes..

Agree though. It's like cadbury and other marketing that have made ever subtle changes to test the waters. And continue to do so to try and 'please the masses' when infact it's a brainchild of the select few they tested on.

Someone already mentioned the next/other sister channel update crud. But there was also the adjustment to no ads between start/end of programming - by means of pre-rolling credits either so fast, or so small as PiP so you can't view them anymore, but their broadcast obligation is complete.

So much so, that a number of programs with end credit scenes have been totally missed recently (Marvel franchise..) as the timing cuts are presumably automatic from marker points

The only thing they are good for, is giving you a hint when you can dash off for a pee, cause they fade out/turn off on TVNZ just before you are bombarded with ads

Groucho

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#2176236 11-Feb-2019 10:46

stinger:

I'm guessing it serves two purposes. Firstly, you know what channel you are watching, and secondly it's promoting their brand. Most channel watermarks are pretty transparent, so burn in should not be an issue.

Third purpose, copyright. With footage and clips broadcast and streamed across different platforms it's a way of attributing where content came from if permission hasn't specifically been sought.

stinger

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#2176265 11-Feb-2019 11:38

Groucho:
Third purpose, copyright. With footage and clips broadcast and streamed across different platforms it's a way of attributing where content came from if permission hasn't specifically been sought.

I would buy that theory except for the fact that both Media works and TVNZ don't watermark their non-live on demand content. In Australia, all on demand content except SBS is watermarked, and in the case of Seven, Nine and 10 it is different to the broadcast one.

Groucho

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#2176289 11-Feb-2019 12:12

stinger:
Groucho:

Third purpose, copyright. With footage and clips broadcast and streamed across different platforms it's a way of attributing where content came from if permission hasn't specifically been sought.

I would buy that theory except for the fact that both Media works and TVNZ don't watermark their non-live on demand content. In Australia, all on demand content except SBS is watermarked, and in the case of Seven, Nine and 10 it is different to the broadcast one.

Ah, but I'm pretty sure you can't share that video content directly from their on demand platforms? e.g. you can't watch an episode of "My Kitchen DIY Rules Island" via an embedded player in a Facebook post. TVNZ require you to be logged in to start with. My thought was more a global thing as if you look at the Stephen Colbert, The Daily Show or John Oliver type shows who package up montages from news programmes, they all clearly show the respective content creator for each clip. In theory it prevents some dodgy vlogger from using commercial footage and making it appear it's their own handy work.

LGSAM

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#2176570 11-Feb-2019 15:58

rugrat: I think CNN has a constant bright red logo, and Sky News.

I got an OLED within last 6 months, hope unlit screen doesn’t cause burn in because most movies, programs I watch are not 16:9 but wider aspect.

Sky movies works out cheaper for me then other methods for quantity, above box rental price $6 plus $15 for movie package, they don’t over write end credits, so for $21 all I can eat 6 month old plus movies prepared to put up with logo. Neon would be ideal but would rather have DD 5.1 then no logo.

What concerned me was looking in JB hifi , a Sony 65 oled and also a Panasonic oled with letterbox burn in . I do not know what content they have been displaying as both were playing demos which only had a small amount of letterbox content but both were in torch mode .

Paul1977

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#2180976 15-Feb-2019 14:59

The thing to remember with actual burn-in (as opposed to image retention) is that it a result of the cumulative time an image is on the screen - not the continuous time.

True burn-in is caused by the fact that in OLED (and previously plasma) pixels dim over the life of the TV as a result of how much they have been used. For this reason not having the "tattoos" during commercials or them being semi transparent doesn't prevent burn-in, it just slows it down.

That said, I think the newer OLEDs do a pretty good job with their regular compensations cycles to help counter it as much as possible. I'm not entirely sure how it works, but I thinks it adjusts power to each pixel to try to keep them as consistent as possible.