Looking Back At The BBC "Shib-Shed"

[LanceM]

Hello Again,

I was reminising of a photo I saw a while back of the BBC Shibaden Shed as it was called.Was able to find a great article posted by Don Kershaw of BBCVT Oldboys:

"Low quality helical scan vtrs, fore-runners of VHS were purchased to enable producers to view programme material in their offices and choose how they wanted it edited. Shibaden made a reel to reel machine with a built in monitor ideal for this purpose and with time code “burnt” into picture they could produce an edit log and come to edit the programme proper with many of the edit decisions already made. Helical scan recorders had the advantage of being able to display a picture whilst spooling and also still frames.
Recordings were made in Recording Area 2 in what became known as the “SHIB SHED” where the half inch machines recorded automatically following the broadcast quality vtr."

www.vtoldboys.com/donk01.htm

I have been curious ever since reading this article, if there still remain many Shibaden Recordings from The "Shib-Shed". And, what the chances that further helical scan recordings may exist? May never know sadly, just a thought.

Further information here would be much apreciated if at all possible.

Cheers,Lance.

[Peter Stirling]

This was probably the origins of the "off line edit" and follows the "rough cut" from the film world. This was where the creative person of the production would join (actually bung) together
all the material on a low quality portable machine of how he wanted it (later VHS), he would then hand this tape to the editor proper, who would then source all the material from the TC readings on the screen and which ' takes ' to use and join it properly on the BIG tape machines to create the "on line edit".

Open reel small formats dont tend to survive well because they obviously get unrolled at some point, (usually on the floor) , and they are more exposed to the elements.
The Philips N1500 and the Umatic was a step forward as the tape is kept safely and tight in the cassette. Sometimes too tight with these two formats.

An editing superstar would have been the Philips V2000 with its
electronic tape marking system and noise free FFW/RWD/ still picture, but it lost out to VHS which despite all its failings has proved very reliable and sometimes archives better than many expensive formats.






.

[Richard Bignell]

The Shibaden recordings on the Doctor Who DVDs all hail from the BBC's Shib Shed, but they're very few and far between and getting a stable image out of the handful that do remain can be a real pain. Sometimes no video signal can be obtained at all and all that can be gleaned is the raw soundtrack. The Shibaden recordings on the new Image of the Fendahl DVD are as stable as could be managed, and I understand that they are a composite of two or three passes that SVS made of the tapes, trying to shift the static to different places on the screen.

The only other BBC Shibaden recordings I've seen are from A Little Silver Trumpet recorded in 1980.

Richard