Television adverts

[smittims]

I know we like to chafe at the BBC but one advantage of BBC Tv is a lack of adverts, except of course for their own.

Have adverts on commercial TV become worse? I used to find them entertaining ('Gold Blend' with Sharon Mughan and Anthony Head., and Paul Eddington's 'I shall be writing to Nescafe'), but this morning I cut the adverts out of a Drama channel 90 minute film and found the eigth commercial breaks added 40 minutes to the overall timing, and worse, they were the same adverts each time. Sometimes they're as long as the bits of film in between .

[oddoneout]

I know we like to chafe at the BBC but one advantage of BBC Tv is a lack of adverts, except of course for their own.

Have adverts on commercial TV become worse? I used to find them entertaining ('Gold Blend' with Sharon Mughan and Anthony Head., and Paul Eddington's 'I shall be writing to Nescafe'), but this morning I cut the adverts out of a Drama channel 90 minute film and found the eigth commercial breaks added 40 minutes to the overall timing, and worse, they were the same adverts each time. Sometimes they're as long as the bits of film in between .

I got caught out by a couple of Channel4/5 programmes I watched on Friday which didn't have the adverts - missed a chunk of one going to make a cup of tea in what would normally have been more than adequate time. Seeing the schedule timings did bring home just how much of a programme slot is taken up with the commercial bit.

[Old Grumpy]

I know we like to chafe at the BBC but one advantage of BBC Tv is a lack of adverts, except of course for their own.

Have adverts on commercial TV become worse? I used to find them entertaining ('Gold Blend' with Sharon Mughan and Anthony Head., and Paul Eddington's 'I shall be writing to Nescafe'), but this morning I cut the adverts out of a Drama channel 90 minute film and found the eigth commercial breaks added 40 minutes to the overall timing, and worse, they were the same adverts each time. Sometimes they're as long as the bits of film in between .

And most of them are for gambling sites or funeral plans!

[Serial_Apologist]

And most of them are for gambling sites or funeral plans!

Gambling, funeral plans (we'll I'm not complaining about those!), unhealthy foods, erectile dysfunction before the watershed. Yes, and the quality of commercials has been deteriorating for some time - I've been watching programmes I taped from the 1990s/2000s when I was out, and so did not put on hold for the ad breaks, and they were much more intelligent and creative back then than is the case today. Adverts will still be needed when we get to legislate for accuracy, informativeness, and hopefully product longevity, but we have to remember advertising is to create products which are often socially unnecessary but potentially profitable and remind people their world ends with the self, which is all that matters under capitalism. My two upstairs neighbours both work in advertising - I would love to invite them in to show the evidence - but I think they too know the score.

[smittims]

Yes; I slso suspect that many TV Dramas are tailored to surround the adverts, e.g. the so-common dramas which pretend to 'empower' women but which are really exploiting their vulnerability for buying overpriced products.

[eighthobstruction]

....having to be confronted by adverts while watching TV is like a dagger through my h eart - eyes - soul....dreardful 'put on' happiness and enthusiasm for caca....it seems to have been taken to a new level, a level of frenzied caca....

[cloughie]

....having to be confronted by adverts while watching TV is like a dagger through my h eart - eyes - soul....dreardful 'put on' happiness and enthusiasm for caca....it seems to have been taken to a new level, a level of frenzied caca....

…and the bank we taxpayers bailed out is back in business!

[mikealdren]

We rarely watch TV with adverts live. Our old BT box allows us to skip forward in increments of 1 minute which usually match the adverts pretty accurately. We only get caught if we watch on catch up or occasional live sporting events.

[cloughie]

We rarely watch TV with adverts live. Our old BT box allows us to skip forward in increments of 1 minute which usually match the adverts pretty accurately. We only get caught if we watch on catch up or occasional live sporting events.

For anything with ads, put on record then start playback of recording about 15 mins or so in, fast forward over ads and by the end of a 2 hr programme will have caught up!

[smittims]

I record the whole programme then edit by 'partial delete'. You have to be precise pressing your start and end buttons but once you've acquiredthe skill you have the whole film sans adverts. Sit back and enjoy.

[Bryn]

I record the whole programme then edit by 'partial delete'. You have to be precise pressing your start and end buttons but once you've acquiredthe skill you have the whole film sans adverts. Sit back and enjoy.

Can you not step through or back to the precise frame? That's what I used to do with my old video recorder. If I capture a television programme with my Panasonic Blu-ray/hard disc recorder, I do the same, though it does tend to leave a very slight hiatus at the edit points

[smittims]

Not sure what you mean in your first sentence. I press start and finish at the beginning and end of the passage I want to delete. It makes a much cleaner break on a digital recorder than it did on a VHS tape, where there was a fuzzy moment each time.

[Bryn]

Not sure what you mean in your first sentence. I press start and finish at the beginning and end of the passage I want to delete. It makes a much cleaner break on a digital recorder than it did on a VHS tape, where there was a fuzzy moment each time.

When editing for partial deletion, I pause close to the intended edit points, then use the advance or reverse buttons to move, frame by frame, to the exact transition from prgramme to advertisement (and vice versa). Perhaps the device you use does not have this facility.

[kernelbogey]

...erectile dysfunction before the watershed....

Is there a separate treatment for this?

[Bryn]

Is there a separate treatment for this?

Potassium bromide?