At the risk of repeating ourselves, again, an apology to regular visitors to this site who have despaired of finding anything new. Updating the site is not a task which is relished by your worthy videographer .......... all this new technology is a little overwhelming to somebody very close to retirement who was brought up in an age of John Bull printing outfits and Gestetner duplicators !
However, we must move with the times, and this is reflected in the direction our new release programme will take in the immediate future.
The series "Working Buses", which now offers a total of nineteen programmes, will not be expanded any further. The concept of a wide geographical coverage within one programme has not been universally well received, and a concensus of opinion would appear to be that a more limited area coverage is preferable.
"After the Act" will continue in it's present form until the library of archive footage held is exhausted, probably in another two years. As now, this material will be issued in aproximately the order in which it was filmed.
Our new series "Todays Buses" is an attempt to meet the demands of a discerning audience who have expressed a strong preference for topical, regional programmes, in our existing format of continuous action, commentary free, in service footage.
The first two programmes in this new series, Tyne & Wear with Durham, and Oxfordshire have sold in very satisfactory numbers, and judging by the numbers of new customers from within the targetted areas, a real demand is being met.
Whilst it is impracticable to accurately forecast the rate of production, it is certainly hoped to have at least twenty programmes available by the end of the year.
Finally, a word on our returns and Guarantee policy.
Due to the ease with which domestic recording equipment can copy DVD-R discs, it would be totally unreasonable and inappropriate to offer a returns service EXCEPT in the case of a faulty disc.
The technology of producing DVD-R's is a nightmare, and inevitably will be replaced by a memory-stick type alternative sooner rather than later. Until this welcome day arrives, we will continue to take the greatest care in the production of our programmes. Copies are made at the slowest available speed (4X) onto good quality media using a professional duplicator. Every copy is individually electronically scanned to ensure compliance with the original. Random samples are test-played in a fairly old player to ensure trouble free playing.
Most problems are caused by incompatibility with certain older, or more recent budget model players, or damage to the playing surface.
We will happily exchange any disc that does not play as it should. Please, wherever possible, try it on a second machine to determine that it really is the disc, and if so, return just the disc, retaining the case for an exchange disc and refund of your postage.
FAQ's
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Several people have mentioned that in the "After the Act" series, when they play the disc, although the picture is fine, it appears "squashed", and vehicles look lower and/or wider. Sorry, but that is beyond our control. Our old footage was shot in good old 1:1 ratio. It's only when the TV set manufacturers tried to kid us that they were producing wide screen tellys that the problem started. They started making their sets first 4:3, then 16:9, in anticipation of programme content becoming available. A possible remedy is to see if your set can be altered (usually via the remote) to play-back in "normal"
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The original footage in all our productions was captured in the PAL format and we do not have the facilities to convert to NTSC. However, many modern players are dual format.
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It is not possible to supply any of our programmes on VHS tape.
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Sorry - but it is not possible to produce bespoke programmes for customers with a particular geographical interest. However, send us an e-mail with details of your favourite areas or fleets, and we can tell you what is in our library, and roughly when it might be published.
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A small number of customers have reported that discs will not play on their domestic DVD, but run fine on their computer. This is a problem over which we have no control. Discs are duplicated in the DVD-R format, and should play in most modern (less than three years) machines, together with older machines that specifically support the DVD-R format. All discs are individually tested by ensuring that they load correctly, and that a minimum of three segments can be accessed via the menu.
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FAQ's:6
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