TWC Today Forums
Present - The Weather Channel 2000 => Programming and Graphics => Topic started by: jrhtwc on August 20, 2019, 07:59:38 AM
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The L Bar is gone!!! Now the LDL looks like the Watch TWC App. AMHQ looks to have new graphics as well.
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considering they stopped actually using the L bar outside of the radar and ads, not surprising..
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I notice that too when I just turned to TWC today. Who ever have TWC that have an HD Feed on a SD Feed, it's a lot of worse and can't see everything unless if they have the HD channel. Some TVs can see the whole thing, some TVs can't. I'm not sure if anyone here still have the SD version of TWC.
I think the Local On the 8's is still fine.
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Guess it's technically still Weather All The Time as the LDL stays on during the commerical breaks, and it's not stupidly labeled LOT8.
Glad they ditched the L Bar, it became pretty worthless in recent years.
New graphics look pretty good, in my opinion. Fullscreen LOT8 bit of a letdown - exactly the same except for the new font used.
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If you're away from a TV, here's what they look like. With the absence of the "Local on the 8s LDL", ad crawls (black text on a white background) just run over the LDL when the LDL starts a new cycle. Seems without an ad crawl, you get a promo (white on the black/dark gray background) as shown in the first screenshot. The typeface appears to have changed from Akko to Roboto and Roboto Condensed. Frankly, I like the color scheme...the font could use work. It looks kind of...cheap.
For those who haven't seen the "new" LOT8s look. ("New" because the only thing changed is the typeface)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj2kSv6wuCg (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj2kSv6wuCg)
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I caught a quick video of it this morning. https://youtu.be/2XFIgUfbFAY
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36s7peooSG8 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36s7peooSG8)
For the SD and IS2 Jr viewers, the LDL is larger in size and what we get is essentially a letterboxed version of the HD feed. Honestly, I kinda like these updated graphics compared to the old ones. :yes:
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Another "feature" that I find annoying is that the entire LDL is taken up by a crawl. There's a Severe Thunderstorm Watch in effect for 1 county of the 4 that this unit "serves" (despite the cable company basically only serving one county, and it's not the one under the watch). So, no forecasts, no current conditions, not even the advertising crawl...so we can see "A Severe Thunderstorm Watch is in effect for Shelby County until 9:00 PM."
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Honestly, it's about time! TWC had the same graphics for almost 6 years, it was time for a new look
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i actually remember a few months ago they sent out an email survey asking about the types of maps and fonts did you like.. it looks like they took that feedback for this update
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i actually remember a few months ago they sent out an email survey asking about the types of maps and fonts did you like.. it looks like they took that feedback for this update
Interestingly, it seems like they've been working on this package since January according to a tweet from one of the meteorologists (https://twitter.com/jamessinko/status/1163786711819853826?s=21). At the time, I thought it would just be the maps getting changed—boy was I wrong! Either those surveyed mainly picked the new stuff or TWC is using that survey as a justification for the change regardless of the result (remember the LOT8s cuts, how they didn't care about people's opinions on the matter).
To be fair, I think the new graphics are fine—and a refresh was needed—but they strangely appear really rushed and have plenty of things that need to be fixed.
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The new LDL is being used during the long-form shows.
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Guess it's technically still Weather All The Time as the LDL stays on during the commerical breaks, and it's not stupidly labeled LOT8.
Glad they ditched the L Bar, it became pretty worthless in recent years.
New graphics look pretty good, in my opinion. Fullscreen LOT8 bit of a letdown - exactly the same except for the new font used.
Glad the L Bar fearuing longform ads are gone!! Rolleyes!
However wonder what they'll do if the US gets a landfall? The L Bar was handy then. WeatherNation even uses the L Bar for landfalls.
WeatherNation still has their L Bar and graphics.
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The lower third has an empty space to the right of it. That area is for severe weather information and other random info they throw there. Should be interesting to see in action.
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the survey i mentioned showed you a few different types of maps, some more detailed than others, some real clean and basic, some in between.. which did you like best,
then each map with a different location nameplate if you will, in different font and formats, asking which combination you liked..
i dont remember what some of the other questions were though
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the survey i mentioned showed you a few different types of maps, some more detailed than others, some real clean and basic, some in between.. which did you like best,
then each map with a different location nameplate if you will, in different font and formats, asking which combination you liked..
i dont remember what some of the other questions were though
Was Interstate an option? :P (Although I do miss seeing that font on-air...)
Seriously though, I feel like I'm one of the few people here who doesn't mind them switching from Akko to Roboto for their main graphics. It's much cleaner to read.
Personally, it would've been great if they could've updated the LOT8s graphics as well. Changing the font only doesn't do much.
EDIT: weather.com apparently doesn't have the new graphics. Yes, they're separate now, but you'd think that there still would be some graphical continuity between the two companies...
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TWC finally adopts the simplistic, flat look! It's about time. This is the trend most stations go with nowadays, and I think it looks a whole lot cleaner. I found that whole sidebar distracting.
Not sure how I feel about the font, though... :thinking:
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Judging from the screenshots/video, I think the graphics look great, but of course they're not anything outstanding, it's pretty mainstream compared to other cable networks which is perfectly fine. I've always been a fan of simple and modern. I was always a fan of the graphics they have had the past 6 years, although I've always felt like I was in the minority on that then, possibly even now. The sidebar was a good addition if you had a local HD feed, not the HD national feed when it came to the information it displayed. In hindsight looking back from 2008-2013 era of TWC's HD graphics they ranged from OK to bad imo. 2008-2009 is where I thought they were ok, but 2010-2013 is where they seemed to be all over the place, they seemed inconsistent in staying with any graphical style for more than a year if that. If you need more proof just look how Your Weather Today evolved from 2009-2014 during the Abrams & Bettes era. There were so many graphical overhauls on that show alone I could barely keep up. :wacko: I don't even want to get started on the WS4000 inspired LDL, specifically the unnecessarily humongous version that ate up 1/3 of the entire screen. <_<
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I really like these new graphics. I wish they would change the font on the local on the 8s back though as I think it looks ugly.
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First look at the new severe weather graphics area/special graphics area. Looks pretty neat, though the text is a bit small, even in HD.
(https://i.ibb.co/cxK95TD/FF863-D8-E-D1-B6-478-F-B9-C2-33-F956709-AFC.jpg) (https://ibb.co/8Xnw386)
Edit: They also have this alternate graphic with current storm stats during these box shots:
(https://i.ibb.co/PjRMYkn/B81-A61-A7-51-B1-42-F5-B14-D-F38-B67255-C69.jpg) (https://ibb.co/3dwvsKq)
(https://i.ibb.co/WWMDN3g/5480540-D-EE68-4634-83-C8-421-C463-FC07-F.jpg) (https://ibb.co/4ZXswfP)
(https://i.ibb.co/pjWg86Y/27086370-BA02-4250-AE93-D9-CD7694-D8-F2.jpg) (https://ibb.co/k23pfVN)
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TWC can’t completely kill off the sidebar, here’s a graphic they’re using during commercials now.
(https://i.ibb.co/JK5GRKM/CACDF17-A-6253-4039-AC3-B-2-D46-E04-EE3-E0.png) (https://ibb.co/hyD4Ryt)
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I do like the new look of The Weather Channel. :yes: