What does Herb's build-up to broadcast mean?
In The Newsroom, what is meant when Herb counts down to a broadcast by saying "Roll VTRx right before the intro sequence to News Night begins playing?
Best Answer
Roll VTR
means "Roll Video Tape Recorder"...
He's giving the instruction to start the playback of the pre-recorded introduction sequence.
It's that simple.
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What is the meaning of broadcast in agriculture?
In agriculture, gardening, and forestry, broadcast seeding is a method of seeding that involves scattering seed, by hand or mechanically, over a relatively large area.What is broadcast scattering?
Answer: Broadcast planting is the method of sowing seeds by scattering them over the surface of the soil.How do I broadcast sow?
How to 'Broadcast' seeds by hand. To sow seed, stand with your back to the breeze and flick the seed out at waist height. Use a wrist action similar to using an egg whisk but much slower, walk then cast the seed. The seed is sown very sparingly so take care.What are the advantages of broadcasting in planting?
The advantage of broadcast seeding is that it permits large acreages to be sown in less time; the disadvantages are poor soil to seed contact, uneven planting depths (some seed too shallow for proper emergence of permanent root systems, and other seed too deep for germination), and, often, poor plant distribution.Gordon's Guide To Herbs
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Answer 2
To expand upon Paulie_D’s undeniably correct answer, which I think misses some nuance as to why Herb would say this:
Typically, in the old days, a broadcast facility would have an equipment rack (or more) filled with Sony Betacam video tape players (and player-recorders, but IIRC there were some models which lacked a record head). The producer would specify these by name, like “VTR 1.”
These highly precise devices required a certain amount of play time to get up to speed (what was occasionally referred to in broadcast technology as the “internal ballistics” - mechanical latency around tensioning the tape correctly and moving the play head to it as well as the time it takes to achieve the correct tape velocity). Because of this, it was necessary to start it a little time ahead of when it was going to be switch to air (a so-called “preroll time” which was typically between three and ten seconds), so if one were planning to play a commercial from a VTR immediately after the initial credits, and one knew the duration of the credits and the preroll time (which a producer would), you could time it so the VTR was playing at the right speed just as the credits ended and the commercial needed to go to air.
In general, since the early 2000s, broadcasters have preferred video disk recorders (VDRs) over tape.
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