Ceefax - A love letter

I used to work as a sub-editor for Teletext. Writing 35-character headlines for the analogue service was some of the best journalism training anybody could have. I still remember some of the best:<p>Spurs move right, said Fred's agent<p>Sizzling Gasquet batters sorry Fish<p>Fish Mardy from Del Potro battering<p>(we liked Mardy Fish losing badly at tennis, particularly if he also had a strop after)<p>For anybody with knowledge about British tennis out there, the following became a running joke which we rehashed at every opportunity.<p>Bogdanovic suffers first-round exit<p>That must have been used a mind-boggling number of times.<p>We also did subbing for Ceefax, with its extra paragraph - but I'll always have a bigger place in my heart for Teletext and its 40 x 24 character grids (for text, 35 for headlines).<p>Romantics ire after death of Ceefax

Probably the most interesting thing about Ceefax and the other teletext services was that it was a wonderful hack using the Vertical Blanking Interval between TV frames.<p>See <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertical_Blanking_Interval" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertical_Blanking_Interval</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teletext#Data_transmission" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teletext#Data_transmission</a><p>The VBI itself is a hang over to slow technology used in CRTs: <i>The VBI was originally needed because of the inductive inertia of the magnetic coils which deflect the electron beam vertically in a CRT; the magnetic field, and hence the position being drawn, cannot change instantly. Additionally, the speed of older circuits was limited.</i><p>The idea for Ceefax came from the BBC who were researching ways to send subtitles for the hard of hearing: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teletext#Development" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teletext#Development</a>

This post is going to baffle a lot of US readers. I moved to Ireland in 2006 and had never seen anything like ceefax (it's Aertel in Ireland). I love how old school it is--feels like a early 80's video game.<p>I admit I have found myself sitting at the pub "watching" scores refresh on a soccer/gaa match when it wasn't on TV and I didn't have my iphone.<p>Teletext: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teletext" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teletext</a> Ceefax: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceefax" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceefax</a>

I was a bit young to make the most of Ceefax/Teletext but the one thing I truly loved and read many times a week for years was Digitiser on Channel 4's Teletext service.<p>It was a magazine about computer games, written in a fantastically stupid manner, full of daft jokes and innuendos and presented by a set of rather offensive characters (Fat Sow and Insincere Dave being my favourites).<p>The 'limited' graphics added to it, in my opinion. It was also, probably the only set of pages to make good use of the reveal button.

Nice and nostalgic, but a few inaccuracies;<p><i>Firstly, it could do the basics very fast.</i><p>...if you had a fancy TV that cached the carousel index pages. If not you type in the page number you want and wait for it to cycle around in the carousel. Which could be pretty slow on Oracle, as all those holiday ads played out.<p><i>If you were amending a page, it went through instantly, when you change something on the web, it may go through instantly. Or it may not.</i><p>But if you're authoring for the MHEG interactive service on Freeview then it can get pushed straight away. Apples/oranges comparison, really.<p><i>Secondly, it provided an instant and BBC-certified timecheck, accurate to the second</i><p>As does Freeview, and all other DVB platforms. Most TVs have a button to tell you what time it is.

Here's how Ceefax used to be used for computer programs: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctxZWEVJ1S0" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctxZWEVJ1S0</a>

I was so looking forward to a more 'web like' replacement for Ceefax/Teletext, to augment broadcasts. I never use the digital TV red button as it feels even slower than the 70s technology.<p>Add to that that I can't even read what is on the screen. At least I can read Ceefax. Perhaps it is because I don't have a TV display larger than 22".<p>The company that can add useful overlays to existing broadcasts - could clean up: think Twitter/Wikipedia on the telly. A use for something like raspberry pi?

See also a discussion here about Teletext, a similar service: <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=996889" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=996889</a>

I know a lot of the older generation will miss it. Especially those that don't use traditional computers, yet regularly check the value of their shares etc.

Any afficionados of Ceefax might enjoy the spoof from the DVD of "Look Around You" - itself a wonderful pastiche on the BBC's 1970s "programmes for schools" public service broadcasts. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfsBT8fQ7_I" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfsBT8fQ7_I</a>

RIP<p>For many, this type of TV technology was their first exposure to "technology".

I'm fairly sure if I develop any sort of vision impediment in future years, Ceefax will have contributed significantly to it.