A Question For The Television People...

[Scott Reppert]

I am helping out a Church that is wanting to start up a television broadcast that has come up with one question that I cannot answer: what types of formats would their shows have to be on to be accepted most widely throughtout the television industry?

Would this be something like DVC Pro, BETA, regular old DVD, video file on a data DVD, Super VHS, VHS, or maybe something that I haven't even come close to mentioning? I figured by starting around here to find an answer would be the best bet...but if any of you know what it would take to be broadcast by a larger market station/network, that would be great, too!

Thanks!

[genlock]

The answer is.

Depends.


Check with the people at the TV stations that you feel will carry your show.
They may be dvc pro based or broadcast beta based. There is no one format for all. Whatever you do, please realize that the best that your broadcast will ever look is when it comes out of your switcher. Recording to any media will degrade it a little and the transmitter will degrade it more. So start with the best product you can. If your stations will accept digital media, by all means use digital. Less degradation. Don't be tempted to dub the shows thru several generations or to go from analog to digital and back. There is no such thing as lossless conversion altho some are better than others. I would hope that stations in your area would use dvd or dvc-pro. If you can make the cameras look good and get it recorded properly, It will look fine on the air. Forget VHS, it is crap.
Don't ignore audio, most do and it hurts the overall presentation.
Even if your performance is perfect, a poorly produced show or one that is technically deficient will cause your audience to tune out.

[genlock]

One more thing. Watch your levels and iris settings to insure consistent video quality. Most stations/cable networks do not have the people to adjust levels throughout a program. Audio and Video both. Do not depent on A//V agc units to do the work. They don't

[Arp2]

What Genlock said.

But I'd like to add a little to it, if I might.

Whatever you do, please realize that the best that your broadcast will ever look is when it comes out of your switcher.

So, that being the case, (a) it's gotta be a good switcher (budget $25-30,000), (b) the stuff going into the switcher has to be good, (c) the paths between that stuff and the switcher have to be clean and simple, and (d) the path out of the switcher and into the editor (I'm assuming you're using a computer) needs to be short, clean, and simple. If something needs "a little somethin'" or some "correction" between the switcher and the recorder/editor, then something is not right.

If you can make the cameras look good and get it recorded properly, It will look fine on the air.

And an often-overlooked item in making cameras look good is the tripods/pedestals. Plan on spending an amount that makes some people think, "Are you serious? You gotta be kidding me! That much on that??"

It doesn't have to be a fortune, but it probably needs to be more than might occur to you.

Don't ignore audio, most do and it hurts the overall presentation.
Even if your performance is perfect, a poorly produced show or one that is technically deficient will cause your audience to tune out.

Translation: your FOH mix is not good enough or even appropriate. You really need a separate mix, which means a separate board and a separate operator (and, perhaps, a complete rewiring as virtually all the cables in the system get doubled/duplicated). And additional mics for crowd responses (laughs, applause, etc) and to provide natural ambience. And all the mics have to be really pretty darn good. And feedback should never been an issue. And, even in the best of technical situations, getting a good audio mix (assuming you're recording music) for air is hard and is an art.

So it should be an interesting project! If you're starting from scratch, spending $60,000 on video and audio would be easy. And then there's the training of all the people. And then there are licensing issues if you're using any music.....

[Big Media]

Most stations around here will begrudgingly accept DVD. Most of those same stations take you disc and dump it to their format of choice so.

However, if you step up to DVCam or even MiniDV or DVC Pro, the majority of stations will be able to handle that and you can typically render your project straight to tape. This will save you lots of headaches. A good deck from JVC, is less than $900 and handles multiple tasks including MiniDV.

Lighting Lighting Lighting. It makes or breaks your broadcast.

What ever you decide, review the damn tape (or disc) BEFORE you drop it off to the station. Make sure there are both audio and video and make sure they actually match (or sync).

If you use DVD, put 5 seconds of black before first video. This will prevent a brief freeze frame at the beginning of the broadcast which most stations cut out (this looks bad for you and the station).

Oh, and 28:30 or 58:30 on the dot. Any variation will result in your preacher being cut off or having your show surrounded by PSAs to make it time out.

Good luck.