EX1 for Broadcast

[Craig Seeman]

At the bottom of the post look at the Related Threads. OVERWHELMING YES!

BTW the term “Broadcast Quality” is near MEANINGLESS. Major networks are using cell phone video.

As to whether networks accept it for broadcast, OVERWHELMING YES to that more meaningful question. There’s almost no point in listing but Discovery Channel and BBC come to mind. It’s also been used as a “B” camera in many feature films. Recently “District 9” comes to mind. I’ve used it for local cable spots myself.

Is your client doing broadcast work?
If they’re not trying to meet someone’s broadcast spec, looking at your demo reel (or someone’s demo reel) should be enough.

[Daniel Startek]

Also ‘B’ camera in Public Enemies.

[Greg Ondera]

Yes, and my understanding is that the Discovery channel has given it a silver status for broadcast, which isn’t the best, but it works well.

Greg Ondera
http://www.Plexus.tv
http://www.SurgeonToday.org

[Rafael Amador]

[Craig Seeman] “BTW the term “Broadcast Quality” is near MEANINGLE”
“Broadcast Quality” is an analog term. Refers to the Signal to Noise ratio and Bandwidth of an analog system.
Started to make little sense with the arrival of the Betacam.
Been the Broadcast format for ages, Betacam never was “Broadcast Quality” up to these specs.
rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[Jordan Dwyer]

Hi Greg
What is silver status with discovery. Does that mean i can shoot an entire 54 minute with the ex1 or only a certain amount, in terms of being able to be shown on Discovery channel?

My Website: https://www.newagetv.co.za
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/MrNewAgeTv

3D Animation: Light Wave 3D
My Camera: Sony EX1
Web Design: Flash CS4
Editing: Liquid Edition

[Ed Kukla]

This is my understanding of Discovery HD:

Discovery HD has 3 levels; gold, silver & bronze. 35mm and some of the 1″ imager cameras are gold, the bulk of production HD cameras such as the Sony F900, Varicam, HDX900 are all silver. HDV, HVX200 and all SD material are bronze.
Bronze has severe restrictions on length of time within a show and the use has to be justified with no alternative available.
Silver is fully accepted for the entire length of programming on Discovery HD.

The EX cameras are silver level so Discovery is putting them on the same acceptance level with F900, Varicam & HDX900. Note the HVX200 did not make it nor did any HDV.

[Jordan Dwyer]

Thanks Greg, that is good news. I knew there was a reason why i chose the ex1 over the z7, but somewhere between dshc card failure and huge storage requirements the reason got lost. Now i just need to find a discovery channel rep and pitch some ideas for here in Africa

My Website: https://www.newagetv.co.za
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/MrNewAgeTv

3D Animation: Light Wave 3D
My Camera: Sony EX1
Web Design: Flash CS4
Editing: Liquid Edition

[Ed Kukla]

Now for the rest of the story…

Discovery may very well approve of the EX cameras for gathering images. What that does not tell you is that they will probably not accept the cards or a hard drive for submission of materials. They usually want ALL original materials handed over to them for archival. And they will only accept tape. So you will need to transfer ALL your footage over to HDCAM tape for delivery as part of any typical contract with Discovery. Same for History except it will be DVCPro HD tape.

As I have posted elsewhere; I have offered my EX camera at significant savings over F900 for Discovery and HDX900 for History and been turned down EVERY time because of the requirement to turn in all materials on tape. The producers don’t want the extra work involved in transferring 30 hours of material to tape.

[Jordan Dwyer]

Hi Ed, Do you mean that the producers will not accept your proposal if you are using a ex1? Due to the fact that the source footage will not be on a HDTAPE. What if i were to offer them the hd tape conversion as part of the proposal. It shouldnt be too hard to transfer to a HD tape?

My Website: https://www.newagetv.co.za
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/MrNewAgeTv

3D Animation: Light Wave 3D
My Camera: Sony EX1
Web Design: Flash CS4
Editing: Liquid Edition

[Ed Kukla]

There is usually not the time to do a transfer to tape. Shoot 3 to 4 hours of material in the field, hand over tapes to the producer and bye bye.
If you are a closed loop, you can probably do what you propose on your time. HDcam decks are not cheap, nor are hdcam tapes.

If you have something they REALLY want, anything goes. That is EXTREMELY rare.