Feb 2009 legal or not legal

[Tom Matthies]

Amen Charlie.
I sat in my edit room yesterday trying to explain to a confused producer what the differences could be when delivering content in 4×3 or 16×9 depending on just what here end users required. She was totally baffled while I tried, in vein, to explain how her anamorphic 4×3 video could be displayed either as a letterboxed picture on a 4×3 monitor, as an anamorphic picture on a 4×3 monitor or as a wide screen picture on a 16×9 monitor…all depending on how I author the DVD she would deliver and on how the DVD players are set up. Here eyes were glazed over near the end. I simply asked her what the most common use would be for the video and told here to just sit back, let me author the DVD and to relax. She was getting a bit uptight at this point. “Too many choices” she muttered. Very true I thought. Someone please explain just how the transition to digital video is going to make things sooo much easier?

As for the original poster and the original question, go to this website for answers to all things digital in the video world. I’ve found it invaluable for information. But then…I’m a video geek.

Try:

https://www.tek.com/Measurement/applications/video/sd.html

BTW, I’m entering my 35th year in this business and I also cut my teeth on Quad machines, Editec editors, TEP editors, setting all those damn oscillators on the VR-2000 and VR-1200 decks, SCH/Phase and all of the other necessary evils of the NTSC world. Remember trying to flatten the RF envelopes on a Quad. Getting the EQ set correctly for all four heads. Trying to get rid of the damn banding on an out of house tape. Running live shows with 5 or 7 second prerolls on the tapes. RCA TS-51 switcher with those little “non-sync” buttons built right into the control panel for when the quads just refused to lock up to house sync and you had to revert to some other reference, usually “vertical” just to get the darn thing to play back without breaking up. Ah, but the smell of a new roll of Scotch tape when the cover was removed. The sound of the heads hitting the tape when the guides pulled in for playback. The good feeling you got when you managed to get that solid, perfect edit where there was absolutely no playback problems…and on the right frame as well. Ah, good times…good times.

Actually, we have it pretty easy these days. Put a tape in a deck and hit “play”. How hard is that? Same old business. Just a new set of problems to deal with. That’s how it’s always worked. Always will too. Just a matter of paying attention and trying to keep up.
Tom