[Tom Matthies]

I’m guessing that Dave really meant to say 48kHz sampling rate rather than 44.8kHz.

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[Tom Matthies]

And Upper field first is assuming HD material. It would be lower first for SD.

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[Tom Matthies]

Yes and no.
The normal input is composite video as is the normal output. The switch you refer to doesn’t switch the outputs to component but will switch between composite and Non-composite. But the large multi-pin connector at the left is designed to take the input from a U-Matic deck as it’s input. If you can find a matching cable and the VO-series deck has that connector on the back (I know the BVU series had it but not sure about the VO series) you can input your tape machine that way. Much cleaner than going in composite. Output will still be composite.
This is a very old unit. Make sure it’s in good working order before investing anything in it. Caps dry out and components fail over the years. If you have to have something on the output of a U-Matic, you might consider a newer framesync type TBC. They are pretty cheap now and would probably look a lot better than a 20-plus year old TBC.

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[Tom Matthies]

BTW, it doesn’t actually affect anything in your timeline. Just adds more information when viewing it. Nothing got changed and no need to re-do it.

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[Tom Matthies]

Another shot in the dark (couldn’t resist).
Was the camera set to a slow shutter speed to make up for the dark scene? 15 fps? If this isn’t a reference to interlacing, is the blur caused by shooting at a non-standard frame rate?

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[Tom Matthies]

Another format to suggest for transfer? -FedEx…

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[Tom Matthies]

It would appear that the subcarrier phase or at least the hue is getting shifted as the video goes through the switcher. In looking at the specs for the switcher, it looks like it can either take a reference from an external source or generate it’s own reference signal. The specs say that it has two Black Burst outputs for genlocking external equipment. Try this. Remove the second cable that goes from the deck (what model deck is it also?) to the reference in to the switcher. It’s not a good idea to use a vtr as a reference source. Run the cable you just removed from the deck (ref to the switcher) to one of the BB outputs on the back of the switcher. Run the other end to the reference input on the Beta deck. Click the 75 ohm terminator switch on the deck to ON. This will lock the playback deck to the switcher. Also, depending on the model of the deck, make sure it is set to accept an external reference signal. Now, make sure the switcher reference is set to internal and not external lock. You color bars should look better. Depending on your Beta deck, you may still meed to adjust your Subcarrier Phase and your H-Phase. Each model of Sony Betacam decks is a little different. This will lock the correct color phase when you fade from the deck to black. It will be two small screwdriver “pots” somewhere on the deck. Send the other BB output from the switcher to the reference inputs to your waveform and vector scopes. You can loop it through the two devices and then terminate it on the vectorscope. If you now set the waveform/vector scopes to external, you will be able to set the correct phase on the deck color bars using the scopes. You can probably get it pretty close by just eye-balling it by switching between the switcher output and the deck output. Another thing to note. I can’t tell from the specs if the switcher incorporates a blanking processor, but if it does, you may be able to get by just by adjusting the Hue controls on the deck. It’s kind of cheating, but it will work just for fading to/from black. If the deck is a BVW or a PVW series, there are controls right on the deck for this. If it is a UVW series, you will need an external control box that plugs into the 15-pin connector on the back of the deck in order to control the Hue, Chroma, Set-up and so on.

Pretty straightforward in all. Lock the deck to the switcher. Lock the scopes to the switcher. Set the switcher to internal reference. Adjust the H/Sub phase (or HUE) on the deck until the settings are correct and your bars should look good on the way to your encoder.

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[Tom Matthies]

Don’t edit from your system drive. Use a second internal drive (at least) or an external RAID if possible for best results. Depending on the format of your HD clips, you will need some fairly fast drives.

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[Tom Matthies]

It could work but they have about a half dozen Avid work stations that would need access to the same Mac for ingestion. There would be a bottle neck for editing leading up to air time. Also, some of these news people just barely understand the process for editing on the NewsCutter system. This would add an additional layer of complexity to the process. Looks like they will just have to motor through the transition as best they can for a few months.

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[Tom Matthies]

That’s who I worked with for out truck.

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