[Tom Matthies]

Since it looks like you have a lot of black in your video, this might be worth a try.
Add a Luma Key filter to the clips with the uneven black levels. Make sure that those clips are over a blank track. Adjust the sliders until the offending black just drops out without affecting the rest of the picture too much. With a bit of luck, you may be able to flatten out the black portions of your clips where you patched the backgrounds.

Not my monkeys. Not my circus.

[Tom Matthies]

Media Concepts (https://mediaconcepts.tv/) in the US has a good selection of used vehicles listed But since you used the term “OB Truck” I’ll assume that you are likely somewhere in the UK or Europe.

Not my monkeys. Not my circus.

[Tom Matthies]

Or you can Option/Shift drag your single track down to an adjacent empty track to duplicate it. Pan everything to center and you should be good to go. Even with a single track, if you pan it to center, it will play out of both channels.

Not my monkeys. Not my circus.

[Tom Matthies]

What do you have with the cameras? Do you have any backs on them or just the flat end with the multi-pin connector?

Not my monkeys. Not my circus.

[Tom Matthies]

Composite video is the lowest quality video still in use although it was pretty much the ONLY format for many years. As video progressed, higher quality methods of delivering video came along. RGB or YUV (a different color format) video came along when color was developed. RGB was first and the YUV format came along later. S-Video or Y-C video was next but was mostly used in consumer equipment although it did make it’s way to broadcasting. After that came digital formats like DVCAM, Digibeta, and the “D” formats-D1, D2, D3 and D5. All of these were broadcast quality formats. After that, the Hi-Definition formats came online and continue to expand today into 2K, 4k and even higher resolution formats.
For what it’s worth, your VHS format is probably the lowest quality format you can use. Even if it’s S-VHS, its pretty low resolution. If you have a DV back for your D-30’s, it will give you a much better than VHS quality. DV and DVCAM as well as DVCPro are all 25 mb/second formats and far better quality than VHS. If you have a DV back then use it instead of your VHS camera and you will see a marked improvement in your video.
Blackmagic and AJA are both manufacturers of cards and hardware that will allow you to convert your analog video into a digital format to use for editing on your computer. There are MANY other makes and models of cards that will allow you to digitize your video. Many of them are pretty inexpensive and are readily available used as well. Start with the best quality possible. As it goes through the process of editing, the quality will only drop with with step unless it’s uncompressed digital from beginning to end.

Not my monkeys. Not my circus.

[Tom Matthies]

BTW, check here for a look at the original DXC-D30 sales brochure from Sony. It should provide some answers.

https://viewpoint.tv/sites/default/files/sony_dxc-d30.pdf

Not my monkeys. Not my circus.

[Tom Matthies]

There aren’t any digital outputs available on this camera. No USB or Firewire outputs. It’s too old a product to include these features. From the camera head itself, your only choice is regular, old fashioned composite video. There are various backs that can be attached to the camera that will allow you to pull component analog video from the camera head. You could then take the component signals and go into an external device or card such as those from AJA or Blackmagic which would then digitize the signal and allow it to be “recorded” into a computer. This would give you the best quality possible from this camera. Do you have a record deck of some sort on these cameras? A DSR-1 back would allow you to record in the DVCAM format. Although it’s only 25mb/sec, it is digital and is easy to capture into a computer system. Otherwise, how were you planning to capture the footage from the camera?

Not my monkeys. Not my circus.

[Tom Matthies]

It looks like a nifty little switcher. I don’t have any experience with it but after downloading and reading the user manual, it appears as if it should do what you need it to do. One very specific requirement in the manual is the necessity of providing it an SDI digital Blackburst signal. It states that it won’t work correctly without one. SDI sync generators are fairly rare. Most equipment will usually work with an analog bi-level or tri-level reference. The manual specifically requires an SDI signal. As long as you will need a reference for the switcher, it would be a good idea to genlock all the rest of your equipment that has the ability to accept a reference input. Timing the system should be much easier than timing an analog system since you only need to get the input source timed within a certain window and the switcher will auto-time it for you.
It would appear that it does have inputs that are frame sync’ed but whether they are full frame or simply delay the incoming video by a single line is not clear. I’m guessing that, in your case, either method should be OK. As for your Chyron, it looks like the switcher has four independent keyers with inputs for both key and fill so you should be able to use both channels without any issues.
The Opera looks like a great little switcher that can handle the transition between analog and SDI as long as standard definition is OK for your purpose.

Not my monkeys. Not my circus.

[Tom Matthies]

If your TIFF was designed as a wide screen graphic, make sure that the “animorphic” column is ticked when looking at the info about the file. If it’s flagged as wide screen, it will come into the time with the correct proportions.

Not my monkeys. Not my circus.

[Tom Matthies]

I too normally use PhotoShop and export as .PNG with alpha. Always looks great.

Not my monkeys. Not my circus.