Introduction
Have you ever wanted to make one of those programs where the video looks as if it were originally shot on film? Rather than the complexity of filming and post-production editing every transition, instead you can create a similar look with live transitions using popular capable HD cameras,Datavideo HD video mixers (“switchers”) & recorders, and the following instructions. Some multicam productions with live transitions you might produce this way can include a soap-opera, a theatrical play, a reality show, a wedding or a Bar Mitzvah, or in fact any production venue where you want the audience to recognize —even unconsciously— that there’s something special going on.

Lower frame rate (lower temporal resolution)
One of the characteristics of film and film-on-video is its relatively low temporal resolution. Unlike spatial resolution (which has more to do with visual sharpness and —indirectly— pixel count), temporal resolution has to do with how many frames (or fields) are recorded and displayed per second. Standard film production is normally shot at 24 frames per second, which is a much lower framerate compared with traditional television, which has been 50 fields per second (in PAL countries) and 59.94 fields (in NTSC countries). One of the many ways to achieve that film look or film-on-video look is to shoot with low framerate progressive video, which is commonly referred to as “24p”, 25p, and “30p”, since all three of these are much lower than the original field rate of traditional television. Because of the conditioning of TV viewers starting in the late 1970s and early 1980s (when TV news switched from 16mm film to 3/4” U-Matic video), we tend to associate high frame (or field) rate video on TV (50 or 59.94) with live video, and we tend to associate low framerate video on TV as either documentaries or dramatic productions. Both “24p” and “30p” have that low framerate look, although the low framerate look is milder with “30p” than with “24p”. In ex-PAL countries, the same effect is achieved by shooting at 25p, and 25p is even occasionally chosen using sophisticated workflows in ex-NTSC countries for certain reasons which are outside of the scope of this document. The 25p look and the “24p” look are practically indistinguishable. In ex-NTSC countries, some people prefer the milder “30p” look rather than the “24p” look. We’ll be covering all of them in this document, together with how to use them with Datavideo’s HD video mixers (“switchers”) and HD-SDI recorders.

About the “24p” and “30p” (often rounded) numbers
Very rarely is video actually recorded at exactly 24.000 frames-per-second or exactly at 30.000 frames per second. Exact 24.000 frames-per-second video recording is very seldom done, and is only possible using very expensive cameras like some Sony HDCAM-SR, RED, and most recently with the US$20,000 Canon EOS C300. Even with these cameras, it is an option rarely selected by the operator or producer, since even these cameras also offer the 23.976p option (which is much more mathematically appropriate for HDTV and Blu-ray distribution), although this number is sometimes abbreviated to 23.98p. Actually, even 23.976p is a rounded number, but it is more precise and is used in the majority of professional video editing programs, including Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere Pro. Apple sometimes rounds the number to 23.98 in Final Cut Pro, but is inconsistent even within its own program, since it sometimes shows it as 23.976p. Most video cameras —both consumer and professional— which offer “24p” are actually recording 23.976p, either natively or with a 2:3 pulldown over 59.94i (or with either of these options), although this number is sometimes rounded to “60i”. The reason that video is normally recorded at 23.976p or 29.97p (not 24.000p or 30.000p) is to make the signal fit better mathematically with established broadcast television standards. That’s why even though video camera manufacturers often state “30p” they almost always actually record 29.97p, despite what their documentation or menu settings may state. (The only exception we have seen in the past several decades has been the original Canon 5D MKII DSLR camera, although even that camera was later corrected via a firmware update to record exactly 29.97p.) Sometimes these cameras record 29.97p natively; sometimes they record 29.97 over 59.94 using a 2:2 pulldown (PsF, Progressive Segmented Frame); and sometimes they offer both options. We are even surprised that many professional cameras dare to round the numbers like 23.976 to “24,” 29.97 to “30,” and 59.94 to “60” in their onscreen menus, requiring users to consult the manual —or to measure the video externally— to see what they really mean. This is fortunately not the case with Datavideo’s video mixers (“switchers”), since our menus specifically identify numbers like 50 and 59.94 for those modes, so there are no misunderstandings with our menus. (Our menus also offer the 60 number for use in very unusual circumstances, but we know that the established broadcast standards being used are 50 and 59.94.) When we refer to camera menus in this document, we’ll indicate their rounded numbers (when appropriate) and then express what they really output as a result of those settings. The reason that we haven’t put the 25 and 50 numbers in quotation marks is because they are already exact in absolutely all cases, with all cameras, all video mixers, and all editing programs.

How to achieve your goal, in a nutshell

In order to achieve your goal of recording a multi camera shoot with the “24p”, 25p, or “30p” look using your Datavideo HD video mixer (“switcher”), you have to pick the appropriate cameras (or perhaps you already own them), understand some terminology, and make the appropriate settings in the cameras and in your Datavideo HD video mixer. This document will help you do all of that

But what if I want to shoot “normal” videos too, on other projects?
No problem! You can always put the cameras in the “normal”, high temporal resolution (framerate or field rate) to get the traditional “video look” when you need it!

PsF and pulldown: What they mean and how it will help you achieve your goal
PsF is an abbreviation for Progressive Segmented Frame. It is a method of sending a progressive video signal (or recording a progressive video signal) inside an interlaced stream in such a way that equipment and systems designed primarily for interlaced video sees the signal as if it were interlaced video, but it fortunately retains the original look. Although Datavideo’s video mixers (“switchers”) are not currently compatible with 23.976PsF, they are completely compatible with 25PsF (2:2 pulldown) and 29.97PsF (2:2 pulldown), and they are also completely compatible with 23.976p-over-59.94i (aka 23.98p-over-59.94i, or even “24p”-over-”60i”), which retains the “24p” look using a 2:3 pulldown.  In this document, we’ll show you how you can use all three: 23.976p, 25p, and 29.97p with Datavideo HD video mixers and HD-SDI recorders for perfect results.

 The relationship between shutter speed and frame rate
Some cameras have a default shutter speed setting to match each frame rate, and then allow you to vary from the default. If so, look at some footage at your desired frame rate and decide whether you like the visual look using the default shutter speed setting, or whether you’d like to change it. If the camera you use does not have a default shutter speed for each frame rate, here are some starting points, but you can certainly adjust these shutter speed suggestions for your desired look:

If shooting at 23.976p (“23.98p” or “24p”), start with a shutter speed of 1/48, 1/50th, or the closest shutter speed setting to that which is available in your camera.

If shooting at 25p, start with a shutter speed of 1/50th, or the closest shutter speed setting to that which is available in your camera.

If shooting at 29.97p (“30p”), start with a shutter speed of 1/60th, or the closest shutter speed setting to that which is available in your camera.

Please note that changing your shutter speed will affect your overall exposure, and you may have to compensate for that in other ways. For example, if you choose a shorter shutter speed than what is default (i.e. if you go from 1/60th default to 1/120), you may have to open your iris (aperture) more to compensate, and if you already have the iris (aperture) at maximum opening, you may have to increase the camera’s gain (or add light) to get a proper exposure. On the other hand, if you choose a longer shutter speed that what is default, you may have to close the iris (aperture) more to compensate, and/or add an ND (neutral density) filter. Some cameras have ND filters built-in, while others will require you to add it in front of the lens.

Depth of field
Another characteristic often associated with the “film look” is to have a reduced depth of field, which means that your subject is in focus, while the background —and sometimes the foreground— are purposefully out of focus. 
Some directors prefer to use narrow depth of field often, while others prefer to use it only in certain scenes or situations. This document does not intend to teach you all about this issue. However, we will mention these four basic points, which are all to be balanced with the others listed in the section above:

• The more closed the iris (aperture), the greater depth of field (more area is in focus), and the less critical your focus will be.
• The more open the iris (aperture), the narrower the depth of field (less area is in focus simultaneously), and the more critical your focus adjustment will be.
• The more wide-angle the lens, the greater the depth of field (more area is in focus simultaneously), and the less critical your focus will be.
• The more telephoto the lens, the narrower depth of field (less area is in focus simultaneously), and the more critical your focus adjustment will be.

Picking appropriate cameras to achieve your goal

Depending upon your budget, brand preference, and whether you are producing for a 50Hz (PAL or ex-PAL) market or 59.94Hz (NTSC or ex-NTSC) market, you’ll pick an appropriate HD camera. Also, some cameras are universal or “worldcam” and offer all framerates or can be upgraded after the fact to that status.

If you are producing primarily for 50Hz markets (PAL or ex-PAL) (or like to produce this way for other reasons) and want the 25p look, you’ll pick a camera that offers 25PsF output over HD-SDI or HDMI, (If the camera you pick does not have HD-SDI, you can buy a Datavideo DAC-9 converter box which converts from HDMI to HD-SDI, plus an appropriate HDMI cable, which is sold separately.) Some cameras don’t use the technical term 25PsF. Instead, they say that they offer 25p-over-50i using a 2:2 pulldown, which is the same thing. Ahead in this article you’ll find examples of these cameras.

If you are producing primarily for 59.94Hz markets (NTSC or ex-NTSC) and want the “24p” look, you’ll want to pick a camera that offers 23.976p-over-59.94i with a  2:3 pulldown over HD-SDI or HDMI, although some camera manufacturers may call it 23.98-over-59.94i, or even “24p”-over-”60i”. On the other hand, If you are producing primarily for 59.94Hz markets (NTSC or ex-NTSC) but want the more mild “30p” look, you’ll want to pick a camera that offers 29.97PsF with 2:2 pulldown over 59.94i via HD-SDI or HDMI, although some camera manufacturers may call it “30p”-over-”60i”. We’ll give you examples ahead in this document. (If the camera you pick does not have HD-SDI, you can buy a Datavideo DAC-9 converter box which converts from HDMI to HD-SDI, together with an appropriate HDMI cable, which is sold separately.)

Datavideo HD-SDI cables
HD-SDI cables are required to connect HD cameras to all of Datavideo’s HD video mixers (“switchers”). Datavideo offers HD-SDI cables in three lengths, as follows, together with a coupler to join cables:

• 50 foot (15 meter) CA-SDI50 male-to-male BNC cable for use with SD and HD-SDI equipment.
• 100 foot (30 meter) CA-SDI100 male-to-male BNC cable for use with SD and HD-SDI equipment.
• 150 foot (45 meter) CA-SDI150 male-to-male BNC cable for use with SD and HD-SDI equipment.
• Female-to-female SDI Coupler BB-MMBARR to extend SD and HD-SDI cables.

HDMI cablesDatavideo does not sell HDMI cables. Please consult your local dealer for appropriate HDMI cables. The Datavideo DAC-9 uses a standard HDMI port. Some cameras also use a standard HDMI port, while others use a Mini HDMI port.

 Camera examples to reach your goal, with their settings:
Following are two camera charts that will help you reach your goal. You may pick among these, or use them as examples to verify the technical requirements and settings with some other model of camera that you may be considering. We will also show you the appropriate settings to adjust in your Datavideo HD video mixer (“switcher”) in each case.

50Hz cameras (normally sold in PAL or ex-PAL countries) for a 25p look with a standard 1080/50i signal for broadcast on any 1080/50i TV station or network and editable directly on a 1080/50i timeline, or for simple down conversion to PAL:

59.94Hz cameras (normally sold in NTSC or ex-NTSC countries) for a “24p” or “30p” look with a standard 1080/59.94i signal for broadcast on any 1080/59.94i TV station or network and editable directly on a 1080/59.94i timeline, or for simple downconversion to NTSC:

Datavideo HD products include switchers, recorders, converters and more!
You can request a FREE 14-day Demo of almost any product here:
http://www.datavideo.us/datavideo-purchase-section/datavideo-14-day-product-evaluation-request/
Please call our Datavideo US office for more info, or please click here.
US Office: (562) 696-2324

We would be happy to help you with any questions you may have!

Andy Williams, Director of Broadcasting in the Department of Communications at Elizabethtown College has been working hard over the last year to develop a portable production studio that gives E-town’s Broadcast students real-world experience with live TV Production. He completed the project this summer to create the “E-town Mobile Production Studio” shown here.  He’s been involved in broadcast television for over twenty years, the last 15 working at an NBC affiliate, and he came to Elizabethtown College about three years ago.  Elizabethtown College is a private college in Pennsylvania that has focused curriculum in liberal arts, fine and performing arts, science and engineering, business, communications and education.

Having had plenty of professional broadcasting experience, Andy knows that in order for students to feel ready to go into communication or broadcast professions, they need to learn on equipment that both meets professional standards and is easy to learn to use.

Andy:
“Only the students operate the equipment when we are on location. They’re taught in class and then are responsible for creating content for our 24/7 cable television channel that serves 13,000+ homes. One of our recent grads learned to direct on the Datavideo SE-500, and that helped him secure a job as a full-time director at a top 30 station, directing several newscasts a day. The students love the short learning curve.”
Broadcast students use the production bus to learn to produce and broadcast student-generated content along with community events. In the classroom, teachers also use Datavideo products to teach “Introduction to Video” and “Advanced Video Production” classes. Since last year, we’ve been working with Andy as he planned and purchased equipment for this project. We’ve also been following his progress in installing Datavideo products into E-town’s state-of-the-art mobile production studio. (They have our SE-900 and the SE-500 SD switchers, as well as the CG-350(SD/HD) and the CG-100(SD only) character generator software. For monitoring they have (6) TLM-702 dual monitor panels and (2) TLM-404 quad monitor panels.)
Andy:
“Here are two pictures from our first production – Everything worked well. You can see in one of the photos, the larger screen multi -viewer option from Datavideo’s SE-900 Switcher, at least 4 sets of the TLM-702 7” monitor panels.  The large computer screen to the right of the large LCD has Datavideo’s CG-350 graphics program.”

Andy made sure that his broadcasting students could learn not only how to cover and switch a live event, but also how to create real-time professional looking character generation.  This made for a learning environment that was not only practical, but also well-rounded and team-oriented. While some students were working on cameras, others would be working the intercom system, another would control the switcher, while another could create the character generation, and etc.

Andy:
“We try to do athletic events live as much as possible. We just did a four-hour live broadcast of a collegiate basketball doubleheader. We used the logo bug and the chromakey features in the Datavideo CG-350 for instant replay graphics and credit rolls [for that event]. Otherwise, we always use the mobile studio on campus and off. We can now cover anything from small college events to events as large as a six-hour, 60,000 fan country music event through a 20 x 25 foot Jumbotron feed that we send through the output of the SE-900.”

This was a big difference from how Andy’s students were learning to use equipment before.  One of the biggest motivations to get a mobile production studio was to offer a better learning experience for students. If the class was short on equipment, some students wouldn’t get enough time to use and really learn the equipment. This was one of Andy’s biggest concerns.
Andy:
“We used to use fly-packs [that we put together] with the Datavideo SE-500 and the CG-100 mounted in them, but there was a lot of hook up/set up involved when we went out on location, not really leaving much time for each student to get hands-on learning. The new mobile studio is great! We can have 7 students working inside, along with 4 cameras outside all on headset and tally, and it makes our productions just that much better. The SE-900 not only is a great switcher but it allows us to save space and monitor every feed in two locations with the built- in multiviewer.”

Andy had this advice for students and instructors preparing for live productions:
“Planning is so important – you should try to gather as much pre-production information as possible because once you’re out on the location site, it’s rare that you can go and get additional gear to make certain shots happen. It’s also just as important to use reliable gear. Our Datavideo equipment was field tested for years before we upgraded to the SE-900.  We never had issues with our Datavideo switcher, CG or Monitors, making us want to tell everyone who we work with in educational television about our positive experience with all aspects of Datavideo and their products.”

While the mobile production studio was a great success for the broadcasting program and Andy’s students, it didn’t come easily. From the beginning when Andy was gathering the funds to put everything together, he stressed to us the importance of having professional equipment and not compromising on that aspect. He was candid about why he chose us over some other manufacturers: “[You guys] put broadcast quality equipment in the hands of future broadcasters-equipment that is easy-to-use and a great value.”
Read part two of this article (coming soon)  for a more detailed look on how you can get the most out of your own custom built mobile production studio
Click on the following links for more info about the Datavideo products that Andy uses:
SE-900 8 input SD Switcher
SE-500 4 input SD Switcher
TLM-404H (4”) Quad Monitor Panel 
TLM-702 (7”) Dual Monitor Panel
CG-350 Character Generator Software
CG-100 Character Generator Software

(Click below to read the whole story)

FTC Disclosure:
This is a sponsored article by Datavideo, and Datavideo compensated Allan Tépper for his work on this article.

Got an interesting story to share? Send it to us for review!
dvmarketing(at)datavideo.us

In late September of 2010, Amtrak announced plans to have a high speed rail line in the Northeast U.S. that will connect Boston, New York, Philadelphia and DC, and move at up to speeds of 220 mph. A train that fast would cut a 426 mile, 8 hour trip for most East Coast travelers, down to 2-3 hours. That’s fast! Even on Amtrak’s fastest rail car to date, the Acela train (150 mph), that trip still takes 6.5 hours. Since Amtrak passenger trains are a part of life for most people on the U.S. East Coast, cutting the hours of travel for their customers is one of Amtrak’s top priorities.

However, it’s some years before the 220mph rail line becomes a reality, and there’s still one thing that Amtrak cares more about than transporting their passengers quickly: keeping all rail cars and passengers safe at all speeds today, and in the future. The safety inspection process that Amtrak has developed over the years has made it so that it is easier to check a large distance of track quickly so that both high-speed and conventional rail-cars can benefit.

So how exactly do they determine what’s safe?

One of our customers, Tom Flavin, who works at the Amtrak 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, was generous enough to show us how he uses the Datavideo HDR-50 HD recorder to help with the Amtrak inspection process.

Because Amtrak rail cars travel at up to speeds of 150mph, their safety inspections are stringent and frequent. In addition to the high speed laser scanning and data processing systems installed on the cars used for inspections, a GPS system and Google Maps are used to identify suspect locations for the repair crews. These systems quickly help identify the area in question and inform the repair crew of the location of the problem before the train ride is over.

How do they inspect the tracks so closely?

Amtrak has a fleet of three Track Geometry Inspection Cars. Two of these cars are conventional railroad passenger cars equipped with computerized track geometry measuring systems. The other car is a self-propelled inspection car called the TSAVE (Track Structure Assessment Vehicle) that has the same computerized measuring system as the other two, but has an additional system called GRMS (Gage Restraint Measuring System) that is used to measure the ability of the tracks to hold gage to the required standards.

An HD camera is mounted onto one of these inspection cars with a custom-designed bracket. The HD video signal from the camera is then sent to the Datavideo HDR-50 which is located in another railcar.
This signal is overlaid with right-of-way location information as well the speed of the rail car and the distance from the last (some point measured by wheel revolutions).

Simultaneously, this information is stored on a database. Amtrak used the HDR-50 to help gather their essential data for three main reasons:  It could be rack-mounted into their existing system, it had a removable hard drive (which was essential) and it had a SMPTE 259/292 interface controllable via RS-232 protocol. These features made it a perfect fit for the type of data collection that happens in the Amtrak inspection process.

So where does all the safety data that gets collected go?

At the conclusion of each safety test, summary reports of exceptions are sent out to various personnel responsible for the track maintenance in a given area. This includes a link to a Google Maps/Google Earth application that shows exactly where the potential problem is located and where the maintenance crew is to go. In conjunction with the information gathered from GPS, this data helps identify a unique location on the face of the Earth that belongs to a point on the railroad, and it is never discarded. The footage recorded on the HDR-50 also remains in Amtrak’s large database, available to any authorized personnel who may need to review it for their various job duties.
Who knew that the HDR-50 could play such an important role in helping to keep you safe at 150 mph?

For more information about Amtrak and their high-speed train project, please visit:
http://www.Amtrak.com

For more information about Datavideo’s HDR-50 HD Hard Disk Recorder, please visit:
http://www.datavideo.us/products/players-recorders/sd-recorders-players/hdr-50-rackmounted-sd-hd-sdi-hard-drive-video-recorder.html

Ralph Score, video production and web coordinator at Valley TeleCom Group produces video programming exclusively made for Community Channel TV1, a cable channel provided by Valley TeleCom Group in Arizona. He calls himself “the guy who you don’t pay attention to behind the curtain” – but he’s mainly responsible for making sure the magic happens by keeping all the engineering and technical direction on a production tight. He was kind enough to share with us the flexibility and usage that he has when using our SE-500 4 input switcher for a variety of shoots in the local community.

Ralph: “Our production team handles producing about 90-95% of all the content TV1 runs.  We have been working towards the goal of live broadcasting for some time now and finally got everything networked in. We’ve been using the SE-500 for a little over a year now for a variety of purposes, from live projected feeds at a football game, our annual cooperative members meeting, to taping a very big music event at a large performance venue, and also shooting a talk show type program with a group of young adults that they produce here in our studio.”

Another interesting thing about the footage Ralph creates using the SE-500 is that a lot of it is broadcast live via a cablecast server through Valley TeleCom’s fiber optics- a luxury most small live productions don’t employ. For these on-location shoots, the equipment lives in a trailer, and that trailer is usually brought into place a day before the shoot. Ralph: “The morning of a game or event, I’m at the venue to set all systems and do all the cable runs. Pre-production includes prepping all video playbacks (commercials), acquiring team rosters, writing toss and tags for the play-by-play announcers, and producing any new sponsor commercials. I also do the programming for our channel to make sure that I have it in the system for switching live when the time comes.”

Ralph also uses the SE-500 to switch with a combination of several cameras, depending on what the shoot calls for. The Panasonic HVX200 is his go-to production camera, but he also has three JVC Everio HD110’s and an older Sony VX1000 that he uses as needed.  He records his audio through an audio mixer from several types of mics that are specific to the shoot and all his commercials play off a standard DVD player. The analog signals keep everything (video and audio) in-sync.  The key to getting everything broadcast live using the fiber optics, is sending the signal through an Aventura / H.264 combo encoder/decoder. The unit converts and sends the video signals via wi- fi to Valley TeleCom’s digital TV network. That’s where it finally gets broadcast on their TV1 community channel exclusively for their local TV subscribers.

Ralphs advice for producers or anyone running live productions:
“Pay attention to both the big picture as well as the little details. Cabling is a big deal-use the best that money can buy. People think it’s insignificant but cables are the absolute life blood to your system. One other thing. Get used to becoming an obsessed maniacal insomniac if you do a lot of this.”

For more information about the SE-500 4 input SD Video Switcher, please visit:
http://www.datavideo.us/products/switchers-mixers/sd-switchers/se-500-video-switcher.html

(Page 1 of 1 pages for this article )

Andrew Allan, Producer at Alpha Sports Technologies (www.alphasports.tv), says he spends a minimum of $2,000 in equipment rentals for each sporting event that his company produces with much of that going toward switcher & monitor rentals.  Realizing that the long term cost of rentals would end up being more than it was worth, Andrew decided he needed to find a more permanent solution. After some internet research, he found HS-500, which cost about same to own as one of his regular rentals.

Andrew Allan working in Snowbasin, Salt Lake City, Utah:

After his purchase, Andrew was happy to find that HS-500 did everything that his company needed and has “zero regrets” about making the decision to own rather than rent. He was kind enough to share his experience during an interview:

Datavideo: How long did it take you to set up the HS-500 out of the box?

Andrew: That’s what amazed me! During one of our ski productions in Vail, Colorado, it took about 5-10 minutes from the time I opened the shipping box to having a fully operational mobile studio. Sure, we already had our cameras and support gear ready to go, but for a product I had never set eyes on before, it was quite impressive. What’s cool about the HS-500 is even though it only has four channels, we patch our 10-camera line cut into one input channel (pre-switched upstream), and our CGs through the others, and it acts like a much bigger system, so the HS-500 is ideal for both amateurs and professionals alike.

Datavideo: What is your favorite feature of the HS-500 mobile studio?

Andrew:  I love the quad-preview display output. It saves a ton of desktop space that we’d normally clutter with big monitors, and it’s a great feature that simply doesn’t exist on any other switchers anywhere near this price range.

 Datavideo: Is it easy to travel with the HS-500?

Andrew: While I normally use Fedex to safely ship my equipment from one venue to the next, the HS-500 can be checked in like an ordinary travelling suitcase. The HS-500 weighs only 24 lbs and is an ideal solution for frequent travelers.

Datavideo: If you had to recommend the HS-500 to anyone, who and why would you recommend it to?

Andrew:  I [would] recommend the Datavideo HS-500 portable studio unit to mobile video producers because of the fully integrated package, high-end features, simplicity of design and portability of an all-inclusive “mini fly-pack”. It doesn’t hurt that it pays for itself in one event!

To learn more about the HS-500, please visit http://www.datavideo.us/products/mobile-studios/standard-definition/hs-500-hand-carried-studio.html

In this five-part series, we will look at a real world case study of a facility that took on the daunting task of upgrading to HD. These parts will cover:

• Part 1: Getting Started - assessing your goals, making overall decisions with regards to cabling and formats, designing your new system.
• Part 2: Setting Up The Studio - building the signal chain from cameras to switcher to monitor to recorder.
• Part 3: Recording the Audio and Video - setup, monitoring, recording, and transferring files, including particular attention to the audio.
• Part 4: Character Generation - including preparing your slides in PowerPoint and converting them into nice overlays.
• Part 5: Editing and Distributing - from acquisition through uploading files for the internet.

Part 1: Getting Started

Three years ago, Ottis Jones knew nothing about video production when he started producing for The Old Fashion Gospel Hour in Hendersonville, TN. It was a TV ministry set up by a local church, and as most ministries are, it was run by volunteers.  Over the years however, the ministry has grown so much that it gets broadcast in several communities in 3 states. It was no easy feat for Ottis to put together a studio that could produce broadcast quality HD footage, especially with no experience, but through research and trial and error, he’s done it quite successfully. This 5 part series will cover how he did it, sharing valuable tips to how you can do the same on a tight budget, and also save yourself some time-consuming mistakes.

Tip 1: Assess your goals
When asking yourself what your goals are, you have to think about how and why your production is happening.  This may seem like an obvious suggestion, but many times there are details that are missed because the goal wasn’t properly assessed.  Are you taping a show and editing it later or producing it live? How is your final output going to be broadcast? Internet stream?  Broadcast television? Straight to DVD? Is it in NTSC or PAL?  Are you going to need to do titling for a more professional look? Do you have a set location, or are you a videographer who is going to take your production mainly on the road? Determining all the details within your goal early on will allow you to narrow what type of equipment you will need and create a budget. It will also help whoever is selling you the equipment know what you want to accomplish.

Ottis called us early in his planning process and we were able to help him understand what he needed for his set up with consideration to his budget and the final output. His main goal was to upgrade the studio to HD but he also wanted to get the best pricing available in order to do so. His planning always went back to addressing his main goal when building his studio. By the time he spoke with our reseller, he wasn’t hoping that he got what he needed, he was sure that he got what he needed.

After speaking with us several times, he suggested that it would be helpful to let people know how easy it was to make the switch to HD, because he was a bit intimidated at first. That suggestion was a main factor in why we decided to write this type of article. We were happy to help him fine tune his planning process until he had a resolution that he was completely satisfied with. That leads us to the next tip:

Tip 2: Do your homework
Here are some key things you should look for or know about when equipment hunting:

1. Video signals and Cables – If you already have some video equipment in your arsenal like video cameras or DV recorders, find out what signals they require or accept. This will help especially if you can’t afford a full upgrade to HD. You can still produce HD quality stuff-it could be as simple as converting the signals that you already have to high definition. In his upgrade, Ottis purchased three new Panasonic HDC TM700’s (HDMI out) but he decided that he wanted to just get a few HDMI converters (Datavideo’s DAC-9) rather than get HD equipment all at once. He also decided he wanted to purchase an S-Video converter to back up his SD footage to DVD and other digital formats. Knowing your video signals can widen your options, but it can also narrow down the decision for the best solution in your studio. Cables – BNC, XLR, FireWire, SDI, component, and composite-the list goes on… There’s a myriad of them out there, and if you’re just getting started, getting a basic idea about which cables carry what signal is prudent. It’s also good to know what each of them looks like. It’s another one of those details that can save you tons of time and money.
2. Resolutions – 4:3, 16:9, 720p, 1080i, and 40 or 50 and even 60 Hertz- what’s it all mean? You’d be surprised how many people buy equipment without knowing what resolution they are working with or what they will be outputting. Why is this so important? Example: You have a camera that has HD-SDI outs and you connect into a switcher that accepts HD-SDI, but you still don’t see an image on your monitor.  Is the switcher broken? Is your camera fried? A frantic call to technical support ensues. The issue could be as simple as the resolution or hertz isn’t matching up. Your equipment is fine! You don’t have to go out and be an expert on resolution and hertz, but at least know what your equipment is sending out. Knowing will also help you define what HD is truly and what is not. Just because the picture quality looks amazing, doesn’t mean it’s actually HD. High definition is defined by a specific number of lines of resolution that appear on a screen. When Ottis was writing the proposal to the board of directors, he was able to define the quality and technical differences between SD and HD where as it might not have been clear when just looking at high resolution footage.  This simple knowledge can save you valuable production time, money, and a serious headache when putting together the components for your studio.
3. Tip 3: Inventory what you already have, what you need, and determine a budget. If you have equipment that you can use, it’s the first step to saving you money. The first proposal Ottis wrote for funds to upgrade the studio drew up a 20,000 dollar price tag- not a crowd pleaser- but at least he had a figure that he could start working with. Ottis reworked the proposal several times, and was able to whittle the price tag down to $12,000 in the end. But while he was doing that, he just worked with what he had. He was able to assess what wasn’t absolutely needed, what he could get rid of, and what he needed to purchase. This assessment helped him break up the upgrade into phases, which significantly eased the cost of an upgrade. On top of that, he was able to generate funds by selling the equipment that he didn’t need. He took an extra step and called us to price several of the products he was looking at, and because of his attention to detail, we were able to help him get the most productivity for the price without sacrificing quality.
4. Tip 4: Take time to diagram your set up, your signal flow and organize your workspace. After getting a good idea of what his ideal studio could accomplish and what it would cost, Ottis spoke with us again about connections, and made a diagram of how everything would be interconnected.  He also went through the studio and organized it to help his workflow.

Ottis : “I cleaned up the studio and got everything off the floor in regards to wires and all of that. It’s much easier to get around and work in the studio, when it’s not so cluttered.”

Here are two sample diagrams similar to what Ottis had emailed to us when he was making his proposal. (These are not the actual costs of the equipment that Ottis bought.)

Ex 1 – This is a visual representation of what Ottis needed, and list of what it could cost. ( Click for a larger image)

< Ex. 2 : This signal workflow diagram helped Ottis plan and know what signals were going where by color coding. This type of diagram is also great when you are troubleshooting, because you can easily isolate whether it’s a wire, signal or equipment that’s giving you issues.

These first steps will help you achieve your goals much faster and much more accurately. Properly planning in the early stages is essential to getting the best production out of your studio.  In Part 2, we’ll talk about which equipment Ottis bought, and go step-by-step on how it is interconnected. ( Click for larger image)