Which shop uses the crappiest/weirdest camera/camcorder???

[<JeffSpicoli>]

I'm just curious. Today I shot a presser...and I noticed someone among the gang-ban shooting with an Ikegami HL-55! (remember THOSE??!!!)I KNOW it was an HL-55 because I shot for 5-years on those things back in the early 1990's.

I didn't have time to investigate because we had to bail and jam...but I'm PRAYING that this person wasn't media--and was just some credentialed lackey or production house.

As I was driving away, I began wondering...in this great big country of ours, I wonder which shops have the crappiest gear? I've heard rumors that some are still using SVHS or MII.

Thank god mine uses BETA-SX.

[2000lux]

I've heard of really small market stations using Mini DV cameras like GY-DV 5000s, and PD-150s. Of course they have NLEs to edit on while we're still stuck with tape to tape in out market 27 station. :rolleyes:

[Air_7]

ABC and CBS Network use PD 150's on the brush fires I have been on....

[SeattleShooter]

Originally posted by 2000lux:
I've heard of really small market stations using Mini DV cameras like GY-DV 5000s, and PD-150s. Of course they have NLEs to edit on while we're still stuck with tape to tape in out market 27 station. :rolleyes: That is so true. The problem that could come up is, that when the flood of new photogs comes out of the lower markets, most if not all would have no clue how to edit tape to tape. Although it is not hard to pick up, tape to tape has its own art and it takes an entire different mindset to understand what can be done with it. Ask one new young photog how to backtime, they would say, "click this and move that and drag". I have seen NLE at stations and sometimes in the field, but still, it is not as quick as tape to tape. But I know some will dispute this. That is not the point. Overall where I do a ton of contracting work, they have JVC 5000 and 500. But who knows where we will be in the next four years. All I know is I will not be at this place I am working soon.

[texshooter]

The station I used to work at shot on Digital S, a digital version of SVHS. Based on my perusal of the market info page on b-roll, only about 4 other stations in the US were shooting on it. The cameras were JVC DY-90U's. We had crappy J-13 lenses with no extenders (at least they were IF). The viewfinders had a nasty habit of catching fire, and the freakin' tapes were so expensive, each photog and reporter only got 2 each. We had NP-1 batts, so you could only run the camera and record for 20-30 minutes per battery. I had a power cord that I could run the camera from if I was within 50 feet of the car, or use the TrippLite power supply from the live truck.

[<tx man>]

When I was in Peoria, WEEK (NBC Affiliate and #1 station) was still using the MII with no plans to buy anything new....and this was just a year or so ago

[guru]

WDAY in Fargo is still shooting MII. Also the number one station in that market.

[D.St.]

We had a Sony BVW-3a that was still in service until about 3 years ago. It did at least have an BVV-5 on the back. Took a pretty picture outdoors, though.

[McColl]

We've got a rig we call 'Frankenstein'.

It's a BVW-1 with a DVC-PRO back on it. It looks like a rocket launcher and weighs a ton, but takes better pictures than you might think.

[<WMAQ>]

I offer just two symbols - M2 - perhaps the crappiest format ever from our friends at Panasonic.

[<shuttle photo>]

In east tx I had that had a Ike 75 front with a beta 1 back, the lens had a car hose clamp on the back focus ring, and to top it all off the view finder had duck tape to keep the eye piece on. But I still made it work!!!! glad for my 300 now

[RichVid]

We have a low-power UHF broadcast station - Spanish Language - Ch.22 - They have been bought up by Telemundo which in turn, has been bought by NBC...I've seen their crews outfitted with these:

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00006666K.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg


OK sorry - they actually still use Supercams....

[Shaky & Blue]

http://pocketcalculatorshow.com/magicalgadget/graphics/pxl2000-3.jpg

[Qwickshot]

Richvid, laughed my a$$ off at your pict. It made my day! About a yr ago I believe I was in Lorado and there was a crew there still using 3/4 inch with that huge deck and ambillical cord. I think it was the NBC station. Not real sure though. I felt pretty bad for the guy who had to carry around that thing!

[Run&Gun]

Originally posted by &lt;JeffSpicoli&gt;:
I'm just curious. Today I shot a presser...and I noticed someone among the gang-ban shooting with an Ikegami HL-55! (remember THOSE??!!!)I KNOW it was an HL-55 because I shot for 5-years on those things back in the early 1990's.

I didn't have time to investigate because we had to bail and jam...but I'm PRAYING that this person wasn't media--and was just some credentialed lackey or production house.

As I was driving away, I began wondering...in this great big country of ours, I wonder which shops have the crappiest gear? I've heard rumors that some are still using SVHS or MII.

Thank god mine uses BETA-SX. I have a friend who shoots with a 55 w/BVV-5 backend and it still looks GREAT, of course Roger Macie set-up the camera, and the guy is a hell of a shooter, too.

[<RUinFocus>]

whatever mini-cam WMC in Memphis is crappy. The video is not crisp and you always see tape wrinkles, especially sports. The video looks so flat.

[Filter_5]

At my last shop, I shot commercials with that Ikegami HL-55, yeah, that sucked. But what really sucked was shooting high school football on friday nights to help out the sports department, of course by the time I got done directing the newscast, all the newscameras would be gone, and guess who got stuck shooting football games in the middle of cold northern WI winters luggin a freakin' 3/4 cam up and down the field.
I believe that the camera is still in use today....
go WJFW go

[Betajunkie]

I still have a BVW-550 (BVP-50 with a BVV-5) and, if you really don't value your shoulder, back, or other parts of your anatomy, a BVW-130 (BVP-30 with a BVV-1). Both cameras still shoot great images as long as you have a LOT of light to work with. You haven't lived until you've shot high school football with a plumbicon camera. Of course, to get the full effect, you need to use a wired interview mic.

[texshooter]

Originally posted by Betajunkie:
I still have a BVW-550 (BVP-50 with a BVV-5) and, if you really don't value your shoulder, back, or other parts of your anatomy, a BVW-130 (BVP-30 with a BVV-1). Both cameras still shoot great images as long as you have a LOT of light to work with. You haven't lived until you've shot high school football with a plumbicon camera. Of course, to get the full effect, you need to use a wired interview mic. Oh yea, 1988-89, KXII, Sherman, TX. Ikegami HL-79 (stay out of the lights!!!), BV-110 3/4" deck. 30v battery belt for the light, BP-90 battery in the deck and A/B bricks on the camera. Up and down the sidelines, three games then run either to Ardmore bureau or back to Sherman to edit. Those were the days.

[Tippster]

Whoah. I wonder why THIS one got no bids:
http://i9.ebayimg.com/03/i/01/65/69/df_2.JPG
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3802897903&category=21165

BTW - NBC still uses the HL-V55 camcorder as their liveshot camera at the White House. beautiful Picture, so why not?
http://www.ikegami.com/image_j/hlv55_s.jpg

[ August 04, 2004, 11:58 PM: Message edited by: Tippster ]

[imported_blank]

There are numerous freelancers, houses and shops still employing the Ike HL55 Betacam, daily. This camera is considered to be one of the better work horses.

JeffSpicoli, Filter_5,
Sure it ain't a brand new SX but I don't see why all the neg vibes about using a HL55 camera? :confused:

[Filter_5]

-Ivan
I didn't have any ill feelings toward it really, it was the 3/4 deck that was strapped to my back and tethered cabled to the camera that I got the neg vibes from... :eek:

[Scannerhound]

http://cache.lego.com/images/shop/Products/TYPE10/LEGO-US-2057/set384x288us001361.jpg

[texshooter]

KTEN Studio Camera, circa 2002

http://www.cameroddities.com/images/odd122.jpg

[Brian Z]

The first camera I shot on was an HL-55a. It was a beast but shot some great pictures. It sucked shooting off the shoulder for sports, and it did have some issues shooting at night on an extender...dark pictures. I got some great training on it. Try doing a waste shot of a lacrosse player in game on a 2x extender from 40 yards away.

It also had an Ampex back on it...remember them? I got into a friendly argument with one of my professors in school because they were teaching us some old Ampex graphics package that was 20 years old that I KNEW I would never be using.

[ August 05, 2004, 12:10 PM: Message edited by: Brian Z ]

[imported_blank]

Filter_5,
My mistake. I thought you're referring to the HL-V55 one piece beta camcorder - the camera Tippster posted the picture of. Can be seen here http://www.ikegami.com/br/products/sdtv/hlv55.html Very good workhorse for its day. If I recall this model had a slightly better camera head then the dockable HL-55a that took betacam or M11 backs. http://www.ikegami.com/br/products/sdtv/hl55a.html

I guess you must be referring to the dockable model with a studio back running a cable to a 3/4 deck? If so then I understand, that is way too old and bulky for today's standards. Also, 3/4 inch quality doesn't cut it today.

[Filter_5]

yes, that would be the one ugghh...
sorry, flashbacks

[MadMax]

We're "supposed" to use a JVC KY-25 on all our ENG live shots. To "color match with the studio cams" (JVC KY-27).

I'm not knocking the JVC KY-27. Its a workhorse and looks damn good over the air.

But...
Call me crazy, but I'd rather have a DVCPRO
AJ-700D with a Cannon 18x lens w/extender sending back a pic than a JVC KY-25 with a crappy fuji lenz that, no matter what you do and no matter how much light you throw on your subject, the picture looks soft.

Plus you can't beat shooting w/o cross hairs and a safe title.

The JVC KY-25 cameras (from what I understand) were docked to 3/4" decks before the station upgraded, now they are "spare" cameras.

[<trust me I know>]

Originally posted by &lt;RUinFocus&gt;:
whatever mini-cam WMC in Memphis is crappy. The video is not crisp and you always see tape wrinkles, especially sports. The video looks so flat. You DO NOT KNOW what you are talking about. The flat video on WMC is not from those minicams, it is the fact that the decks they have to run their news shows on are so poorly kept that the shows look like junk. If WMC had some engineers that knew how to calibrate their DVCPro decks, their shows would look better, period.

Point of information...unless their camera is in the shop, or a news photog is helping them out, the sports dept at WMC uses a DVCPro camera.

Don't get me wrong...WMC has a lot of problems, but those minicams aren't one of them. I'm sorry to be rude, but I'm so sick of hearing how "crappy" these minicams are. When in the right hands, they shoot well.

And what "tape wrinkles" do you refer to?

[Shootblue]

Our live truck camera is a DXC-3000

[<Feathers>]

I just heard about this site about a month ago and have really enjoyed reading the posts but today I'm finally chiming in. Where I work (they don't do news but we do loads of MOS's) I use a Hitachi Z-One-C AND I'm using an old Sony RM450 to edit most of the stuff.

(Hey, at least I got my foot in somewhere)

[yellowbeta]

ok,

I"m in market 132. The top stations run dvcpro. The number 3 station just upgraded a year ago from hi8 to svhs. Isn't life grand :)

[Hess]

Greetings.

I used to shoot on a JVC KY 35 docked to a Sony PVV1. It weighed a ton, and the adapter plate was almost 2 inches wide.
Add a brick on the back and it was well over 25 pounds.

Then there were the days of shooting S-VHS and editing to 3/4 inch. What a nightmare. Taking bad video and maiking it worse.

[<drinkdatlemonade>]

Originally posted by &lt;trust me I know&gt;:
quote: Originally posted by &lt;RUinFocus&gt;:
whatever mini-cam WMC in Memphis is crappy. The video is not crisp and you always see tape wrinkles, especially sports. The video looks so flat. You DO NOT KNOW what you are talking about. The flat video on WMC is not from those minicams, it is the fact that the decks they have to run their news shows on are so poorly kept that the shows look like junk. If WMC had some engineers that knew how to calibrate their DVCPro decks, their shows would look better, period.

Point of information...unless their camera is in the shop, or a news photog is helping them out, the sports dept at WMC uses a DVCPro camera.

Don't get me wrong...WMC has a lot of problems, but those minicams aren't one of them. I'm sorry to be rude, but I'm so sick of hearing how "crappy" these minicams are. When in the right hands, they shoot well.

And what "tape wrinkles" do you refer to? boo! hoo! hoo! hoo! get me a violin to play.

don't blame the engineers for your station for buying cheap prosumer camcorders. you must be drinking the peggyphillip.com lemonade.

there's a reason for a little difference in the video of your camcorder and the broadcast cameras that other stations use. It's named prosumer camcorder because it's just below the quality of a profesional broadcast camera. yours is a consumer version of a profesional camera, such as the cdd, tv lines resolution, lens, etc.

keep boasting bout your camcorder. the station will get wise and decide to rid the photog staff and make the reporters one-man bands and you'll be working across the street at pizza hut. hey, could i have a supreme? when's your buffet?

[Currentchief]

Ahhhh....

MII.

During a live shot in Tampa, an extra start/stop button left in the handgrip at the factory jammed my zoom in the middle of a live shot and I (and 200,000 other people) were suddenly seeing my reporter's nose at 14x magnification!

I pulled back, reframed and carefully, slowly released the zoom bar......ZOOM!!!....back into the nose!

I again reframed and held the zoom in that position. I could hear the gears grinding, fighting me in another attempt to zoom in.

I got through the shot and waited. One, two, three...ring!

"What the HELL was that!!!?" said the news director. At the time,I had no idea and said so.

A day or so later, the extra button was found in the handle. But, the damage was done to my reputation. i was in the doghouse for months.

I hate MII. :mad:

[jsp]

Originally posted by &lt;drinkdatlemonade&gt;:
quote: Originally posted by &lt;trust me I know&gt;:
quote: Originally posted by &lt;RUinFocus&gt;:
whatever mini-cam WMC in Memphis is crappy. The video is not crisp and you always see tape wrinkles, especially sports. The video looks so flat. You DO NOT KNOW what you are talking about. The flat video on WMC is not from those minicams, it is the fact that the decks they have to run their news shows on are so poorly kept that the shows look like junk. If WMC had some engineers that knew how to calibrate their DVCPro decks, their shows would look better, period.

Point of information...unless their camera is in the shop, or a news photog is helping them out, the sports dept at WMC uses a DVCPro camera.

Don't get me wrong...WMC has a lot of problems, but those minicams aren't one of them. I'm sorry to be rude, but I'm so sick of hearing how "crappy" these minicams are. When in the right hands, they shoot well.

And what "tape wrinkles" do you refer to? boo! hoo! hoo! hoo! get me a violin to play.

don't blame the engineers for your station for buying cheap prosumer camcorders. you must be drinking the peggyphillip.com lemonade.

there's a reason for a little difference in the video of your camcorder and the broadcast cameras that other stations use. It's named prosumer camcorder because it's just below the quality of a profesional broadcast camera. yours is a consumer version of a profesional camera, such as the cdd, tv lines resolution, lens, etc.

keep boasting bout your camcorder. the station will get wise and decide to rid the photog staff and make the reporters one-man bands and you'll be working across the street at pizza hut. hey, could i have a supreme? when's your buffet? Actually (not trying to hijack this thread, but)...

I've edited packages shot on WMC cameras (both regular and minidv), had them look great in the bay, and then like total crap when they went to air. After the show, I've taken the same tape the stuff was edited to, put the tape in another deck, and had it look fine.

I hated the time I spent shooting with those mini-cameras. Thankfully when DERF left I was able to grab his DVCPro cam. But regardless of popular opinion, I don't think you can tell all the time whats shot on minicam and what is not. I've had a lot of guys in the field try to tell me they can, but I disagree. If you looked at an entire newscast and tried to guess, you'd probably be suprised. And sports hardly ever uses a mini.

Our video does look really flat over the air sometimes, and I'm not sure why. I'm not an engineer and I don't know how the stuff works. I'm hoping when the renovations are done at 1960 maybe the new equipment will solve the problem.

Gotta love the personal insults though. I don't know who "trust me I know" is, or "drinkdatlemonade", but you gotta love it when annonymous Memphis photogs run their mouths on B-roll. "Can I have a supreme", huh?

Great town.

[Flash-Frame]

Whiney,

I'm not anonymous and I think they suck.

Of course my camera has a dead pixel in it, but that is a another story.

[<Sycophant>]

Originally posted by texshooter:
The station I used to work at shot on Digital S, a digital version of SVHS.Digital S or D9 as it is now known, is effectively on par with Digital Betacam.

For the record.

[imported_blank]

Originally posted by &lt;Sycophant&gt;:
Digital S or D9 as it is now known, is effectively on par with Digital Betacam.

For the record. Uhm No, not quite.

As much as I liked the limited stuff I seen on D9 - FOR THE RECORD, it is NOT at par with digi-beta. Here are just some of the "tape format differences.
--D9 is a 50Mbps 8 bit digital recording format.
--Digi-Beta is a 90Mbps 10 bit digital recording format.

Digi-Beta is almost twice the bandwidth (compared to D9, DVCpro-50 or IMX) along with 10-bit-video as opposed to the 8-bit video of D9, DVCpro-50 or IMX.

Also the Sony digital betacam heads are far superior to the D9 heads...

[texshooter]

Originally posted by &lt;Sycophant&gt;:
quote: Originally posted by texshooter:
The station I used to work at shot on Digital S, a digital version of SVHS.Digital S or D9 as it is now known, is effectively on par with Digital Betacam.

For the record. For the record, I have shot and edited with it, and when it works, it's great. The other 90% of the time, it sucks. Maybe there's a reason only 5 other stations in the US shoot with it (or at least admit to shooting with it). Maybe it's because the freakin' tapes are too damn expensive, the heads clog on the camera and decks reqularly, digital break up is common, and the audio quality is at best fair. In a nice, sterile, production house environment, D9 may be the second coming. In the real world af day-to-day NEWS, it sucks. My 300a might not make as nice a picture as the JVC DY90 I used to work with (then again, I DO have a better lens now), but it's probably the most reliable and bulletproof camera I have ever shot with. For the record.

[<uhTrustMeUDontKnow>]

Originally posted by &lt;trust me I know&gt;:
quote: Originally posted by &lt;RUinFocus&gt;:
whatever mini-cam WMC in Memphis is crappy. The video is not crisp and you always see tape wrinkles, especially sports. The video looks so flat. You DO NOT KNOW what you are talking about. The flat video on WMC is not from those minicams, it is the fact that the decks they have to run their news shows on are so poorly kept that the shows look like junk. If WMC had some engineers that knew how to calibrate their DVCPro decks, their shows would look better, period.

Point of information...unless their camera is in the shop, or a news photog is helping them out, the sports dept at WMC uses a DVCPro camera.

Don't get me wrong...WMC has a lot of problems, but those minicams aren't one of them. I'm sorry to be rude, but I'm so sick of hearing how "crappy" these minicams are. When in the right hands, they shoot well.

And what "tape wrinkles" do you refer to? believe me, it's not the tape deck. it's the camera or the operator cause a live shot over the weekend looked very flat, no contrast or much chroma but when went back to anchor, it was crisp and not flat.

[<DVCPro50>]

WSEE in Erie, PA uses SVHS for its news shows and playback. The video is HIDEOUS! I guess that in the 21st century there are some stations out there that just don't care about putting substandard video out over the air. The station changed owners nearly 2 1/2 years ago and the promise was DVCPro within 6 months....No Go! SVHS has been and always will be a piece of s**t format. WSEE SUX!

[DWR]

I'm sure they are not using this any more but I wanted to describe the strangest camera I have seen, and see if someone can tell us all the model number.

It was the mid 1990's in Tampa Bay. We were shooting on Iki 79D's and E's with 3/4" decks. This is before the 83's came out. WTSP got a camera to use just in the helecopter.

This camera came from Ikegami. The camera was in two parts! The front end had the lense and tubes (yes tubes!) in a housing that looked like a giant 16mm camera. This was connected with an umbilical to the camera "Guts" an ugly grey box that looked like some power supplies look now, and was about the size of a 110 tape deck. Then you still had to have a tape deck, which connected to the "Guts" box. The idea was that in the helecopter you only had to hold the "Front" end so it was smaller than a 79D. The "Back" end could sit on the floor.

Well all the photographers hated the thing, so they always took their own camera's up in the chopper. This meant they had to find some other use for the monstrosity...so they gave it to sports. So now the sports guy had to run up and down football fields with a tape deck slung over one shoulder and the camera guts slung over the other shoulder, and still shooting with the front end of the camera.

Out of town crews would stare at him and ask what on earth he ever did to deserve that!

Can anyone identify this camera model?

[Run&Gun]

Originally posted by &lt;uhTrustMeUDontKnow&gt;:
quote: Originally posted by &lt;trust me I know&gt;:
quote: Originally posted by &lt;RUinFocus&gt;:
whatever mini-cam WMC in Memphis is crappy. The video is not crisp and you always see tape wrinkles, especially sports. The video looks so flat. You DO NOT KNOW what you are talking about. The flat video on WMC is not from those minicams, it is the fact that the decks they have to run their news shows on are so poorly kept that the shows look like junk. If WMC had some engineers that knew how to calibrate their DVCPro decks, their shows would look better, period.

Point of information...unless their camera is in the shop, or a news photog is helping them out, the sports dept at WMC uses a DVCPro camera.

Don't get me wrong...WMC has a lot of problems, but those minicams aren't one of them. I'm sorry to be rude, but I'm so sick of hearing how "crappy" these minicams are. When in the right hands, they shoot well.

And what "tape wrinkles" do you refer to? believe me, it's not the tape deck. it's the camera or the operator cause a live shot over the weekend looked very flat, no contrast or much chroma but when went back to anchor, it was crisp and not flat. Playing devils advocate, it could be that the camera is fine, it's something(or someone) in the transmission/receive chain. I have seen many live shots, network and local where shots in the field looked VERY washed out compared to the studio, and it WASN'T the camera. I have been part of live shots where the picture looked great on the field monitor, looked great in the sat truck, and even great on the return, but by the time it went through God knows what on the other end and hit air, it looked like sh!t.

[D.St.]

Originally posted by DWR: This camera came from Ikegami. The camera was in two parts! The front end had the lense and tubes (yes tubes!) in a housing that looked like a giant 16mm camera. This was connected with an umbilical to the camera "Guts" an ugly grey box that looked like some power supplies look now, and was about the size of a 110 tape deck. Then you still had to have a tape deck, which connected to the "Guts" box. The idea was that in the helecopter you only had to hold the "Front" end so it was smaller than a 79D. The "Back" end could sit on the floor.
I collect old TV equipment (I have an HL-79 in my collection). This sounds like a Ikegami HL-37. These were produced in the late 1970's and it was the last in the HL-3x line. The previous Handy-Looky cameras built by Ike had a backpack configuration for the control unit. This camera had a much smaller side pouch to replace the backpack used earlier.

Shortly after this camera's release, Ike unveiled the HL-77, the first "one-piece" camera (you still had to have a deck as Beta was still in development). There weren't a lot of 37's sold as the 77, RCA TK-76 and the Sony BVP series arrived on the market.

I have some of the old sales literature from the Ike products of the 1970's. Reading the specs on this cam (f4.5 @ 2000 lux, 48dB S/N ratio) remind me just how far TV technology has come.

[<devilsadvocate>]

Originally posted by Run&Gun:
quote: Originally posted by &lt;uhTrustMeUDontKnow&gt;:
quote: Originally posted by &lt;trust me I know&gt;:
quote: Originally posted by &lt;RUinFocus&gt;:
whatever mini-cam WMC in Memphis is crappy. The video is not crisp and you always see tape wrinkles, especially sports. The video looks so flat. You DO NOT KNOW what you are talking about. The flat video on WMC is not from those minicams, it is the fact that the decks they have to run their news shows on are so poorly kept that the shows look like junk. If WMC had some engineers that knew how to calibrate their DVCPro decks, their shows would look better, period.

Point of information...unless their camera is in the shop, or a news photog is helping them out, the sports dept at WMC uses a DVCPro camera.

Don't get me wrong...WMC has a lot of problems, but those minicams aren't one of them. I'm sorry to be rude, but I'm so sick of hearing how "crappy" these minicams are. When in the right hands, they shoot well.

And what "tape wrinkles" do you refer to? believe me, it's not the tape deck. it's the camera or the operator cause a live shot over the weekend looked very flat, no contrast or much chroma but when went back to anchor, it was crisp and not flat. Playing devils advocate, it could be that the camera is fine, it's something(or someone) in the transmission/receive chain. I have seen many live shots, network and local where shots in the field looked VERY washed out compared to the studio, and it WASN'T the camera. I have been part of live shots where the picture looked great on the field monitor, looked great in the sat truck, and even great on the return, but by the time it went through God knows what on the other end and hit air, it looked like sh!t. Let me play devil's advocate. Could it be that your monitors are off. That someone missed with the contrast, hue, brightness, etc. and your shot really looks like crap.

[Run&Gun]

Touche(I guess that's how you spell it).

Maybe in the case of the guys that are being discussed above, but not my stuff. I'm freelance and have the luxury of buying good equipment and not being sadled with sub-standard gear, and I know how to set-up a monitor, anyone who doesn't check their monitor before using it to judge a picture is stupid, they do drift and someone could have always put their d!ck skinners on the knobs and "tweaked" without your knowledge. Plus the likelyhood of three other monitors(in the sat-truck) being f'ed up at the same time is pretty unlikely.

I have also seen video differ in packages on-air, where the video was fed off of the same tape, out of the same deck, shot by the same camera, and look like the rest of the video going out, but didn't match what it was fed with, once the final product was on-air.

Not taking sides or defending anyone, just offering up info.