Stealth Interview Tactic with Phone & Mixing Pro with Crap Content

prosheditor

prosheditor

Well-known member
Is this being employed at your station or others in your market?

In the last few months, I've noticed the leading station in my area's home market using their iToys to shoot quick OTFs while the truck operator finds a place to park & break out the ENG camera. That content is then intercut with the ENG content. So crap is mixed with pro content within the package. Then this new product's info was posted on the b-roll. It just never ends but these tools do have their specific uses. It's also kind of stealthy because the subject isn't being approached with a large intimidating camera whether it's an ambush or friendly interview.

A local cop told me that a reporter held a phone too close to his face and he didn't appreciate that being done to him recently. It looked really bad on the air too. So if reporters that aren't shooters or decent shooters are going to use this often, they're going to have to understand and respect the subject's personal space when trying to get that 'dramatic' close up with these fixed wide lenses.

This station mentioned is superfunded and has ALL the right tools already so this shortcut is indicative of what's to come if they are doing this. Although time efficient for unfolding breaking news, I've noticed the subtle but annoying strobic-type corrections when the phone's EIS is trying to stabilize the handheld video along with the auto-iris corrections.

If the action is something that will be missed while waiting on the ENG package, then I think phone or tablet video, live or later is acceptable to capture it. This is in-the-moment, news field video we're talking about, not in controlled produced conditions. It is also the near future whether we like it or not. But to use it just because it's new, cool, cheap and it exists would be foolish but it will happen for those reasons.

What are your thoughts on this?
 
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svp

svp

Well-known member
I just ordered an iRig for myself for when we are crunch editing on news stories I can have the reporter track into the iPhone and then just email the audio file to myself instead of having to shut down the editor, pull the card, voice into the camera, put the card back in, and reopen the editor. This will make it much faster.
 
svp

svp

Well-known member
At the scene said:
Breaking news with a Dejero? Why? Where was the Sat. or Microwave truck.
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We rarely use the SAT truck or microwave trucks anymore. We have 4 Teradek Bond Pro's and 4 Dejero's and nearly ALL live shots are on those. Yes, occasionally we get shots that freeze or glitch but its becoming less and less. The bonded cellular units just give us so much LIVE flexibility that you don't have with a ENG or SNG truck. We also have 7 dedicated storm trackers who all have Teradeks and they'll all be out streaming back live shots all day during severe weather. That's how we have been able to have nearly every tornado in the state LIVE on the air this storm season. No other station can do that.
 
A

At the scene

Well-known member
svp said:
We rarely use the SAT truck or microwave trucks anymore. We have 4 Teradek Bond Pro's and 4 Dejero's and nearly ALL live shots are on those. Yes, occasionally we get shots that freeze or glitch but its becoming less and less. The bonded cellular units just give us so much LIVE flexibility that you don't have with a ENG or SNG truck. We also have 7 dedicated storm trackers who all have Teradeks and they'll all be out streaming back live shots all day during severe weather. That's how we have been able to have nearly every tornado in the state LIVE on the air this storm season. No other station can do that.
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And that awkward delay does not bother you. Honestly makes me want to shut off or change channel. Pretty weak to have breaking news live with a Dejero. Not knocking you but ( "Yes, occasionally we get shots that freeze or glitch") unacceptable. Can you explain to me why a SAT or Microwave truck could not be used in that sitituation. Looks like a plain old parking lot to me, what flexibility did the crew need to get live out of there.

If the station I work for sent me to breaking news with a Dejero and had trouble getting a signal, well to bad no live shot. You want to be cheap and sit trucks in the garage , great don't complain when the competition kicks your a$$.

Storm trackers I get it but breaking news that's just penny pinching foolishness. I have a friend that works for Dejero and he himself suggest to use SAT or Microwave when ever possible. In fact when he demonstrates the Dejero to stations he preaches it to managers. Imagine that a rep from Dejero telling stations to use Live trucks if possible. HMMMM!!!
 
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Run&Gun

Well-known member
At the scene said:
If the station I work for sent me to breaking news with a Dejero and had trouble getting a signal, well to bad no live shot. You want to be cheap and sit trucks in the garage , great don't complain when the competition kicks your a$$.
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Now replace local station with network and breaking news with planned major national event… There was some coverage a month or so ago and instead of a sat truck(remember this is a network) there were cell backpacks. One crapped out and they had to scramble and find a sat truck at the 11th hour. It just barely made it there and got set-up in time. And by barely, I mean it was within probably 10 mins of the hit when everything was locked in.
 
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At the scene

Well-known member
Run&Gun said:
Now replace local station with network and breaking news with planned major national event… There was some coverage a month or so ago and instead of a sat truck(remember this is a network) there were cell backpacks. One crapped out and they had to scramble and find a sat truck at the 11th hour. It just barely made it there and got set-up in time. And by barely, I mean it was within probably 10 mins of the hit when everything was locked in.
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Exactly!! When a truck craps out, you can at least try to find the problem and fix it if possible. When the cell backpacks crap out what's the alternative? Move to a higher and farther location to grab a signal. Really?? This is improved technology!
 
S

SamG

Well-known member
Great googily moogily.

Yes, cell packs (Dejero/TVU/LiveU) CAN be used for breaking news and MIGHT be faster than rolling a microwave/sat truck. First, unless you're lucky, you can get the cellular transmitter to the shot quicker... 1) you just have to put the cell pack in your normal news car and start rolling instead of cross loading your gear into a live truck. 2) Your standard car will be quicker to a scene than a live truck. 3) Set up time is MUCH quicker with a cellular based signal.

We have had cell pack shots die because of a lack of a signal or poor quality signal. We have had live truck shots die because of transmitter issues, cable issues, and generator issues.

Both transmission paths have pros and cons. To say you should never use one or the other is stupid IMO.
 
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At the scene

Well-known member
SamG said:
Great googily moogily.

Yes, cell packs (Dejero/TVU/LiveU) CAN be used for breaking news and MIGHT be faster than rolling a microwave/sat truck. First, unless you're lucky, you can get the cellular transmitter to the shot quicker... 1) you just have to put the cell pack in your normal news car and start rolling instead of cross loading your gear into a live truck. 2) Your standard car will be quicker to a scene than a live truck. 3) Set up time is MUCH quicker with a cellular based signal.

We have had cell pack shots die because of a lack of a signal or poor quality signal. We have had live truck shots die because of transmitter issues, cable issues, and generator issues.

Both transmission paths have pros and cons. To say you should never use one or the other is stupid IMO.
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Sam no one here ever said not to use either. I guess I was not thinking that you guys do not have truck ops. Am I correct? I fortunately still have truck ops although I am strictly sports now. Without a truck op I can see that YES it would be easier to use the cell packs or Live Box like I like to call it. However I have to admit that in my 25years in this business I can count on one hand how many times a truck has failed. In the short time I have used the Dejero nothing but trouble. Almost 50/50. Not the best fix in my opinion no matter how fast you can set it up!!
 
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SamG

Well-known member
At the scene said:
Sam no one here ever said not to use either. I guess I was not thinking that you guys do not have truck ops. Am I correct? I fortunately still have truck ops although I am strictly sports now. Without a truck op I can see that YES it would be easier to use the cell packs or Live Box like I like to call it. However I have to admit that in my 25years in this business I can count on one hand how many times a truck has failed. In the short time I have used the Dejero nothing but trouble. Almost 50/50. Not the best fix in my opinion no matter how fast you can set it up!!
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Correct, no truck ops. Photogs do it all. Don't get me wrong, at least half of our live shot losses are probably "operator error". But we do have mechanical issues (generator or transmitter primarily).

I will say we did have problems with Dejero originally, but since we upgraded to their 6 card boxes, they've been pretty reliable.

A couple weeks ago one of our reporters shot an as-live on his cell phone and emailed it back. I was actually impressed with the quality. Our microwave and satellite trucks are still SD (upconverted to HD at the studio).
 
svp

svp

Well-known member
You guys can oppose the new technology all you want but it's much faster than live trucks and works flawlessly about 90% of the time. The station just had a cell booster installed in my car and I'm now able to do live shots in rural areas where we could barely make a phone call before. I just sit the Dejero in the back of my car and run a BNC cable. Booster has worked great and I've never had a single shot drop since I got it.

By the way, the video in my previous post was using the app and an iPhone. Using our Teradeks and Dejero's with our HPX370's there is NO DELAY.
 
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Run&Gun

Well-known member
SamG said:
Both transmission paths have pros and cons. To say you should never use one or the other is stupid IMO.
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They are both tools that have their uses. And part of being a good craftsman is knowing when and how to use each tool.

I've done MANY network LS's and feeds with cell packs. More than I ever thought I would. And when they work they are great. Much easier and more convenient than a sat truck. Lots of flexibility as to where I can set-up(as long as I can get power). Much quicker to set-up(and tear down). Less cables, because IFB and PL are just cell phones. And if you take out the packs just completely $hitting the bed, I've had less PL and IFB problems in the last year than when going through a truck. Now, the majority of this has been "weekday" coverage of things and not at big events where you are better served by a truck and its historically better and more robust service. 10,000 people on their cells... Who cares? Your video is going up to a satellite. You're getting out. That's why I do not understand why a NETWORK would risk coverage on something as insignificant as the cost of a sat truck when you base that against what you can lose if you can't get out. A few thousand dollars for a truck vs. NO coverage when you've already spent thousands getting your reporter, producer and crew there. Your product is content on the air. If you don't or can't, why even bother doing TV at all?
 
A

At the scene

Well-known member
svp said:
You guys can oppose the new technology all you want but it's much faster than live trucks and works flawlessly about 90% of the time. The station just had a cell booster installed in my car and I'm now able to do live shots in rural areas where we could barely make a phone call before. I just sit the Dejero in the back of my car and run a BNC cable. Booster has worked great and I've never had a single shot drop since I got it.

By the way, the video in my previous post was using the app and an iPhone. Using our Teradeks and Dejero's with our HPX370's there is NO DELAY.
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SVP I don't think I am communicating well. I am in no way opposed to new technology. Maybe its my area but the Dejero works only about 50% of the time. It's not the end all be all for live shots, a Dejero rep specifically told us that they are not to replace live trucks period. Correct in saying that it is a tool to use. Is it cool to go live from a moving train or on a racing boat, of course that is the best part. I have done both with break up and delay. Covering the Stanley cup in Chicago Dejero's, Live u's, TV u's everywhere. But here is the catch all for feeding purpose only. I'm not sure but I think only 2 crews used them for live purposes with failure 2 out of 6 lives. Doesn't sound bad but unacceptable to me.
I just feel the cell pack use is just another copout for stations to cut cost and drop standards even further than they are already. Also I'm so tired of people telling me that I am against technology. All for technology when it works 95% or more! All for technology when its professional equipment not this consumer crap they keep jamming down my throat. You will be the first to complain when the station assigns you an iPhone to replace your Pani 370. ( I know it was just a onetime thing because your Dejero died) Sorry guys but mangers are looking to cut cost all the time and if the iPhone keeps bailing them out , guess what!!!

TV SHOOTER wrote in another post which is so true and should be a valuable piece of information for all of us.
When and only when it affects on air product will anyone be interested in fixing it.
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So true, when my Dejero dies or has no signal. Done! No live shot, no shooting on IPHONES, I don't care if the President of U.S. is shot, or the city is burning down. This the crap you give me this the crap you have to live with.

Ahhh! That feels so much better. :)
 
svp

svp

Well-known member
At the Scene,

I understand what you are saying. Here they seem to work pretty flawless. I'm sure that's not the case in all markets. Each Dejero has two ATT, two Verizon, two Sprint, and two TMobile 4G cards. ATT & Verizon are very strong throughout Oklahoma except in the panhandle which we never go to anyway. I know not all markets have great wireless signals or the capacity to handle all that data on three cell towers when all stations are using BCNG units. I get it. For us, they are invaluable and get us on-air first most of the time and its just another tool that's helped us to become the dominate #1 in all newscasts. That's all its really about. I'll just add that its wonderful to get to stay in my news unit all the time with all my gear and not have to constantly load into a live truck to head out and leave half my gear behind.
 
A

At the scene

Well-known member
svp said:
At the Scene,
I'll just add that its wonderful to get to stay in my news unit all the time with all my gear and not have to constantly load into a live truck to head out and leave half my gear behind.
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I hear you! It was my ignorance also for thinking that you guys have truck ops like I do. It does say something to show up (at the scene) and have everything set up and ready to go.
 
svp

svp

Well-known member
We do have truck ops here but photogs were occasionally running their own trucks until we started getting and using the BCNG's.
 
code20photog

code20photog

Well-known member
svp said:
You guys can oppose the new technology all you want but it's much faster than live trucks and works flawlessly about 90% of the time.
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We're probably closer to 95% success rate, but we're also in Los Angeles that has a pretty decent cell network.
 
code20photog

code20photog

Well-known member
We don't have truck ops, we do it all. We have 5 or 6 Dejeros and LiveUs, and I'll usually take one every night. Our new small LiveU pack has yet to fail on air and often times, especially at breaking news, we can get on TV eons faster than putting the mast up and panning in. I'll actually keep it next to the driver's seat and get it fired up before we even get there. We're live on TV the moment we get out of the truck.

As for the delay, what we do is our Tech Ops back at the station will give us a que over the IFB to give a thumbs up. They'll gauge the delay, and then pre-cue the reporter so that there's no perceivable delay on air.
 
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