There is no substitute known today for a good editor and well trained staff.Invest in your folks not your equipment.

What is professional broadcast?, what is broadcast quality?

We all hear the term every day but what in truth does it mean?

After searching and calling and reading the truthful answer is .. not a lot. Standards are as handy as a chocolate fire guard.

The truth is much more complex; 10 years ago, broadcast standard meant ,what you would need to submit to a broadcasting station in order to air it on one of the 30 available channels.

Now it means many things. There are a host of questions to answer. DVS understands this and we would like to share with you some questions and answers to this very tricky and moving target.

I want to broadcast my president's yearly meeting to all shareholders. I want it to be broadcast quality. What do I need?

A you must decide where your viewers are most able to be in their offices in their homes? On the road? In all these cases you are probably looking for an internet stream, your company wants to know what’s going on real-time..If the audio is ok and the video seeable then it’s good.. It’s a webcast solution. This can be replayed too. Simple solutions such as go stream will work over various players and providers.

Q I want to be able to have interactions (Q&A) with my audience.

A) again interactivity is a web solution using teleconferencing systems to stream along with a service such as web ex still qualifies as broadcast.

Q I want to be able to insert my ad in an HD cable TV

A The minimum standard should be 720X 486 dimensions (forget the P'S and I's) generally cable stations are built of standard analog formats. Unless they are really big they conform to broadcasting rules by up scaling regular content to HD.If you go to the trouble of real HD it will still be downscaled for most viewers. It’s cheaper to re render your final project than move to a full HD solution.

Q I want to hit national and international channels the web cable sat the lot. What do I need?

A A good shooting team a good editor, a lot of planning and a robust and agile edit system. The system depends on your urgency

In previous times quality was in the hardware, now even a small system can give you quality.. Your dollars are best spent in the question of how fast and how much. If you need to go to air NOW you need flash based cams and high end systems.

If you have a week or two a final cut with an aja board will do it.

If you have a month Sony Vegas is good.

Q My client wants to make changes today and mail the finals tomorrow.

A does the client understand and interpret render time? If not you need a real time system. (mucho bucks.) Real time means, do it, see it.

It changes your dollars dramatically.

Q I am told avid is the best .. what do you think?

A Avid has a high end product and a good name (and a great campaign).DVS staff has seen all names come and go. Truth is there is no substitute known today for a good editor and well trained staff. Invest in your folks not your equipment.