GENERAL TIPS

This SECTION INCLUDES GENERAL INFORMATION ON:

     *VIDEO FORMATS

     *CAMERA COMPOSITION

    *LIGHTING TECHNIQUES

    *AUDIO TROUBLESHOOTING

     *A GUIDE TO VIDEO AND AUDIO CABLES

     *AND MUCH MORE!

 

Video Formats

Videotape varies in width from 8 millimeters to 2 inches. This size—along with the shape of the plastic cassette and the manner and speed at which the tape orders and records information—is called format. Each different tape format can be used only in cameras, decks, and other equipment designed for that format. Just as you wouldn’t try to play an old 8-track music tape in your boom box, you can’t play a 1/2" VHS tape on a 3/4" VCR. You can, however, edit or copy from one format to another.

Videotape formats differ in their cost, quality, and portability. When choosing which format to use, you should think about how much you can spend on videotape, the level of picture quality you want, if you can carry the equipment (larger format tapes have bigger, heavier equipment), and whether you have access to editing machines in that format. BCM cablecasts programs in S-VHS, VHS, DV  and DV Cam formats.

Popular Tape Formats!

1/2" VHS

Rental movies and the VCRs people have in their homes are in the 1/2" VHS format. VHS tapes are inexpensive but do not provide a high-quality picture. It is best to use a higher-quality format to shoot, edit, and cablecast your video. VHS is best used for making a final copy (a dub) of your finished video to watch at home.

1/2" S-VHS

1/2" S-VHS (Super-VHS) is a more expensive but higher-quality version of VHS. Either standard or high-fidelity (Hi-Fi) audio can be recorded on S-VHS, making it useful for recording music events.

3/4" U-Matic

3/4" was a popular broadcast standard in the 1980’s. If you have 3/4” source material that you wouldlike to use in your program, you will need to dub it to SVHS or DV.

8mm/Hi8/Digital 8

8mm is a common format for home camcorders. The videocassettes are roughly the size of an audio cassette, and 8mm videotape provides an acceptable quality image and high-fidelity sound for little cost. IThese were the first small format camcorders widely avilable to consumers, popular for their small size and ease of use. Like 3/4”, you will need to dub any source footage onto a SVHS or DV tape.

DV 

DV stands for Digital Video.  These are used in digital camcorders and DV editors.  This tape has very high resolution with minimal drop out. Mini DV is  a miniature version of DV.

DV Cam

DV Cam is a Sony proprietary format which can support higher resolution than DV tape.  BCM can master to DVCam on the NLE systems. Mini DV Cam is a miniature version of the DV Cam tape.

Understanding Video

Videotape fresh from the store is just a ribbon of plastic that is coated with a thin, even layer of metal oxide particles and wound on spools inside a plastic box.

The recording process begins when you point the camera at an image (for example, a house). Light reflected by the image passes through the lens of the camera and strikes the surface of an image sensor called a chip. This chip converts all of the picture information contained in the light into electrical charges. These charges are stored in the chip and then sent line-by-line as electrical pulses to the record deck’s recording mechanism.

When you put your deck (or camcorder) in STAND-BY, a wheel starts whiring around inside the recording mechanism. On two opposite edges of this wheel sit a pair of tiny electromagnets called heads. The heads convert the electrical pulses coming from the camera (known as the video signal) into magnetism.

When you press the camera’s RECORD button, the tape winds from one spool to the other inside the deck and the heads use magnetism to pull the tape’s metal particles into a pattern determined by the video signal. This method of storing information is the process of recording.

When you press PLAY on a VCR the machine reverses this process. The heads inside the deck read the pattern on the tape and transform the information into electrical pulses. The monitor transforms these pulses into dots and lines of light and color on the screen.

Three kinds of information are recorded on the videotape. An electronic control track, which controls the tape’s speed, is recorded along one edge of the tape. The video image (the picture) is recorded in the middle of the tape in an angular pattern. Audio is recorded in two separate channels at one edge of the tape.b HIFi audio recording uses part of the video section of the tape. 

Control Track

The control track’s function is similar to that of the sprocket holes in film. It keeps the recording and playback process going at exactly the right speed. It consists of a series of evenly-timed electronic pulses recorded at the edge of the videotape. These pulses regulate the speed that the tape moves through the deck, and guide the video heads so they record and read each line of video information accurately. The control track plays a very important role during editing.

The Video Signal

Understanding the video signal will help you make better use of video signal monitoring equipment, which is used to determine how to adjust the quality of your picture. To best understand the video signal, it helps to look at how it communicates information to the monitor.

When you turn your monitor on to look at a video image, an electron gun at the back of the monitor’s picture tube starts shooting an electron beam across the face of the tube. This causes the tube’s photosensitive phosphor coating to glow, thereby creating a picture. For the picture to appear accurately on the screen, the gun needs to know what the image is, as well as how and at what speed to read it. This information is contained in the electronic video signal.

The video signal divides the picture information into frames much like the frames of a film. Each frame can be thought of as a still picture of the image you are videotaping. When you watch these pictures in real time on a monitor, the illusion of movement is created. In video, 30 frames (pictures) are taken per second, and each frame is divided into 525 horizontal lines of picture information. These lines are separated into two fields, one containing the 262.5 odd lines and the other the 262.5 even lines. Two fields make a frame.

The Video Signal Controls Timing

The video signal feeds information line-by-line to the monitor in the following way. First, a timing pulse called the vertical sync pulse, tells the monitor’s electron gun to begin reading a new frame, starting at the top. This is followed by a horizontal sync pulse, which tells it to begin reading line 1 from left to right. The gun then shoots an electron beam across the first line of the picture tube; this recreates line 1 of the picture. At the end of the line, a horizontal blanking pulse tells the gun to turn off and return to the left side, where the process repeats starting with line 3 and continues until all of the odd-numbered lines are read. At the bottom, a vertical blanking pulse then tells the gun to turn off and return to the top of the picture. All of the even lines are then read in the same way.

The picture is recreated using separate even and odd fields because the photosensitive coating fades faster than the electron gun can read 525 lines. If the gun reads all 525 lines in order; by the time it reached the bottom the picture would have faded at the top. By reading first the odd and then the even field, the gun can cover the height of the monitor’s picture tube faster so that every other line is always glowing. Our eyes do not detect the gaps because they merge the two fields into one image.

The Video Signal Sends the Picture

The picture information communicated by the video signal consists of two parts: the brightness (the range from black to white) and the color of the image. Brightness is recreated on the picture tube by adjusting the strength of the electron beam: the stronger it is, the brighter the photosensitive coating glows. Color recreation is somewhat more complex.

When you point a camera at a color image, the camera is busy simplifying all of the colors it sees into just three colors—red, blue and green. Red, blue and green can be mixed to create all the colors of light.  Each line of a picture is composed of three separate color signals—one red, one blue, one green. These three signals must be read at the same time to properly reproduce the color of the image. A timing pulse called a color burst is sent as part of the video signal at the start of each line to tell the electron gun to begin reading all three signals together. 

The color image you see on your monitor appears to be in full color, but actually it too is red, green and blue. The photosensitive coating on the picture tube is composed of tiny groups of red, green and blue dots. (If you look closely at the screen of your monitor you can see them.) The electron gun causes the dots of each color to glow in correct proportion to their presence in the video signal. When you watch the monitor you do not perceive the dots individually; rather, you perceive them in groups that have combined to form the colors of the original image.

Two lines of the video signal as seen on the waveform monitor show some of the timing and some of the picture information discussed here. You can use the waveform monitor and vectorscope to monitor elements of the video signal. Distorted signals can then be altered or corrected using the time base corrector (TBC) and the camera control unit.

Shooting techniques

Camera

Every time you turn the camera on, it becomes part of your body. It becomes your eye—the eye that looks around, stops, and focuses on something interesting; the eye that follows movement; and the eye that is always open. Two cameras may be the same, but no two "eyes" see the same way. The camera is your chance to share with others how you see the world. To do this well, you need to understand the three ways of "seeing" with the camera: camera shots, camera angles and camera movements.

Camera Shots

When you point the camera, you must decide how much of the scene you want your camera to show. For example, say you videotape a person standing in front of empty bleachers at a racetrack. In one shot you can include the bleachers, the person, and part of the track, or you could just include the person’s face. The picture you decide to show is called a shot. Examples of the types of shots are shown to the right.

Different distance shots have different effects on the mood, intensity, or clarity of your image. To best understand this, do this simple exercise. Stand outside about 30 feet away from a friend and point the camera at her. Ask her to make a face. Start with an extreme long shot and move in shot by shot until you have an extreme close up of her face. At each shot, ask yourself two questions: How involved with the image do you feel? What do you know about the image—where is your friend, is she standing, what kind of face is she making, etc.

Extreme long shots and long shots are good as establishing shots (to show location). They also capture a lot of movement in a large area. Medium shots are more engrossing. They can show small actions more clearly than long shots but still include some location. Close ups and extreme close ups are the most intense and intimate shots. They tell more about details.

Number shots refer to how many people you frame in the shot. A one shot is of one person, a two shot of two, etc. An over the shoulder shot is a two shot with the camera aimed from behind the shoulder of one of the persons.

When you decide what type of shot to use remember that most people will see your video on their TV set. To be seen clearly, things must be relatively large within the frame of the screen. You have to operate more with extreme close ups, close ups, and medium shots than with long shots and extreme long shots. You don’t have to just get close ups of people, you can get close ups of objects too.

Camera Angles

In video your "eye" doesn’t always have to be at the top of your head. You can hold the camera at eye level if you wish, but you can also hold the camera under your arm, on your knee, or on a table. Or you can vary your own height while holding the camera. You can lie on the ground, kneel, stand on a chair, or stand on top of a building. Changing the level that the camera sees from changes the camera angle. Changing the camera angle changes the impact, meaning, and feeling of your shot. Using a variety of angles in a scene helps make a scene more three-dimensional.

Low angles (looking up) make people or objects look larger and more powerful. A low angle might be used to show that a person is proud or dangerous.

High angles (looking down) make people or objects look smaller or weaker. A high angle might be used to show that a person is depressed or feels defeated. High angles can also provide a better view of an activity, such as drumming or pottery making.

Shooting at eye level is the least manipulative angle. If you shoot someone at eye level, their impact and what they say will be close to the way they intended it to be. Eye level means the subject’s (not your) eye level. Shoot children at their eye level so as not to unintentionally weaken their impact.

To add depth to the scene, vary camera angles. If someone is getting up from a chair and you shoot them from a high angle, they will appear to get larger and closer as they rise—this creates a feeling of three-dimensionality. Shooting someone from a low angle as they descend a staircase has a similar effect. Shooting just slightly below eye level shows more of the depth of a person’s face and a little more background, adding a sense of perspective.

The position of the camera affects how your subject will feel and react. Pointing a camera straight at your subject can intimidate them. Try holding it slightly to the side, or under your arm or on a table if your subject is sitting.

Camera Movements

Camera movement can be used to reinforce the action or feeling in a scene. For example, if you walk alongside a protester at a march as you interview him, you move the camera at the pace of the march and your viewers get a better sense of what it is like to be marching. Camera movement can also create a mood. Panning the camera slowly across a beach at sunset gives a feeling of serenity. However, running jaggedly along the same beach with camera in hand will cause feelings of alarm or stress.

You always have a shot and an angle, but whether to add camera movement is up to you. Unnecessary movement that does not reinforce what is happening can be distracting. For example, tilting the camera down to look at your talent’s feet is distracting if your talent is explaining the newspaper recycling program. However, if he just mentioned how glad he was to have new shoes, this movement would enhance the scene.

Common Camera Movements

Zoom in: Adjust the zoom lens to bring the subject into closer view.

Zoom out: Adjust the zoom lens so the subject seems farther away.

Tilt up / tilt down: Hold the camera at a steady level (or on the tripod) as you point the lens upward/downward.

Pedestal up / pedestal down: Raise or lower the height of the camera by raising or lowering the central shaft of the tripod. (You can also do this with a handheld camera. Hold the camera at a steady angle as you move the whole camera up/down.)

Pan right / pan left: Stand in place (or hold the tripod in place) and turn the lens to the right/left.

Dolly in / dolly out: Walk with the camera (or with the tripod) toward/away from the subject.

Truck left / truck right: Walk with the camera (or with the tripod) to the left/right.

Practice and Experiment

Now that you have read about the three ways to see with the camera you can practice and experiment with them and learn to tell a story that speaks with pictures as well as words. Even without a camera, you can practice observing what is around you. Look at details, watch people’s gestures, learn to pay attention. When you videotape, observe and point the camera at what you feel is important. Remember, the better you use the camera, the less you will have to edit.

Shoot-to-Edit

Remember that what you shoot is what you get, so be sure to get all the shots you need, plus a few extra. You’ll save time and have more creative options in the editing room if you follow the shoot-to-edit guidelines that follow.

1. Shoot long enough to edit. All shots must be at least 15 seconds long for the tape to get up to speed and for edits to come out clean. Start recordings 10 seconds before a segment begins and record at least 5 extra seconds after the segment ends.

2. Get at least one establishing shot for each scene. This is a shot of the entire scene including the place and all of the talent. For example, you can get shots of the building or general area, company or event logos, or an interview subject’s office door. These shots help your audience identify what they are seeing.

3. Get cutaways after the main shoot is over. You can use cutaways to make your edited piece more interesting, cover mistakes (like the camera going out of focus), or to cover jump-cuts in editing. Shoot details, such as photos, hands, eyes, signs, doorways, pulling into a subject’s driveway, shots around a subject’s home town, or objects inside a store, building, or apartment. Listen to see if a subject mentions anything that you should capture in a cutaway. This footage is also known as B-roll.

4. Don’t try to get the details during an interview; turning the camera quickly to shoot a picture and then back to the subject usually looks sloppy. Wait until the interview is over. Shoot the cutaways separately. You can edit them in later.

5. Get transition shots. It is nice to bridge similar segments with transition shots. For example, if you are interviewing members of opposing baseball teams you might want to bridge the segments with a close-up of the team’s baseball cap or a long shot of the school.

6. Avoid using too many slow zooms. Using zooms limits your editing options. Cutting from an unfinished zoom to a new shot usually looks awkward.

7. Get too much footage rather than too little. Always shoot more than you think you need.

8. Always record audio even if you do not plan to use it. You might change your mind later.

9. Record several minutes of ambient sound (the sound of the environment) for each scene. You may need this to smooth out your audio track in the editing later.

Do’s and Don’ts

-Don’t ever walk away from a camera on a tripod. The tripod could be knocked over by wind or by a person passing by.

-Do loosen the pan and tilt control on the tripod and adjust the drag (resistance) knobs to your liking before using the tripod. This will prevent the tripod’s moving parts from getting stripped (worn out).

-Do remember to white balance.

-Do put the lens cap on when the camera is not in use.

Lighting

What is the purpose of lighting?

In any television production, the goal is to communicate an idea or set of ideas to the audience. Lighting is a powerful tool that can help you to communicate these ideas.

Lighting has two main objectives. The first is obvious: to provide enough illumination for a camera to take pictures. The second, and much more important objective, is to focus the audience’s attention on the most important part of the picture.

Creating Centers of Interest

Humans, like many other animals, are uncontrollably drawn to light. Our attention is automatically attracted to the brightest object in our field of vision. There is nothing a person can do to stop this process. By carefully designing your lighting so that the most important elements of the picture are lit the brightest, you can ensure that your audience will pay attention to those elements. This process of using brightness to control the audience’s attention is called "creating a center of interest."

In most productions, the talent should be the main center of interest. Usually the talent’s face is the most important area in the picture composition. This is usually where the most problems arise.

A person’s skin will reflect about 30% of the light that hits it. Many other objects reflect more light than this. A white shirt, for example, reflects about 90% of the light that hits it. A 30% face compared with a 90% shirt looks dark and unimportant. The high reflectivity of white is why white objects and clothing should be kept out of the picture. Remember to remind all talent not to wear white on camera.

In almost every shot you light, there will be objects that reflect more light than the talent. By using barn doors, tough spun, black foil, and by carefully positioning the lights, you can make sure that highly reflective objects get less light than less reflective ones. Thereby, you can maintain your center of interest.

For example, suppose your talent arrives wearing a white shirt. You can put a piece of tough spun over the bottom half of the talent’s main light. Aim the light so that the covered part of the light beam lands on his shirt, and the uncovered part of the light beam lands on his face. The white shirt will get less light than his face and therefore will not overpower his face. 

Hard and Soft Light

Hard light, also known as directional light, illuminates a relatively small area with a very distinct light beam, producing clearly defined light and shadows. Directional light is very dramatic and is useful for defining detail or creating the appearance of depth. The hard shadows created by directional light emphasize the three-dimensional form of the subject.

Soft light, also known as diffused light, illuminates a relatively large area with an indistinct beam, producing soft, undefined light and shadows. Diffused light is more even and casts fewer, softer shadows than directional light. It is useful as a way to balance out directional lighting.

Some TV lights create directional light, others create diffused light, and some can be adjusted to create either. Any direct light can be made more diffuse by using various lighting accessories. The BCM large studio has a variety of hard and soft lights.  The Xpress studio uses fluoroscent lights.

Accessories

Barn doors are metal flaps attached to a light that are used to control the size of the beam by blocking the light. If your light beam is too wide, or falls on any area you want to keep dark, close the appropriate barn door. Barn doors get extremely hot, so use gloves when you touch them!

Black foil, also called cine-foil, is a special metal foil that you can fold and shape around the front of a light to control the shape and size of its beam.

Gels are color filters that you can use to change the color of the light beam. Use colored light in the studio to create interesting sets or in portable production to ensure that the camera reproduces actual colors correctly. You can also create special effects with gels, such as the illusion of reddish firelight or light reflected from blue water. You can either clip gels onto a light’s barn doors with clothespins or put them in a gel frame that slips in front of the light.

Scrims are pieces of fine wire mesh that slip between the light and its barn doors to diffuse the light.

Tough spun is a white fiberglass material that you can use to diffuse light. You can either clip it onto a light’s barn doors with clothespins or put it in a gel frame that slips in front of the light. Don’t let it touch the bulb or it will melt onto the light.

Reflectors such as large white cards or cardboard covered with crinkled foil can be used to bounce light from a strong source back onto the subject. This reduces shadows. Reflectors are useful when shooting in bright sunlight.

Light stands are used to mount lights for portable shoots. Be sure all floor stands are secure (tape them down if necessary) and out of the way so they will not be knocked over. Ask to reserve BCM’s sandbags.

Clamps are used to hang studio lights on the pipe grid or to attach portable lights to parts of furniture, doors, or windowsills when there’s no room for a floor stand.

Basic Lighting Design

Three-point lighting is the basic lighting setup for television productions. Learning three-point is like learning a musical scale. Once you learn to play the scale on an instrument, you can then play an infinite number of songs. Likewise, once you learn the basics of three-point lighting, you can create an infinite number of lighting variations.

It is tempting to look for a formula for lighting: The key light should always go here, the fill there, the back light should be x percent of the brightness of the key light, and so on. Forget about the formulas! The subjects are different for each lighting setup, and the ideas you are trying to communicate also vary. For effective lighting, you need to design lighting specifically for each show or shoot.

It is essential that you understand the function of each point in three-point lighting, so that you can learn to vary each point to meet your needs.

The Key Light

The key light throws the most light on the subject from the front (that is, from the camera’s point of view). The key light can be placed anywhere from a straight line from the camera to the subject (this line is called the camera-subject axis) or off to one side. If you place the key light on the camera-subject axis, the lighting will look flat and serious or businesslike. The more you move the key to one side, the more dramatic the lighting will become.

Place the key light high enough so that the shadow cast by a subject’s nose goes about halfway down his or her upper lip. If you place it higher than this you start getting dark shadows in the person’s eye sockets and a big chin shadow on the person’s chest.

The key light can throw either diffused or directional light. Directional light is more dramatic and will bring out textures and facial bone structures. A soft light is less dramatic but makes skin textures look smoother and is easier to look at.

The Fill Light

The fill light fills in dark areas and shadows left by the key light. It goes on the opposite side of the camera from the key light, at about the same angle as the key light. The dimmer the fill light, the more dramatic the lighting. The fill light almost always throws diffused light.

The Back Light

The back light goes behind the subject relative to the camera. The purpose of the back light is to add some separation between the subject and the background by creating an edge of light around the subject. The brightness of the back light is determined by what the subject is wearing and the color of the subject’s hair.

3-POINT LIGHTING:

Subjects wearing dark clothing or with dark hair need more back light than subjects wearing light clothing or with blond or gray hair.

Audio

There is a simple reason why silent movies died out: no sound. Pictures may mesmerize an audience, but the sound is what really keeps them in their seats.  In areas where television signals are weak and distorted, studies have shown that viewers will watch a bad picture with good sound for long periods.  But they won’t watch a clear image with bad sound. Try to remember that your viewers are also listeners.

Good Sound Reinforces the Images

A good video should tell a clear story with images and good audio should reinforce or relate to those images with sounds. Sound includes much more than just talking and background music. If you let your audience hear the images they are seeing, your video will be more absorbing.

For example, if you videotape a Portuguese chef preparing a traditional Portuguese meal, include the sounds of cooking. When you point the camera at his hands chopping onions, be sure to point the mic at the chopping board to record loud, clear chopping sounds. The opening and closing of the oven door, the sound of cassava frying, and the sound of a pan being set on the stove are all reinforcing sounds that will help your viewers to more fully experience the cooking of the meal.

Good Sound Is Authentic Sound

Authentic sound will make your images more powerful. Authentic sound comes from the environment where you are shooting. It is also sound or music that is specifically related to your subject. For example, relevant background music for the Portuguese cooking tape would be Portuguese music rather than a German opera. An authentic explanation of how to cook the meal would be given by the chef and not by a faceless narrator who would distance the viewer from the scene. Using authentic sounds brings the audience closer to the reality that you are trying to share.

Audio Tips

-Wear your earphones—and don’t take them off until you’re done. If you wear earphones, you’ll hear problems as they occur. If you don’t, you won’t.

-Listen! Soon you’ll recognize audio problems as soon as they start—and be able to fix them right away.

-The closer the mic is to the subject, the more effective it will be—up to a point. Closer than six inches may cause distortion.

-Talk over the tip of the mic. Talking directly into it may cause "p" sounds to pop.

-Point the mic toward yourself when interviewing someone for an ‘on the street’ or news reporter style. Point it toward your guest when s/he is speaking. Never let someone you are interviewing take the mic from you!

-Move the mic smoothly. Mics often record a quick movement as a whoosh or crackle.

-Wait until the person you are taping has completely finished speaking before you move the mic and ask your next question. This keeps you from cutting off the end of his or her comments.

-Remember to put a battery in the mic (if it takes one), turn on the mic (if it has an on/off switch), and take the battery out and turn off the mic when you’re done.

-Treat mics gently. Don’t drop them or place things on top of them. Don’t put them down next to open containers of liquid.

-Be extra careful with the lavalier microphones. Their small wires easily break or short.

-Do always record audio even if you do not plan to use it. You might change your mind later.

-Do take along all the cables, connectors, and adapters you will need.

Treat Cables and Connectors Gently

Look for correct orientation marks when plugging in cables. Match ridges and pin configurations. Don’t jam connectors into sockets.

Hold on to the metal or plastic connectors when plugging in cables and taking them out. Gently jiggle the connectors when you disconnect cables. Don’t pull cables by their weak wire parts.

Make loose, even coils when you coil up cables. Don’t wrap cables tightly around microphones or other equipment. You may break the strands of wire inside.

Mark cables that give you trouble and mention them to BCM staff so other people don’t get stuck with them.

General Tips

-BCM equipment receives constant wear and tear. Please take care of it. Report any malfunction to the staff right away.

-Do make sure the equipment is working before you leave the access center

-Do have someone guard the equipment at all times—not only to prevent it from being stolen, but to prevent it from falling over or suffering other damage.

-Do record a test before shooting. Check it by rewinding the tape, then playing it back. Look in the viewfinder and listen to the audio through the headphones. If anything is wrong, troubleshoot until it is fixed.

-Do tape an extra  ten seconds at the start of whatever you want to use. The editing process requires that you have five extra seconds at the start of any new shot, so tape an extra  five seconds at the end of every shot too.

-Do change batteries whenever you see or hear the warning signal.

-Don’t ever leave equipment unattended even if it’s in your car and the car is locked.

-Don’t ever walk away from a camera while wearing a lavalier mic that is plugged into it. You could pull the camera over and onto the floor.

-Don’t drop the equipment or pile things on top of it.

-Don’t put open containers of liquid next to it.

-Don’t let it get wet, dirty, very hot, or very cold.

-Don’t store it in a dusty, sandy, or dirty place or near cats and dogs. Their hairs can get inside it.

Figuring Out What’s Wrong

What seem to be technical problems are sometimes just mis-set controls or simple oversights. Go over every part of your set-up and check through this list. If there is still a problem, tell the staff.

No record or playback.

-There is no video cassette in the camcorder/record deck.

-The camera’s power switch is not turned on.

-Connections are not made correctly.

-The battery is not charged or not in.

-The Ac power adapter is not plugged into a live outlet, or it is not turned on.

-The tape is at the very end.

The record button can't be pressed.

-The tape is in record inhibit mode. On DV tapes, flip the switch on top. On SVHS, put a piece of tape over the broken out tab.

No picture in view mode.

-The lens cap is on.

-The camcorder has been on too long without recording. Press the STANDBY button.

Snow or streaks in playback picture.

-The deck's video heads need cleaning. Head cleaning should only by BCM staff.

Cables

BNC video connectors are typically used to send video between professional decks and monitors.

RCA audio and video connectors are typically used o connevt camcorders to monitors, VCRs, cassette players and all consumer audio and video equipment.

RF audio and video connetors and RF adaptors are typically used to send video and audio signals together to a TV. This is the same connetor that cable TV runs on.

S-Video connectors are used to send S-Video between decks, cameras and monitors. The four small pins are very fragile and proper alignment is key.

1/4" plugs are typically used for headphone connections and to send signals to ad from professional mixers.

Mini plugs are typically used for mic and headphone inputs on camcorders and mobile devices such as walkmans.

XLR audio connectors are used for professional audio inputs and outputs.

Firewire is apple's name for IEEE-1394, a cable used to send video and audio information between digital camcorders and computers. There are two connector types, 4-pin and 6-pin. The 4-pin is generally used on DV devices, such as camcorders, while 6-pin is generaly used for computer equipment.