Thanks Seth. I work for TVG, a horseracing network. We broadcast in SD, however, we'll be covering races at Keeneland Park in KY, which is all HD in-house. When we do these remotes at racetracks, we use our own cameras plus the track's cameras, in this case the track's cams are HD. We'll most likely be taking at least 5 or 6 of their cams. We'll probably be in Cross Creek V4 or V6. My people don't like the 4x3 center cut because during the race lead horses may get cut out of the shot. The track's cam ops are not framing for 4x3. I can look into switching our cams to 16x9, but I don't think the powers-that-be will want to. If it were completely up to me, I'd rather just have black bars at top & bottom rather than animation. I think the animation calls too much attention to the aspect change. I'm hoping that we will give all cams the same look, whichever that is, because I agree that it would be very jarring to keep changing aspect ratios. I really appreciate the feedback! Damian Papahronis

Dampap: You received some good ideas about how to accomplish what you asked in the original post, but I can't help but wonder why the odd mix of aspect ratios in the first place? You don't mention what type of show you are doing, but I would find watching a show that routinely mixed between 4x3 and letter-box sources to be very jarring. Is your Director technically savvy, and do they really understand what they are asking for? Is 'letter-box' truly the only format available for the other cameras? Typically, '4x3 center-cut' & anamorphic would also be options. You could then either produce your show solely in 4x3, or switch your sources to 16x9 and produce the entire show anamorphic. If necessary, you could then create the letter-box for the final output only. If you provide a few more details, (type of show, exact number of sources, truck(s) involved), there are a few other ideas that might help you achieve what is being requested. Be careful, however, it is very easy in a situation like this to dig yourself a hole that is difficult to climb out of. Good luck.

Does Bus Link connect sources or crosspoints? If I have a Sec M/E attached to more than one crosspoint, would I be able to have those crosspoints link to different cameras on the Sec M/E? I'm wondering if it would work to combine MM's and Bob's ideas: Map the Sec M/E with animation on the cams to to the cam buttons, and bus link each button to a different source on the Sec M/E. Another question: would I be able to dissolve between these linked (or macro'd) cameras? I'm trying to work all this out in my head because I won't be on a Kalypso before I go on location in a week. I'm on the Sony 9000 at my home studio. Don't know if duplicating it on the Sony would help with the Kalypso...

Good point...I'm not sure. If it does, then forget the bus link & just make the source change on the M/E secondary part of the macro.

OK... I was thinking a replace-attach would eliminate the bus-link cut on the Sec M/E.

You'd want a replace-attach, as you don't want the original (4x3) camera to goto air...you want the winged version instead when you "take" the camera.

Thanks for the good ideas... I'm not sure how many cameras it will be, but I'm pretty sure more than 3. So, Bob, if the macro attached to the cam's crosspoint puts the Sec M/E on line, wouldn't it have to be a post-attach to do the cam cut and then put the M/E on line? I've never used bus link before but it sounds pretty straightforward and easy to set up. I would probably need to set this up to be able to cut these cameras on any M/E.

You can actually do 2 cameras per secondary side...Set up key 4 as a PST PATT with your animation over a cam on the UTIL 1 bus - then set up another camera on the UTIL 2 bus, selecting just a BKGD transition. Now you can use that M/E's secondary PGM & PVW & re-map them as crosspoints, re-naming them as the cameras. If you really wanted to be clever about it, you'd only need 1 M/E's secondary side...bus link your PGM bus to switch the 4x3 sources on the background of the secondary side, then use macros with replace-attach on those 4x3 cameras on your PGM bus so that when you take the 4x3 camera it's actually (a) switching the background of your flags on the secondary M/E & (b) putting that secondary M/E on line in place of the original camera.

How many cameras? If 3 or fewer, could you set up the secondary M/E's with just one keyer keying your artwork, or a wipe to artwork to make your letterbox cover effect? Then you could map those secondary M/E's to "camera" buttons and label them as such. Only trick would be building your M/E effects to preserve the secondary sides, or changing the E-Mem prefs to not not affect the secondary sides. A more elaborate solution would be to rent / use terminal gear that could add a graphic to the camera video before the switcher, then you'd be all set without burning M/E resources.