Local Cable TV Video Quality

[David Thrasher]

Where I live (Des Moines, Iowa) the local cable provider, Mediacom, requires that public access programs be submitted on 3/4" tape which effectively cuts out a lot of the "public access" because 3/4" is not widely available to the general public (not talking about people who are savvy about broadcast media). The quality generally has been pretty bad because a lot of those submitting programs are shooting on home VHS camcorders and only later transferring their finished shows to 3/4". I don't know how the cable system in your area is but here the level of technical quality is low and the cable provider seems intent on locking out as much access to the public as possible (so they can carry more hours of the Home Shopping Channel).

-Dave

Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2004 09:49:46 -0500
Subject: [MacDV] Local Cable TV Video Quality
From: Steve Robertson <stever at mindspring.com>
Message-Id: <55A93E80-7822-11D8-BCF6-000393AE2E76 at mindspring.com>

A lot of larger cable systems operate their own "local" channel that is
not broadcast, but only exists on one of the unused cable channels. 
Anyone ever produced any DV programming for one of these stations? Is 
the quality of DV from any 3CCD camera theoretically good enough?

I've noticed that FCE provides a filter to make sure your colors are 
not over saturated for NTSC standards. Any other considerations when 
shooting to run on local cable?

Does anyone know if these local stations have a regional or national 
association that might maintain a database of the stations?

Steve R.