On 23 Nov 1999 07:36:11 GMT, Jay West <76040.2263@CompuServe.COM> wrote:

>Can you intercut? My experience is that it depends on how you do
>it and what you shot. I've run a live mix in a theater,
>musicians shot against a black background, running Sony TRV 900,
>2 Digital-8, and a Sony Hi-8, through a Videonics MX-1 to a SVHS
>deck. Ok for local public TV. Networks would not care.
>OTOH, differences were really obvious when shooting dancers
>outdoors in afternoon sublight some spectacular red rock canyons
>(good scenery here in Montana & Wyoming!). The TRV 900 footage
>was noticably better than the D-8, about comparable to the
>difference between D-8 and plain old 8mm. Check out the TRV900
>pages at www.bealecorner.com, where there is informative
>discussion of D-8 and mixing footage.

I would not attempt a live intercut from the various cameras
mentioned (and the three different ones I have), unless the
client's standards were VERY low - but, as the original
poster indicated, the camcorders' DV outputs would be
brought into a computer for digital editing, which would
make reasonably acceptable image and sound matching
possible. With good color correction, maybe a bit of
sharpening on some of the footage, brightness matching,
good sound EQ'ing and mixing, and liberal use of cross-dissolve
transitions, one can do a pretty good job of mixing footage
from camcorders with very different picture and sound
characteristics. Whether or not the results could be deemed
"broadcast quality" may be judged in the eye of the beholder,
by the nature of the subject matter, or by the buyer (in the
company of a good salesman for the video...!;-).