> only for some reason they said a TBC would not make the correction Hmmm, maybe the TBC was just re-timing the sync but the ADO was fully stripping and regene

> only for some reason they said a TBC would not make the correction Hmmm, maybe the TBC was just re-timing the sync but the ADO was fully stripping and regenerating everything outside the active picture area. A lot of early TBCs only had 8 or 16 lines of memory, whereas the ADO had to have had a full frame store. > I would spend down time patching/routing the output of one thing into the input of another Brings to mind a story. My first exposure to any real gear was at a tiny video studio that only had minimal older gear to make industrial quality stuff on 3/4" tape. Late one night when no one was around, I disconnected the main production switcher and re-wired it into a different configuration using our bottom-of-the-line Chyron VP-1 as a full frame graphics generator. The VP-1 was only a very basic lower-third generator. It was "cheap" because it had no interface at all, just an RS-232 port and the user had to supply a separate computer to send it text strings with simple formatting codes for font, color and spacing. Basically, like a Hayes modem for titling (ATDT "Co-Starring"). Being the "computer guy", I got the assignment of writing our titling software using a Kaypro CP/M machine to send codes. Since I'd written the software, it was easy to change it to generate strangely formatted stuff that still complied with the API. So that night I formatted a "lower-third" that started at the top of the screen and filled every line with maximum font-sized periods with zero kerning and zero line spacing. Because I chose a font where the period symbol was square, it filled the screen with a solid color. Modifying some of the lines to change certain period dots to have a foreground color of {transparent}, I was able to cut two side-by-side squares out of the center of the solid colored frame. Making the background color of the transparent period dots black, gave these inset squares soft-edged black drop shadows over the color field. Adding a one period-wide border to each square in an alternate foreground color was then a simple addition. I wired the switcher to make this a final layer with two cut-out windows to whatever was underneath. I then fired up two studio cameras and framed up distinct shots in each. Using the switcher's effect buss I set up a vertical wipe splitting the screen between the two cameras. The overlaid Chyron graphic covered the split line and I carefully framed each camera to compose a nice shot. Finally, I added a text title centered underneath each inset square. And recorded the final output before unhooking everything and re-wiring back to normal operation. The next day everyone was mystified when I showed them the recorded shot because I'd made something that looked exactly like a high-end network dual squeeze box digital effect with multiple busses of keyed graphics (in those days, shadows required a separate buss). All in a studio that had no ability to generate any graphics or any way to digitally reposition video. By rewiring components in odd ways and abusing various functionality it was possible to get some really interesting and unexpected results. Good times... :-)