I've known for a long time that Microsoft had an on-site television studio, so I found a contact via their intranet site and asked if I could check it out. I actually applied to work there once, many years ago, though as I recall, I was probably completely not qualified for the job.
In any case, they've got some nice space to work with. The studio ceilings are too high (or at least, the grid is), and all of their multi-camera stuff is still standard def., but they are digital end to end. I guess I shouldn't be entirely surprised, because they probably don't do a ton of switched camera stuff. What they had in play while I was there was all single-camera shooting (in HD).
Their audio finishing suites are pretty incredible, and they double as a source for live audio as well. Lots of nice edit suites, every one of the with comfortable furniture, mixing Avid and Final Cut Pro. They've got a ton of storage too (more on that in a minute). Their acquisition equipment sounds like a mixed back of gear, and they'll also rent stuff when it makes sense, including Red cameras.
Something I hadn't thought of was that they have a capture studio, for getting Xbox video and screen captures for desktop software. Duh, that makes sense seeing as how it is a software company!
Their master control is fully capable and they've got various options to send video anywhere in the world. They can act as the head end origination for streaming stuff too. The adjacent tape room is completely amazing. They have tape machines for most every format, and of course all of the routing is digital. What really struck me as the big change from the good old fashioned tape room is that it's just as much a server room. Granted, a ton of that is a storage network, but it's neat to see the eventual disappearance of tape.
It's with mixed emotions that I see something like that, because I miss the practice of production, but I don't miss the pay or having to cover boring stuff. I really enjoy location shooting, and post production is a lot of fun as well. Fortunately I've got the gear to continue to do fun stuff at my leisure.
I talk about editing on VHS tape to our current students and they look at me like I am from Mars. Then I realize that when I was doing 3-deck synchronized rolls (*without* timecode), they were busy...uh...being born.
My new gear at home is tapeless and I am still figuring out how to manage all the footage in a safe, stable manner. There's no good equivalent to the rack of tapes hanging on the wall.
But that's about the *only* good thing about tape. Apart from that, good riddance!
--Dave Althoff, Jr.