[quote="AJR"]Rick, Thanks for the clarification. I never knew it was like that. I was a little suprised when I saw the switcher had 8 internal channels. I know people usually opt for 4 internal and 4 external.[/quote] The reason people tend to opt for 4 internal and 4 external is you can trick the switcher into using all 8 channels on a single M/E that way. With internal channels the most you can use on a single M/E would be 4 channels tied to a single keyer (unless you have an 8000G, then you could have 3 channels of resizer on 3 keyers and 4 channels of 3D on another keyer, resulting in 7 channels on an M/E). But anyway, if you have 4 internal and 4 external, you can get around the 4 channels on an M/E thing in two ways.... you can key the external 4 channels the old fashioned way, as a crosspoint then combine all the channels on a crosspoint. But also, again if you have external channels, you can put up to three channels on another keyer even if you've already got 4 ch on a keyer. I think you must have the very latest software to do the latter, though. RE

Rick, Thanks for the clarification. I never knew it was like that. I was a little suprised when I saw the switcher had 8 internal channels. I know people usually opt for 4 internal and 4 external.

[quote="AJR"]I was using DME's 5-8 for the 3 and 4 boxes.[/quote] When using CH1-4, you assign CH4's video with the UTILITY->KEY 4 Bus. When using Channels 5-8, you assign CH8 with UTILITY->KEY 3 bus. I don't know why, it's just always been that way RE

I was using DME's 5-8 for the 3 and 4 boxes.

[quote="AJR"]So just a little background first. I work on an 8kG with 4 internal DME channels in my regular Monday-Friday gig. I've had limited time on the 8k and 8kA but feel totally comfortable on either 3 if you plunked me down in front of one. This past week, I was on the road working on an 8k with 8 internal DME channels. I had to build some different 3 and 4 box effects in the DME's and I came across something a little different than I've seen before. From what I remember, on every other 8k I've worked on, if you combine 4 internal DME channels on 1 keyer, you feed the first DME through the keyer, 2nd DME through the utility key 1 bus, the 3rd DME through the utility key 2 bus, and the 4th DME through the utility key 4 bus. On this switcher, the last 2 were swapped. You fed the 3rd DME through the utility key 4 bus and the 4th DME through the utility key 2 bus. Is this normal or is it just an oddity on this switcher? Is there an option anywhere to change this? I was using DME's 5-8 for these effects. Not sure if it makes a difference from DME's 1-4. It wasn't a huge deal, I was able to work around it without a problem. I am just curious. Thanks! -Allan[/quote] Allan Were you using DME 1-4 or 5-8?

They had DME 1v-4v on the backsplash. I built all my 2 box effects using DME's 1-4 (thank god for DME link). I was sitting there scratching my head for a while trying to figure out the best way to feed DME's 5-8. Then the lightbulb went off. I wasn't using any of the aux's assigned to the backsplash so I just assigned DME 5v-8v to the aux 15, 16, 17 and 18 button. I fed everything through the backsplash. Much easier and faster than fussing around with the utility bus. And Bill, I'm about to upload pics. I'll send the link your way.

Allan, did they have the DME 1V, etc on your backsplash (Assignable under aux assign), obviously much easier to feed this way. I have been on non A frame 8K's, and the are fed the way you mention. That is a lot of internal, been nice to have them 4 and 4.