We’re just leaving Charlotte, NC, where we were working on a story about a neighborhood watch group that carries firearms.

The story is scheduled to air on the Fox Report w/ Shepard Smith. But we’re in no hurry to rush the “tape” back to our Atlanta office, a satellite truck or some other conventional “feed point.”

That’s because this story was shot with “tapeless” digital cameras, edited on a laptop computer and transmitted to New York over the Internet using a cellular phone network. Click on the video to watch the process.

done

Overall, it works amazingly well. But as with most new technologies, there are some bugs. The most common is “aspect ratio” — a term nerds use to describe shapes.

If you own a wide screen TV, you’ve probably already encountered the issue — with standard definition programs being stretched to fit the TV’s more rectangular shape, or wide-screen shows being squeezed into a cramped-lookng square.

Well, the same goes for us on the producing end. We make adjustments to make the video fit the desired format and sometimes machines on the sending or receiving end attempt to “correct” those adjustments, resulting in distorted images.

Apparently this happened to our story today. But the technical folks in New York are optimistic a few simple tweaks will take care of the problem. Watch for the story on Fox Report!