[DTV]

Let's be realistic though - for it's main purpose (news bulletins) you don't need more than conventional shots - you don't hear much moaning about the lack of jib shots on GB News!

Election night? Nice to have, but again, not essential. And it does seem like there are less camera mess ups in B than in E/C.

The health and safety benefits over the Furios alone are worth the slightly slower speed.

But when I'm talking about conventional shots, I'm really talking about the movement, the pans - which you got loads of variation with in C and E, but from B you've got some 'walking' pans or are back to fairly bland stuff that would be largely achievable with remote heads. Sure, you have a few trundling wide shots, but they're nothing on the choreography of the Furios and are ruined by four lugs of cameras huddled round the desk at all times. Bluntly, a downgrade.

You say 'nice to have, but again, not essential', but given the exorbitant cost of the system (which hasn't actually been rolled out anywhere else, despite that being a justification for the bespoke development costs), I don't think it's unreasonable to ask for something beyond basic. A system of fully robotic peds was already tried and tested (though, I admit, does have its own issues); but if we are sticking to the 'nothing special is needed' argument, a set-up of remote heads, with maybe one camera operator, would be simplest.

As for fewer mess ups and health and safety - I don't recall either C or E ever being out for two whole days because of a camera issue (as B was recently), and, though the potential for injury is possibly lower, I also don't recall any stories of anybody actually getting injured by the Furios. Every argument for the electricfriends against other non-manual camera systems beyond 'ooh, shiny new thing' just seems to me to fall flat and really be an argument for something cheaper and more basic.