7.5 IRE setup (or lack thereof) wouldn't explain why the whites run to 80% or the video noise.
The 80% figure: In Vegas the scopes can be off, depending on how you set them and what DV codec you're using. But even accounting for that, 80 on Vegas' waveform monitor definitely indicates that things are off.
"Need to use a DV deck that can compensate for 7.5 setup"
Not true by a longshot. They probably had an intern run a composite signal directly out of the BC deck into a small DV deck. I would almost guarantee that Vic is dead on. Did you have bars at the head of your tape to give the technician an idea of where the levels should be? If so, were they correct? There are any number of reasons on both sides where problems could occur. I would second the advice that you should have them do it again if you paid for the service, and supervise the set up of the tape. If they have a proc amp, Waveform and Vectorscope, make sure they use it, otherwise you are at the mercy of someones opinion or equipment. Besides, have you seen the video that comes out of some of the smaller stations?
We do the odd SP to DV dub.
As others have said a composite connection will lead to nasties, we always use a component connection to a DV deck with component in and balanced audio with no agc, cheap decks like the DSR-11 are not the go.
Also the J30 VCRs although they will play SP lack dynamic tracking and dropout compensation, the "J" means "Journalist" i.e. for previewing tapes only, they're fine for DB, SX and MX but SP no.
The other way is a good SP deck, UVW 1600/1800 and SD Connect, it's 14 bit A->D converters do a great job and it'll handle setup just fine as well as a few other image enhancments.
also could be as simple as fox simply used rca out and dubbed,, looks pretty bad,, I get pretty good dubs with a simple svideo out of a 1800 through a blueflame , or even a sony dv2a ithink its called pretty good , not great but useable.
Here is a link that explains difficulty related to set- up.
I gave up on using Betacam to DSR11 even with trying proc amp adjustments.
Low whites were the most apparent indicator of the problems. http://www.adamwilt.com/DV-FAQ-tech.html#Setup
I have made hundreds of Betacam (PVW-2800) to MiniDv (DSR-20) dubs using SVHS cables without a glitch. If you reside in Southern California, I will offer to help you.