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DVCProHD not accepted by network . . .
I heard from a colleague that DVCProHD was not being accepted as a mastering (on-line) format by a major broadcaster as it was ‘sub-standard’ in resolution. Any truth to the rumour?
Chris M. Oben
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7 Replies
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Such rumors are only rumors unless you can supply us with the specific broadcast network, engineering spec guidelines, quality control review documentation which states why the master was rejected. etc etc.
With that all said how many times have you seen mini dv, vhs or even the majority of a show (ie American’s Home Video) which center on low res, crappy video?
If that ain’t rejectable then what is?
Tony Salgado
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While as far as I know no one accepts master air tapes in DVCPRO-HD format (they want Hdcam or D5), no one cares, or probly even knows, what the master that was bumped up to the deliverable format was. If there were Russian HD that had to be hand cranked thru the deck, as long as it met the requirements of resolution, and was delivered on Hdcam or D5 I think that would be fine. That being said, most clients specify in thier contract that either an f-900 or Varicam be used for acquisition.
Nick Gardner
DP, Varicam owner -
Chris,
The acceptable delivery format has NOTHING to do with how the program was acquired or the production values attached to it. Saying that a network won’t accept dvcpro hd has just about as much significance as saying they won’t accept 35mm film prints. Some networks just may have have built their infrastructure around a particular format and want to limit what they have to deal with. With digital formats popping up like weeds in a garden, do you blame them?
If you’re trying to imply that network delivery requirements imply some kind of “badge of quality”, you’re simply wrong.
mark
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It really depends on Network. I assume this is for final broadcast master?
Acquisition can be almost anything with some restriction.
check out Discover HD guideline for example. They accept 1080i format.https://www.discoverychannel.ca/_includes/disclaimer/producers_guide/docs/HDSpec.logo.doc
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If this is true you can bet that the reason is that the network does not own any (and isn’t buying any) DVCPRO HD VTRs. It most likely has nothing to do with any technical determinants.
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I have worked on a series that was rejected on overseas sales (to the US) specifically because it was aquired on the Varicam, the reason being cited was the 720P format being too “low resolution” and the minimum being required for aquisition 1920×1080.
Frustrating after a lot of hard work and nice results. The footage was graded and mastered at 1080 and personally looked better than Sony HDCAM but there seems to be a specific requirement popping up that disallows 720P aquisition contractually by some broadcasters.
Sorry no specifics here
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The workaround here is to upconvert and dub all the source footage tapes to HDCAM and send them to the broadcaster.
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