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Varicam workflow questions
Hi Guys,
My first post on here, so please be gentle….!
Just bought a AJ-HDC27H varicam, moved up from DSR500 DVCam, basically we’ve bought it to hire out with our Jimmy jib, and so our camera op can get more freelance work as everyone seems to want HD these days..
However.. we have the problem of in house productions, we don’t do a lot of these, but since we now have the camera, we obviously would like to be able to edit and produce with it..
We’re used to editing DV in FCP via firewire, but… it seems a big leap to move up to HD..
at this stage we can’t afford a deck, so we’re looking at digitising off the camera, either on playback from tape or live whilst filming.
The obvious solution seems to be a AJA IO or a Motu V3HD, and a Sata Raid ( if the old lacie big disk on FW800 won’t cope) The AJA seems to be the better option as it does ProRes 422, but if we’re capturing off tape which is already encoded DVCpro, is there any point in recompressing to ProRes, or will this only work if we capture live..??? I like the look of the MOTU V3HD, because of it’s audio abilities, but I also like the sound of ProRes 422 which seems to be the AJA domain.. I also really like the idea of using an apple 30″ cinema as a HD monitor..
But then I dig around further and look at the Blackmagic Eclipse, and can’t help but think that connecting directly by pci express has got to be better than firewire, although lugging a mac pro around isn’t quite as handy, as using an IO or V3HD in the field with a laptop or as a standalone downconverter..
Would any of you be inclined to lend me some of your experience, and or views on the subject.
Many thanks in advance
Andy -
2 Replies
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Go with the AJA IO- much longer company track record than MOTU in this arena. The ProRes option is solid. It will not restore any lost resolution or detail due to DVCPROHD compression- that happens at the moment you record to tape. But it will preserve what detail you have for later and ProRes is great for cutting/compositing/etc.
Still highly recommend getting a real deck- even if you are renting. The Varicam heads are meant for recording, not shuffling, fast forwarding, rewinding, cueing, etc. You run the risk of wearing the deck out that much quicker…
Noah
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If you looking for a deck to playback Varicam tapes only, consider the now out dated Panasonic AJ-HD130DC deck. You should be able to get one fairly cheap.
It will do Varicam tapes all day long but it will not playback any tapes shot on the new Panasonic HDX900 cameras. It also will NOT do firewire I/O.Ray Palmer, Engineer
Salt River Project
Phoenix, AZ
602-236-8224 office
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