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digitizing betacamSP as 10 bit
I have digitized betacamSP thru a blackmagic decklink card into FCP. It has a freeze frame every 3 to 8 seconds looking like a stutter effect. The footage is stored on a Lacie Bigger Disk Extreme HD using firewire 800. I use a G5 1.8 dual processor / 2GB ram / OS 10.4.7 / FCP v5.1.1. I figure I don’t have the proper speed for 10 bit but not sure. Could somebody help me out and tell me what my options are. Thanks!
camguy
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7 Replies
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I recommend you stick with 8-bit from Beta SP sources – especially if you don’t have a true RAID to capture to and are doing long captures. Checkout the Blackmagic forum here on the Cow for specific issues/solutions with your card.
Tony!
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Why bother with 10 bit when you’re only capturing from BetaSP? If your’e working with some extreme graphics with lots of subtle gradients than maybe I could understand. Also, I doubt your drive is up to the task of capturing 10 bit chunks of video longer than 10-30 seconds. You had either get faster drives (SATA, Fibre or SCSI) or stick with 8 bit.
Michael Alberts
Ambidextrous Productions, Inc. -
[camguy] “It has a freeze frame every 3 to 8 seconds looking like a stutter effect.”
You’re dropping frames because your disks are not fast enough.
[camguy] “The footage is stored on a Lacie Bigger Disk Extreme HD using firewire 800.”
FW 800 isn’t anywheres near fast enough for 10 bit. At best, it’s marginal for 8 bit.
Arnie
https://www.arniepix.com -
[Arniepix] “[camguy] “The footage is stored on a Lacie Bigger Disk Extreme HD using firewire 800.”
FW 800 isn’t anywheres near fast enough for 10 bit. At best, it’s marginal for 8 bit.”
Actually the Big Disk Extremes are great for 8bit SD and are fast enough for 10bit SD, but barely. They’re two drives striped together and we’ve used them for plenty of 8bit SD projects.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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[camguy] “The footage is stored on a Lacie Bigger Disk Extreme HD using firewire 800. I use a G5 1.8 dual processor / 2GB ram / OS 10.4.7 / FCP v5.1.1. I figure I don’t have the proper speed for 10 bit but not sure.”
First off 10bit is a waste for BetaSP. Nothing to gain really. Just bring it in at 8bit.
Second, the Big Disk Extreme barely works in 10bit. The drives need to be very clean and very empty to work in 10bit reliably. Even when it does work, you only get one stream so you’ll be rendering everything.
Just stick with 8bit and you’ll get some realtime effects and work much more efficiently.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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Thanks for all the input. I am reverting to 8 bit for the project. Thanks Again!!!!!!
camguy
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No stick with 10 bit so you can impress the client with all those extra bits and the additional time you will bill on the invoice for waiting for all the renders to take place.
Hopefully the client will not object to all the extra billing and discover 8 bit would have been quite acceptable.
But seriously unless you are doing some intense color correction or effects work which is what 10 bit is ideal for 8 bit will be quite acceptable.
Tony Salgado
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