3/4″ transfer card

[Richard Sanchez]

I prefer AJA’s products. I’ve used the Blackmagic Decklink card, and it was fine since I was only doing SD with it, and since that’s what you’re doing it’ll be fine. The HD variants use a software based up / down / cross conversion whereas the AJA products do hardware based. I currently use an AJA IO (not HD) at home and it’s great for all my SD side work, and use a Kona 3 at the office. Their products work great, the software is fairly straightforward, and their tech support is unbeatable. I’ve never had to call Blackmagic for tech support, so I can’t comment on that.

You can find pretty good prices on an AJA IO, since so many people are jumping ship to HD. I got my IO used for $250 and it works like a champ. Just my own 2 cents on your workflow, digibeta is expensive but I would HIGHLY recommend you transferring to a good tape format as opposed to saving it on a hard drive. If you don’t, you’ll run into the issue that most P2 productions are running into, you have to keep it on a hard drive, and if you don’t front the cash for a RAID 5, you’re taking quite a gamble. A good alternative to digibeta would be DVCPRO 50. The decks are typically cheaper to rent, and the tapestock is cheaper too.

Richard Sanchez
North Hollywood, CA

“We are the facilitators of our own creative evolution.” – Bill Hicks

[Mark Raudonis]

Aric,

You WILL have problems trying to play a 3/4 inch deck into an AJA box UNLESS you send it through a TBC first. The low end 3/4 decks do NOT have a TBC. So… depending on which deck you have, you’ll either be successful or coming back here asking why doesn’t it work?

I’d agree with Richard. Make digibeta clones. 3/4 is a nasty format that was great in it’s day, but doesn’t interface well with the digital world.

Mark

[Aric Walken]

Thanks. In researching this–and in an earlier post someone had mentioned using a TBC, recommending a Fortel TBC. My deck is a VO-9800 Umatic SP and I’m not sure how well these handle the tapes compared to the BVU800–both have a dub out.

And in the back of my mind I was somewhat ambivalent to leaving this stuff on harddrives–these tapes have been in an archive for the last 20something years and after we edit this film they will go back to an archive for many more years. I’ve had many harddrives go down in my life and am aware that unless they are booted up every so often they can freeze up. Tape feels a lot safer. Maybe DVCPRO50 is the way to go–so in your opinion that is the next step down from Digibeta?

[Richard Sanchez]

Difference between Digibeta and DVCPRO 50. Digibeta is 90 mb/sec and is 720×486 10-bit whereas DVCPRO 50 is 50 mb/sec 720×480 and 8-bit. I would say that DVCPRO50 will be the next step down from Digibeta, but it will still be an great format to transfer to in order to preserve your 3/4″ tapes.

Richard Sanchez
North Hollywood, CA

“We are the facilitators of our own creative evolution.” – Bill Hicks

[Aric Walken]

Thanks for your help.

I was just looking on B&H and I see that the decks aren’t all that expensive (compared to digibeta). It’s a couple hundred hours of footage so perhaps it’s better to buy a deck than to rent. Still working things out.

But is something like this deck along the lines that I should be seeking?:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/386048-REG/Panasonic_AJ_SD255_AJ_SD255_DVCPRO_Digital_VTR.html

[Bob Flood]

Aric

The 9800 has capstan servo, which means you can use a TBC with advanced sync for stabilizing the video signal. (the TBC feeds back sync to the deck to keep it playing accurately)

I recommended you use a TBC that takes the Dub Out. of the deck. THe models you want to look for are made by For-A and Fortel, (the Fortel Turbo) It seems there are always some on Ebay

If you have budget issues, Microtime or DPS are good brands as well, but they work off the composite video signal.

WE have a Kona LH and an IO LA and they work like tanks! both have the ability to accept a Composite, Component, or Y/C input signal.

hope this helps

The big concern with 3/4 video is the noise, so if you do decide to digitize, use very low compression, or none at all ie DV50 or 8 bit uncompressed.

“I like video because its so fast!”

Bob Flood
Greer & Associates, Inc.

[Richard Sanchez]

Aric,

That is not a DVCPRO 50 deck, that is a DVCPRO deck. DVCPRO is akin to DV and uses a 4:1:1 color space. DVCPRO 50 uses a 4:2:2 color space and is the format you want to use. Be careful when looking at decks. DVCPRO, DVCPRO 50, and DVCPRO HD are all different formats.

Richard Sanchez
North Hollywood, CA

“We are the facilitators of our own creative evolution.” – Bill Hicks

[Aric Walken]

Good thing I asked. I see exactly what you are talking about now.

Still there seems to be some inexpensive DVDPRO 50 decks. This one has DVCPRO 50 listed, or am I missing something:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/568663-REG/Panasonic_AJ_SD93_AJ_SD93_Half_Rack_DVCPRO_50_25.html

Then the others jump up considerably in price, making it more feasible to rent.

[Richard Sanchez]

Yeah that’s a nice one. Now keep in mind, you’ll need an input card to run the signal in, though I don’t imagine the composite card is terribly expensive. Also, for future use, you can’t perform tape edits, though you can crash record. For the purpose of dubbing, it’ll be fine.

Richard Sanchez
North Hollywood, CA

“We are the facilitators of our own creative evolution.” – Bill Hicks

[Chris Borjis]

[Mark Raudonis] “You WILL have problems trying to play a 3/4 inch deck into an AJA box UNLESS you send it through a TBC first.”

seriously?

do you mean without black burst?

on black magic cards the video comes in stable without that need.
I’d imagine the aja would do the same.