Beta question.

[Zman]

I do network comms, and i always have to output to digi beta, as will you unless you can use Beta SP. but to be homest I have had 4 commercials to date delivered on DVD. all pepsi spots, so maybe your ahead of the curve. I’m doing pepsi on DVD and you have been doing local on DVD. I do know that some better post house can take your DVD and dump it to digi beta, so ask some of the house around the country and see what they say, remeber tape is a dying format once the big guys stop using it and that is just around the corner. So bacjk to your query Digi Beta and thats a 25-35 grand investment, you can rent for the day at about 400 bills, but your gonna need a break out box like the aja IO, or if you know a post house that can handle FCP you can just bring your drive and go thru their system.

[Travis Miller]

I didn’t think the machine would be cheap… but $25 – 30k? *whew*
That’s a bit out of my reach.

So, it’s probably a lot more cost effective to just keep putting out dvd’s and
(if necessary) have my local post house dub it off onto digital beta to give to the station.
Good to know.

I always figured that a television station would have a way to get it off of the dvd (even for a small fee).

[Vince Sanchez]

[Travis Miller] “I always figured that a television station would have a way to get it off of the dvd (even for a small fee).”

I always figure they’re the last on the technology bandwagon. For several years after I got my first CD burner ($2000-1x) I had to deliver audio on small reel 7.5ips for a local network affiliate.

[Walter Biscardi]

[Travis Miller] “I didn’t think the machine would be cheap… but $25 – 30k? *whew*
That’s a bit out of my reach.”

That would be really cheap used DigiBeta machine, they’re more like $60k new for a recorder. You can get a Sony UVW-1800 (BetaSP) for about $6,000 or less used. That gives you BetaSP record capabilities which you could always get transferred to DigiBeta later.

Of course, then you want to work in uncompressed to deliver the cleanest master possible, so you would want at least the AJA Io to allow uncompressed capture / delivery and at least one FW800 drive to work with 8bit uncompressed video.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Creative Genius, Biscardi Creative Media
https://www.biscardicreative.com

Now in Production, “The Rough Cut,” https://www.theroughcutmovie.com

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[Stuart Simpson]

Dunno if it’s just me but I would hope that TV stations NEVER accept DVD as a final delivery format for broadcast! A highly compressed format then turned into another highly compressed format? That’s just asking for a horrible picture…

DVD as a broadcast master? I don’t know what the world’s coming to! Back in my day we had standards, grumble, grumble, grumble… 🙂

-Simmie
1 G5 – Cinewave
5 G4s – Cinewave
1 xbox, 1 PS2 & a Gamecube
https://www.speak.co.uk

[Graeme Nattress]

I wouldn’t bother buying either a Digital Betacam deck (way too expensive, but lovely if you’ve got the cash lying around doing nothing and you don’t mind wasting it) or a BetaSP deck (dead end technology).

What you need to do is get a good relationship going with a company that does have these decks! And get them to dub to them from whatever format you’re using, DVD, miniDV etc. etc.

If quality becomes an issue for Digital Betacam, you’re either going to have to rent one (and use a Decklink card, an IO or whatever) to get uncompressed or lightly compressed video out to it. Or, you might be able to burn a data DVD and take it to a FCP facility that has a DB deck and card for their FCP setup and could ofload the data from the DVD, put it on their fast hard drive and make a tape for you.

Graeme

– http://www.nattress.com – Film Effects for FCP

[Peter Wiggins]

[Graeme Nattress] “way too expensive, but lovely if you’ve got the cash lying around doing nothing and you don’t mind wasting it”

Oh come on Graeme, it is a professional piece of broadcasting equipment. I didn’t want to spend 27K on buying one, but not having a decent VT is a bit like having a computer without a printer.

If you are in the game of supplying finished broadcast masters, whether they be documentaries or commercials, hiring or buying a digi is not a waste.

Peter

https://www.peterwiggins.com

[Graeme Nattress]

A few years ago I would have totally agreed that buying a DB makes sense. Today, as I point out, either rent or farm out. I don’t think it makes economic sense for someone to tie up their dollars in a deck that although utterly superb in every way, is nearing the end of it’s useful life. Although, If you’re making DB masters every day, and you could pay for the deck in a year of rental fees or whatever, sure, it makes sense, but it didn’t sound like the original poster had that kind of heavy requirements. Buying a really cheap BetaSP deck might make sense, as if the broadcaster is wanting the master on BetaSP, they’re not exactly worried about the picture quality, and any old deck should suffice. But surely just getting a dub made is easier and cheaper. You can get an awful lot of dubs done for the price of a $6000 deck.

Graeme

– http://www.nattress.com – Film Effects for FCP

[Jim Cutler]

Travis,

I’m in the same boat. A large TV group I work for is going to be 100% file soon and they told me not to bother buying a record DigiBeta deck. They accept and swap uncompressed QT files from their Avids and FCP for air. They tell me it’s coming fast everywhere. The record Digi decks are so high priced it’s the first time I’ve ever said no to buying a piece of equipment, but especially now that the TV group suggested not to. I do what others suggested, I have a friend at another studio who takes my file ftp and puts it onto Digi when needed. I think forming this kind of relationship (nstead of buying or renting) is the way to go. I do pay him a reasonable fee. One question, when you send your DVD’s do you send a dataDVD with a file on it? or a regular consumer video DVD?

[Tom Matthies]

I deliver many TV spots in my market and the surrounding area. Here, at least, (N.E. Wisconsin) the accepted format for delivery is Beta SP. No one accepts Digibeta at all. Everyone accepts BetaSP. These are local and regional spots, mind you. National stuff and programs all go out on Digibeta.
We have seven TV stations and several cable companies here and all would prefer different formats for their dubs. Several stations use Beta SX, one is almost exclusivly DVCPro, the rest are a mix of BetaSP, 1-Inch, D-2 and whatever isn’t completly obsolete. Hell, until just recently, we were still delivering some dubs on 3/4-inch up to northern Michigan!? (Eewww!)
It’s a regular Tower of Babal here. The only universally accepted format in the market is still BetaSP. I don’t see it changing in the next year or so either. The local Time Warner people have a regional FTP site where I can electronically transfer spot files for cable insertion. It’s a start.
Perhaps we’re a bit behind the curve up here, but as of today, Beta SP rules for distribution. Tomorrow, who knows.
If the original poster is doing local spots for local TV stations, I’m guessing that BetaSP would be perfectly fine for their dubs. I’m guessing that this is still the case in many markets.
My 2