Betacam SP capture using Blackmagic SP

[Ed Dooley]

Don’t know why you’d ever want to degrade a Beat SP image by using DV, but for the other choices,
it depends on what you want (and there’s yet another choice!). 8bit UC works fine for most footage,
10bit won’t help the footage itself, but *will* help if you’re adding a lot of graphics to the footage.
If you’re concerned about drive space, or you don’t have a fast drive array, the DV50 codec is a good choice;
small file size, good looking codec (it almost looks like 8bit uncompressed). Marco Solario has a codecs page
on his site https://codecs.onerivermedia.com/
HTH,
Ed

[Arnie Schlissel]

[Ed] “Don’t know why you’d ever want to degrade a Beat SP image by using DV”

It makes for a good offline codec. 1/5 the space, but gives most of the quality, & it’s compatible with many setups.

Arnie
https://www.arniepix.com

[Kevin Monahan]

Transcoding to DV Vs. Component 8 bit?
Side by Side, your producer will not be able to tell the difference. I can vouche for that.

Kevin Monahan
Author – Motion Graphics and Effects in Final Cut Pro
fcpworld.com

[Ed Dooley]

The original question didn’t ask about off-line, just the best setup, hence my trashing DV. 🙂
Kevin, I wish I had *your* producers 🙂 For me, staying in 4:2:2 color space with a file that’s still
a fraction of the size of uncompressed, and a little less than twice the size of DV25 is a no-brainer.
Even as an off-line codec it looks almost as good as the original material. That’s a big plus when
a producer doesn’t fully get the concept of what off-line material should look like.
Ed

[Arniepix] “[Ed] “Don’t know why you’d ever want to degrade a Beat SP image by using DV”

It makes for a good offline codec. 1/5 the space, but gives most of the quality, & it’s compatible with many setups.
“

[Kevin Monahan] “Transcoding to DV Vs. Component 8 bit?
Side by Side, your producer will not be able to tell the difference. I can vouche for that.”