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Buying a BetaSP Deck?
I know it seems crazy but I’m thinking of buying a BetaSP deck for commercial delivery. Comcast here in Seattle demands we deliver on SP and I’m tired of the hassle of paying $50 for a transfer at the local tv station and getting bad audio/video results. We’re doing like 5 or 6 spots a month and it is beginning to add up.
Does anyone know what I need to look for if I’m perusing ebay for one of these suckers? Or what price you can expect to pay for something heavily used, but in decent condition just for recording to?
Finally, I supposed I would need a component break-out cable to get out to the deck. What would be appropriate? But, wouldn’t my stuff look way better than the stupid HDV-DV-BETASP method I’m using now?
Thanks for any input advice!
Max
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11 Replies
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Depending on the model, but expect about $7500 used.
It is by far cheaper to get the dubs done, and easier to pass that cost along to the customer.
Shane
Alokut Productions
http://www.lfhd.net -
I’ve seen them as low as $3500-$4000, but you have to be diligent. Its not nuts to get one, as BetaSP is still firmly entrenched in many markets.
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Shane, that’s a pretty inflated estimate, I got a used UVW 1800 for 5k over two years ago and it’s been flawless, and I have seen similar units even cheapre than that. I’ve probably made several hundred dubs with it, edit to tape is perfect and I have not had a bad call back from dozens of stations.
Have a wonderful day.
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Call Chan at tvprogear.com. I have dealt with him on both buying and selling used gear and they always thoroughly service used equipment before selling it. Here is a deck for under $4k.
https://www.tvprogear.com/used-video-buy.php?1&desc=88
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You can try Media Concepts out in Colorado….good guys, good prices, and they’ll look for one at the price you want.
Rich Rubasch
Tilt Media -
Ditto for Media Concepts. That’s where I bought mine. I think, however, that they are in Oklahoma. At least that’s where they were two years ago.
Tom -
Ah…good to know. Last time I looked into it they were $7500. Now very few of the people I deal with use beta decks…it’s all digibeta and DVCPRO HD and HDCAM. No way I can afford any of those decks right now.
Shane
Alokut Productions
http://www.lfhd.net -
If your drives are fast enough, a Decklink card might give you component out to feed the beta deck decent signal at a sufficiently low $$$. Don’t know how that would intersect with HDV though ..
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The Decklink HD Extreme card lets you play an HDV or HD Uncompressed timeline and output a downconverted SD uncompressed via SDI. It will even do an SD letterbox downconvert. It looks good to. Recently a client tried both the live downconvert and a QT rendered downconvert of the HDV timeline and thought the Decklink was a better downconvert. (SD letterbox)
However, the component output remains HD. The downconvert only applies to the SDI outputs (AFAIK). Perhaps Decklink can change that with a driver/software update.
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On the deck I recommend a UVW-1800 and the Broadcast Store. http://www.bcs.tv I’ve purchased used equipment from them in the past and it always arrived way over-packed and very safe.
For output I would recommend the AJA Kona series. outstanding quality and lots of flexibility for SD, HD, Cross Conversion, Down Conversion, etc…. Will work for you today and in the future.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.comDirector, “The Rough Cut”
https://www.theroughcutmovie.comNow Posting “Good Eats” in HD for the Food Network
“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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