Capturing D2 video in PP CS6

[Chad Brunswick]

Thanks, Michael. Out of curiosity what was their rate if you don’t mind saying? Honestly this is a one-off project I doubt I’ll ever have to do again, so it might just make more sense to outsource it rather than invest in all this equipment.

[Michael Cohn]

The post house which ran the described tests quoted a cost of $3750 for A to D transfer and up conversion to HD for 22 hours of material (22 60 min D2 cassettes). Works out to around $170 per hour of footage. Of course they may have given a discount for a large volume job. I’ll gladly send you their contact information if you want it.

[Ben Shoemaker]

Hi Everyone,
I’ve managed to resurrect a D2 deck and I’m looking to capture via SDI. I’ve read everything in this post and from a few other threads. I understand that I need to convert the signal from composite to component and from parallel to serial. I already picked up an AJA CP10PS from eBay so I’ve got the parallel to serial part. From this and other forums, I know that I now need a transcoder like one of the following…

Sony DFX-2100
InnoVision DX210
Accom D-Bridge 221

I’ve been trolling eBay for a while and haven’t seen anything come up.

Does anyone know of any other transcoder that would also do the job? Or does anyone in this thread want to get rid of their transcoder that is collecting dust? I’m a former service tech so even if it’s dead, I might be able to get it working.

Thanks for you time and for any info.

Ben

– Current computer guy – Former Technical Director – Wannabe TV Broadcast Engineer –

[Bob Zelin]

Hi Ben –
welcome to Creative Cow.
I am totally confused as to what you are trying to accomplish.
You state that you purchased an old AJA CP10PS (it’s actually the AJA C10PS) parallel to serial converter. This will
turn your parallel digital signal to serial digital. This SDI signal can now go into a capture card like an AJA I/O series product or Blackmagic Decklink or Ultrastudio product, both which accept an SDI signal.
Why do you need one of these –
Sony DFX-2100
InnoVision DX210
Accom D-Bridge 221

The Accom is an old D2 parallel to D1 converter. The Sony DFX-2100 is the same thing. I don’t know why you would need these if you had the AJA.
With that said, I have been doing this for a long time, and I was around when D2 machines first came out in 1988 in NY City. At that time, when D2 was “the hot thing” – most post facilities would play back their source material from their 1″ VTR’s into an analog composite switcher (like a GVG 100 or GVG 200), and master to the analog composite input on the D2 VTR, and say “we are a digital facility”. I saw this happen with countless companies that were delivering “broadcast spec” D2 tapes at the time. Bottom line – no one really cared back then, and certainly today – no one really cares. If you can get the media transferred off any way you can, it will be a miracle.

I saw your post on the storage forums, about moving a RAID. The reason I don’t disassemble a RAID array into little pieces like you describe, is for only one reason. Cost. Most customers want their stuff moved at the lowest possible cost (even if this means labor). They don’t want you to take all day to unscrew all the drives, put them in foam cases, then move the array, then put the labor out to reassemble. The process takes too long, and your labor cost will be to high. One might say “well, they want it done the right way”. Most people today want it done the “cheap” way, or they won’t hire you again.

I see in your signature line, that you are a wanna be TV Broadcast Engineer. I am a TV Broadcast Engineer. There is no future in that. Everything is computers. You are a computer guy. Become a better computer guy. Everything is becoming video over IP, and network – not all these routers, patch bays, format converters of yester year. That part of this industry is over. Stay a computer guy. That’s where the future is now.

Bob Zelin

Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com

[Ben Shoemaker]

Hi Bob,
Please slow down and read this thread and my original post. I explained exactly what I’m trying to do. What you may have forgotten is that current SDI is component SDI and only component SDI. In the D2/D1 days, SDI could be either serial composite or serial component. By using the C10PS (yes, I made a typo in my original post), I’ve converted the parallel composite to serial composite. No modern equipment with a SDI input understands a serial composite (143Mbps) signal. They are all looking for a serial component (270Mbps) signal. Just like in the analog world, you can’t run a composite signal in to a component input. That is why I’m reaching out to the CreativeCow community for a digital composite to component transcoder.

Why am I trying to convert a D2 deck’s digital output and capture it via SDI? Because I’m a dork and it just something that I want to do. Why capture analog composite when I can at least capture a digital version of it? Yes, capturing analog composite would be the fastest/cheapest way of doing it. But if I can get the gear to convert it for practically free off of eBay, why not?

As for the RAID stuff… You’re breaking forum protocol by responding to a different thread in this thread. Again, chill Bob, slow down and do it right. I’ve always worked for companies that have been the companies that rescue the customer from a company that does it the fast/wrong way. You get what you pay for. Here’s the thread if other want to see what Bob is referencing…
https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/381/1251

Regarding my signature… WOW, Bob…chill…please chill. It’s just a goofy signature. Yes, I went to school to become a broadcast engineer. I have friends who are broadcast engineers. Yes, in an alternate universe where local TV stations aren’t dying and broadcast engineer pay isn’t terrible, I’d like to be a broadcast engineer. That all being said, the modern broadcast engineer has become a “computer guy”. For the exact reasons that you mentioned.

Thanks,
Ben

– Current computer guy – Former Technical Director – Wannabe TV Broadcast Engineer –

[Bob Zelin]

Hi –
I am sure that you have done, what I am currently doing – using google.
I can see that https://www.broadcaststore.com has the Accom 221. They have a huge warehouse in LA with all kinds of obsolete gear. Who knows if it works. I looked at other threads, and have no idea if you are going to be able to find the Sony DFX-2100 or not.

As for “chilling out” and “slowing down” – no, I can’t do that. I, like you, am actually interested in all this stuff. I have seen for years that people have one priority – to spend less and less and do things the cheapest way possible. This is how many of the great brands of the past – GVG, Sony, etc. have partially collapsed, onto to see the companies that make the “cheap stuff” successful – even if it’s not great stuff. This applies to both small production companies, and large corporations. My last call on Friday was from a public company (on the stock market) with a dying UPS in their edit suite. I showed them a professional unit, and their only response to me was “isn’t there something for under $200 that we can get”. This is the only concern of every company today – how little can we spend. Seeing wonderfully qualified talent (editors, graphics people, etc.) getting fired from big companies because they are making too much money does not make me happy.

SO – it is a DVR-10 or DVR-20 ?
Bob Zelin

Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com

[Ben Shoemaker]

Bob,
I have spent weeks searching the internet for a converter. Many websites list them but they are not in stock. That is why I have reached out to this community. To see if there is an alternative converter that I don’t know about or to see if anyone has one that they aren’t using and would be willing to sell.

As for chilling out and slowing down…yes…you can. When you just blast through things you gloss over details.

I get that companies want to spend the least possible to get the job done. That is off topic and not relevant to this thread.

I will respond by saying that if I was in that situation, I would have asked the client how much their time was worth? If they go with the $200 prosumer UPS vs the $2k enterprise unit, can you afford to have your $25k edit station go down? The $200 unit will let garbage through that an enterprise double conversion won’t. Can you afford to have your edit station down for days as parts are exchanged? Can you afford to lose a client because you can’t finish their job? If they still say that they want the $200 unit, I’d at least offer a refurbished $800 professional unit as an option. And if they STILL want the $200 unit, you’ve done all that you can do. Just take good notes on their current system so that when that $200 unit blows up and takes something else out in the process, you’ll be ready to help them as quickly as possible.

I have a DVR-10. But even if it was a DVR-20, I’d still be in the same boat. The DVR-20 has a SDI out option but it is still composite out, not component out. So I’d still need a transcoder.

This is also just a personal project. Something that I’m playing with at home. I’ve got a pile of D2 tapes from when I used to TD that I’m looking to capture. So far I’ve spent $15 on a AJA C10PS serializer. My goal is to see if i can get the SDI capture working for under $100.

Thanks,
Ben

[Ben Shoemaker]

I forgot to mention that there’s a fourth converter that I’ve looked in to…

Sony made a card chassis with a bunch of different converter cards. The different chassis models could hold anywhere from 1 to 14 cards. The chassis is the PFV-D10/D20/D50/D50A/D100/D100A/D200/D200A/D300/HD50A/HD300.

One of the available cards was the BKPF-021. It is a serial composite to serial component converter.

—TL;DR—

Does anyone know of any other transcoder that would also do the job? Or does anyone in this thread want to get rid of their transcoder that is collecting dust?

Thanks,
Ben