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Deck needed, recommendations?
Hey all…
I am in need of a playback deck for footage shot with my Canon XLH1 in HD 24f mode.
Someone told me that actually NO SUCH DECK EXISTS (no matter what model or brand), at least not yet… but I find this awfully hard to believe.
To me it’s hard to believe that every person shooting Canon 24f HDV video is using their camera as a source deck (which works of course, but is an awfully clunky way to have to operate).
Is there a deck? What would you recommend?
I have only been shooting standard-definition (24f) with the XLH1 so far, and of course that video will play back fine in all of my standard-def decks… but I need to move up for projects that will be shot in HDV (and of course I don’t want to have to resort to using the camera as a source deck on a regular basis).
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks, Alex
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4 Replies
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Most are using the Canon HV10 or 20 as a deck until somebody makes a real one that supports the 30F and 24F HDV codecs. This way you’re not wearing out the tape transport on your aquisition camera.
– Don
“Please take a moment to fill out your profile, including your computer system and relevant software. Help us help you.”
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[Don Greening] “This way you’re not wearing out the tape transport on your aquisition camera”
Yep, Don… that is exactly what I want to avoid doing. I’ll look further at the HV10 and HV20. I don’t know the specs yet, but I doubt those little consumer cameras have pro ins and outs…. do they? I imagine they have HDMI, but doubt they have HD-SDI ports.
Aside from all the technical reasons to prefer a real deck, there is an aesthetic one: when clients are in the suite during editing sessions and see you feeding tape out of a little cheap camera instead of a nice deck in the rack, you just look sort of, well, low rent.
Does anyone know if ANY vendor has a deck on the horizon that will play Canon’s 24f HD?
Thanks,
Alex -
[AlexHuber69] “I imagine they have HDMI, but doubt they have HD-SDI ports.”
That’s right, and only the HD20 has HDMI. The only other way you could go is to get something like a KONA card and convert the HDV signal from an HV20 to any codec you want during capture. But this would quickly inflate the cost of capturing when what you really want is a REAL deck.
[AlexHuber69] “Aside from all the technical reasons to prefer a real deck, there is an aesthetic one: when clients are in the suite during editing sessions and see you feeding tape out of a little cheap camera instead of a nice deck in the rack, you just look sort of, well, low rent.”
Agreed. Until then you might consider going to a movie prop house and getting them to make up a pretend deck with a bunch of lights and a numerical LED reader on the front 🙂 Of course, it would have to be big enough to actually contain the HV20.
– Don
“Please take a moment to fill out your profile, including your computer system and relevant software. Help us help you.”
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Well… fortunately all of our suites (except for a Canopus SD suite) are Aja based and have Kona or Xena cards… I guess we could go the HDV route… although I certainly perfer capturing via HD-SDI.
I know you can get a converter that converts HDMI to HD-SDI for only about $600 bucks or so… but I get nervous when we keep adding pieces to the puzzle and it looks like video is routed everywhere including through the Hooterville phone company.
I thought about your suggestion of making a “prop”… wouldn’t be hard as we make a lot of prop pieces. It would probably be easier (and more realistic) to scrounge around here and see if I can find an old dead beta or digiBeta deck that I could gut.
A “real” deck sure would be a nicer solution… sigh.
Alex
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