Final Cut Pro and Digibeta

[Dan Riley]

So, no video card is why you are using firewire in?
Does the J30 have firewire out? We use the A500
which is only SDI so I don’t know about the J30.

As for capturing DV, I’d use DV50 instead. It is basically the same compression
(2 to 1) as DigiBeta. DV is 5 to 1, as well as 4;1;1 sampling so chroma
will not be as good. And you CAN notice these things on a DVD.

Dan

[Nick Watts]

Thats correct, no card. Nice tip on the capture, I’ve never messed about with that actually. Where should I point my mouse to find that?

Cheers

N

[Nick Watts]

Ignore that, found it!!

Should I tweak the preset or leave alone 🙂

[Dan Riley]

The easy setup I’d use is DV50-NTSC.
It should say firewire as it’s device control and input in the setting
but if not, you can change that obviously.

Remember that DV50 will be twice the file size. So an hour will be 25 gigs.
Still pretty good if you ask me, but I don’t know your storage situation.

Dan

[Paul Dickin]

Hi
To get DV50 out of a J-30 you have to use an SDI link (or Component for a non-SDI deck) and a capture card (or box).
On its own the J-30 only sends DV25 out by FW.

That’s the bad news – the good news is that the J-30’s FW transcoding is the best DV converter there is – but it ought to be at that price 😉
Even more so in 4.2.0 PAL.

[Nick Watts]

Hi Paul, yep I’m working in PAL as well so hopefully I wont be disappointed with the results. Shame about the DV50 not working over fire wire, I was ready to change my way of working!

I’m still wondering if the conversion to MPEG2 is going to be that noticeable between the two formats, especially on 80 minutes worth of DVD.

Cheers

N

[Peter Wiggins]

Just a note here, DV50 is no where near the same compression as Digibeta.

Peter

[Dan Riley]

I was incorrect when I said they were the same.
DigiBeta is 2.3 to 1, 422 sampling.
DV50 is 3.3 to 1, 422 sampling.
Different yes, but “no where near”?

Dan

[Stuart Simpson]

[Nick Watts] ” I’ve a set of digibeta tapes that need to end up on SD DVD. MPEG2 be so crap I’ve decided to get a J30 in and take in over firewire at DV res and then out put to MPEG2 via compressor.”

Sorry, what are you trying to do exactly? You say MPEG2 is crap, but you will need to use MPEG2 to create your dvd’s…

-Simmie
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[Nick Watts]

Yes obviously, Ill summarise again what I was questioning and stated in the follow up posts…..

If I’m to get nearly 90mins worth of mpeg2 on each dvd5 disc, are you going to notice a major difference creating the files from Digibeta going in over SDI or the cheaper alternative of going in over firewire as DV from a J30.