Final Cut Pro to Beta SP Deck

[David Roth weiss]

Bob,

Blackmagic Extreme is what I use. The alternatives would be from Kona, but all of their solutions are more expensive. Here’s the BM decription:

“DeckLink Extreme is the ultimate standard definition card, because it combines the analog component YUV/NTSC/PAL switchable video and analog XLR audio in and out, along with digital 10 bit SDI inputs and outputs. Also included is unbalanced AES output, genlock input and RS-422 deck control. All connections are on a long 2 meter, 7 foot break out cable. Now available in standard PCI-33/66 or PCI Express models.”

DRW

[Kevin]

Have the same setup. Using a Blackmagic Decklink SP Card. Uses compontent video and XLR audio I/O’s as well as deck control. I think it runs about $600 U.S. I don’t know how this compares to the “Extreme”
Hope that helps,
Kevin

[Tom Brooks]

We’re using Kona LHe. This card has HD capability also, which will become useful for us in the near future. Have only had it a couple months. So far, everything has been great. Deck control is RS-422, handled by the Kona card. Very smooth and responsive. I’m still in the process of calibrating frame accurate edits. To date, we have not needed to insert into an existing Beta master.

Final Cut Studio, FCP 5.0.4, After Effects 6.5 Pro, Quicktime 7.0.4, G5 Quad 2.5, Kona-LHe V1.2, 4.5 GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce 7800-GT, G-RAID 1TB FW800.

[David Roth weiss]

The BM SP card is also a good choice, but if you ever intend to output to DigiBeta or some other SDI equipped deck, the Extreme gives you that capability too.

[Ed Dooley]

We use an AJA IO LA for our Beta SP input and output. Deck into IOLA, IOLA plugs right in to the computer
by Firewire. XLR I/O of the deck through a Mackie 1402. The IOLA has Component, S-Video, and composite I/O.
What I like about the IO is that I can take it with me on the road, it plugs in just as easily to my PowerBook,
so I can edit while on the road. Twice I’ve been able to do all the cuts-only edits on projects while having fun in
Europe (usually we bring back the tapes and work in the studio). Once we rented an NTSC Beta deck in Paris, once in London.
We load everything onto a Firewire 2 drive RAID and edited away.
Ed

[Chris Poisson]

Bob,

I’m with Tom on the Kona, I’m using the LH and just love it. It has SDI ins and outs, plus analog component i/o, and the HD capability allows forusing that in the future. A couple of weeks ago we did a job shot on the big Sony HD camera, we did a downconvert to SD via SDI and it was just superb. Above all, support for AJA products is just the best, and you don’t have to wait for an answer from Australia. I had a Decklink SP for a couple of years, also a very good product. (But, as stated, support was kinda slow)

Have a wonderful day.

[Bob Archer]

Thanks for all your help, now I just have to do a little shopping and see what the boss is willing to spring for.

[Marc Rolph]

We use the IOla hooked up to a Beta deck for in and out. I edit using a Kona 2 card. So, I digitize using the IOla with either DV or Uncompressed 8-bit coded, then the IOla sits dormant while I edit and monitor video and audio using the Kona 2 with the K-box. Works great. We’ve got the Kona 2 for our DVCPro50 gear that will be arriving in a little over a month, and gives us an HD upgrade pathway.

I haven’t used it, but if I had to do it all over again…I think I’d go with the Kona LH. One stop shop.

Marc Rolph
Producer/Director
Mississippi State University

“If you chase two rabbits, both will get away.”

[Bob Archer]

What kind of drives do you guys use, would a standard firewire drive work, or do I have to upgrade that as well. I was looking at the SCSI and SATA requirements, and I don’t know too much about memory, so I’m kind of in the dark.

Any rescources would be a great help also.

Thanks.

[Tom Brooks]

Bob,
Although I’m fairly new to Final Cut, I did a lot of research before buying. You need a RAID of some sort to edit anything more than regular ole DV25. We started out with a G-RAID firewire 800 1-Terabyte drive. I felt it was a stopgap when we bought it, but it has been great. It’s two 500GB drives in a neat little case that matches the G5 and it’s all set up as RAID-0. The RAID setup gives it the throughput to play out multiple layers of DV25, DV50 or 8-bit UC. It seems to do all that is claimed of it. You can’t find a simpler system, and so far, it has worked flawlessly. We just connected it to the built in FW800 port on the G5 and started editing. There are a number of other brands that now make two-drive RAID systems that mimic the G-TECH. You can find them at places like FirewireDirect.com, Mac-sales.com (I’ve dealt with both and was happy) and many other very good suppliers.

Since then, I’ve had to do some DVCAM edits, so I’ve added another Firewire 400/800 card to allow the drive and the deck to be on different data busses. This whole separate bus thing is important. Basically, you should keep only one major video device on a Firewire bus at a time. In my case, the G-RAID Firewire drive is on the built-in Firewire-800 port and a camcorder or VTR comes in on the separate Firewire PCIe card. Two video devices = two data busses.

There are many steps up from this mimimum configuration. SATA would be my next choice. The new Sonnet Tempo SATA E4P host adapter looks good. This card allows you to connect multiple sets of external drives with a simple, fairly secure cable system. With this system, you are using the faster PCI Express data path. This type of drive can be used all the way to uncompressed HD if properly configured. You can find SATA RAID drive arrays containing anywhere from two to 12 or more drives. More drives in a RAID usually means more speed. On the other hand, two fast SATA drives in a RAID-0 set will be fast enough for most any standard def work, with the possible exception of 10-bit uncompressed. SATA systems are not quite as simple to set up as the preconfigured Firewire 800 drives like the G-RAID.

We haven’t bought a SATA system as yet. The G-RAID has been enough for the moment and I wanted some of the new devices to get into the real world before I purchased them. When we need the space and the speed, we’ll probably start out with a 2.5 Terabyte SATA RAID using the Sonnet card. At that time the G-Tech might become more of a backup device (a pretty fancy backup).

As far as resources go, you can’t beat Creative Cow. I have found a lot of helpful info about Final Cut and various drives at the other websites I mentioned above and also at http://www.lafcpug.org, sonnettech.com, kenstone.net, barefeats.com (links to many drive makers), and larryjordan.biz. You can find all these sites by starting at Creative Cow.

Final Cut Studio, FCP 5.0.4, After Effects 6.5 Pro, Quicktime 7.0.4, G5 Quad 2.5, Kona-LHe V1.2, 4.5 GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce 7800-GT, G-RAID 1TB FW800.