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HDCAM Production needs question
Hi,
I’m trying my level best to research this as quickly as possible so what I’m about to ask may have answers scattered about these forums. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to check and here’s why. I have been asked to make sure that purchasing a used Sony HDCAM HDW-500 deck will meet the needs of an upcoming production which I will be editing on FCP. We have a limited window of opportunity to buy this deck before someone else does.
My question is a bit complex but here it is in a nutshell: should we buy this deck if…
1. It will be a live-action mixed with CGI feature to go definitely to TV and possibly theatrical (it is a low budget sci-fi).
2. One main purpose, I’ve been told, for buying the deck is so that we can ingest HD material (which to me means they would be shooting on HDCAM, which to me means there is already a problem since from my research it seems to be an 8-bit medium and compositing work seems to suffer from this bit depth).
3. However, if the format of the camera is flexible and we can shoot on something in the 10 bit range, will this deck serve our purpose, at least, of output at the end, if our broadcaster or distributor requires this delivery format? Will going from a higher bit depth format to HDCAM for output see a decrease in the quality of the compositing work/integration or no, because by that point it will have been done in a 10 bit environment?
That’s it I guess. I know too that having this deck can help us down the road with other material coming to us in HDCAM format or needing to go out in this format, but I have been asked to specifically explore how it might meet the somewhat vague needs of proposed project.
I have other questions related to how the deck will work with the Final Cut system we currently have, with the equipment and AJA card we already have, but I will wait to see if anyone tells me yes or no on this as a good idea first.
Thanks everyone!
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5 Replies
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You need HDCAM-SR to get 10-bit
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HDCAM SR is 10bit, that’s pretty much it. Of course the RED shoots up to 4K.
All our productions are done with the Panasonic DVCPro HD format and HDV format, including all the network broadcast HD work.
An HDCAM deck is great if you can make the money back on it. If it’s just convenient to have for one project, you may or may not make your money back on it. If the project more than covers the cost of it, then it might be a good purchase.
We’ve delivered about 100 broadcast HD masters so far, and I still have not purchased an HDCAM deck. it would be nice, but we have a great partner that takes care of that for us at a very reasonable price.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!
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question about HDCAM
i know the format specs are 1440 – 1080, however there are HDCAM camcorders that record full 1920 – 1080 image, HDWF900R for example.
does this only apply to output through HDSDI or will it actually put 1920×1080 on an HDCAM tape.
in the camera specs it does say that the 900R is 12/10 bit cappanle but records “8 bit sample for internal compression process” which is an HDCAM limitation.
says nothing about resolution on tape…
anyone knows?
Hector Berrebi
Schibber Group
prePost Consulting -
HDCAM is 1440×1080 recorded on the tape, played back at 1920×1080.
You send it a 1920×1080 signal…never 1440×1080.HDCAM-SR is full raster 1920×1080
it can be 10-bit 4:2:2
it can be 12-bit 4:4:4 RGB
HD-SDI outputs are always full raster. it’s going to tape where
the full resolution is sometimes knocked down.I was just discussing the HDCAM-SR prospect with the studio
manager yesterday. I wish I had a reason to buy one, but
I don’t and certainly couldn’t justify the cost amount
of a near pay-off of a house just to have one….but I wish
I had a reason to. 🙂 -
thanks chris
SR is spectacular.. and so consuming 🙂
i think that at 4:4:4 RGB you get 110 MB per second.i know HDCAM records 1440 1080 and plays 1920 1080, the pixels are not square sort of like HDV.
so answer to my question is that even with a camera that can record full raster (900R) the HDCAM tape limitation stays?
Hector Berrebi
Schibber Group
prePost Consulting
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