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Help with capture settings for Beta SP
Equipment: OSX 10.4.8, FCP 5.0.4, AJA Kona LH, Sony UVW-1600 BetaCam SP deck
I am trying to capture uncompressed Beta SP footage into FCP. I currently have the capture preset to 10-bit uncompressed, but do not know what settings to set within that preset to guarantee full uncompressed footage when captured. I just just capturing with this setting, but when I play back the footage, the image shifts fields when there is rapid camera movement, or when there is a snapshot camera flash within the footage. Any help on what settings I need to have it at to get full uncompressed footage (for television playback) would be greatly appreciated!
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5 Replies
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Hit control-q and choose the 525 or 625 Analog component 10 bit NTSC or PAL easy setup.
Jeremy
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Two things. Make sure in your capture settings you are set at 29.97fps 10-bit and not 23.98fps 10-bit. The 23fps will give you that look. Second, it will look choppy in the capture window as the machine is digitizing, but that has no effect on the final captured media. After you have captured the clip, play it back. If it still looks choppy on an external monitor than you have your capture settings wrong. The playback should look as smooth as the original playback tape. Overlapping windows on the computer monitor can also cause this, which is why you should check it in an external monitor.
Also, I’m using BetaSP also. I couldn’t find any real difference between 8 and 10 bit, so I’m doing everything at 8-bit to save disk space. I’m guessing the 10 bit would work better with Digi-Beta. I’d be interested in others thoughts on that.
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So there’s no real visible difference (to the average joe) of 8-bit vs. 10-bit? I will try what you said. My guess is it is the frame rate, but there is no way of me finding out what the frame rate was when the footage was shot (it is footage from a few years ago needing archived at full quality). Am I correct in assuming that 8-bit is uncompressed for Beta SP? I appreciate all the help, thank you.
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If you are in PAL land, the frame rate is 25fps, if you are in NTSC land, the frame rate is 29.97.
I find there is a difference between 8 and 10 bit, but it’s a long standing argument on there and it tends to get people fired up so use what you are comfortable with, and what your system allows. 8 bit does not look bad, it just depends on what you are doing and if there’s compositing/green screen involved, how much graphics you have and are those graphics subject to banding (lots of feathering and such). I try and use 10 bit whenever possible, but that’s just me.
Jeremy
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The way it was explained to me was that it is better to capture 10 bit than 8 bit because when you color correct you have a more finely divided color space and it provides more intermediate steps between colors.
I received this information from someone whose opinion I respect highly so I filed it under “Best Practice”. That said, I can’t tell a difference and doubt that you end viewer will either.
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