Making broadcast copies for individual Franchises

[Jared Cicon]

Hey Phil,
Just got back from the wedding reception. Thanks for helping me out here.
No, with this project I captured as Hi-def, not Pro Res. I don’t remember the exact name of the codec in my Easy Setup, (my computer is back in LA), but I believe it was DVCPROHD 1080i60. At this point I would like to give each franchise owner the best quality master without confusing them. If SD is the best way to go I am good with that, but I mean it when I say, I am a bit of a rookie when it comes to the mastering. So any advice you can give would be helpful. I would like to offer a single format/file to all of the franchises. If some of these clients come back to me because they are just as much of a rookie as I am (which will probably be the case with many of them), then I will offer to create a master Beta for them at $100 each.

In the past I just used ‘Print To Tape’, and gave the client a minidv as a master, which I recorded back on my Sony HDRFX-1 (Pro-sumer HD cam, I am sure you know).

Maybe this is a stupid question, but don’t TV channels have Beta recorders to make masters when customers show up with odd formats?
Jared Cicon

[Chris Tompkins]

You ur unsure of the deliverables and don’t want to contact all the stations – I would go with BetaSP – SD – Widescreen – Letterbox. Just about all broadcast facilities have/had/still use Beta SP format. It’s Broadcast.

SO, output quicktime movie from your timeline, current settings.
Leave the box “make self-contained” UN-checked – this makes a reference movie file.

Drop the ref file into compressor and make a 10 bit uncompressed SD file.
Re-import, wait, do you have a Card in your edit sys? AJA, Kona? Decklink? Then you could just output a SD copy on the fly…

If not, compress to a SD file w/ compressor. Import new file into FCP, drop into same settings Timeline, edit to tape w/ bars, black and countdown. Times 20

Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta

[Jared Cicon]

Hi Chris,
Thanks for all the detailed info. This will be very helpful as I move forward.

No I don’t have a CARD, so I will have to re-import the reference file to the timeline and Print To Tape (PTT).

Question 1: I know in the current timeline with the Hi-Def footage, that PTT is not available. So when I re-import, I will need to do it with a new sequence and set it to SD correct.

Question 2: I have PTT’d before back to my Sony HDRFX-1 on a Hi-Def MiniDV to deliver a master to Cable TV stations. Is there a qualitative visual difference between MiniDV and Beta? This could save me some money. Is it just a matter of whether or not the local TV cable channel has the ability to extract from MiniDV tape?

Jared Cicon

[Jared Cicon]

Hey Phil,
If I would rather not be bothered with renting a Beta recorder and making these masters, what would something like this cost me per tape? In other words, let’s say I asked Phil to do this for me. How much would it cost for you to make and ship these out to the each franchise/client? Also, what type of FCP/data/video file would you need from me in order to make their Beta copies?
Jared

[Phil Smith]

OK, I see the issue here… let’s take a step back for a moment. The confusion is happening because you are using incorrect terminology for what you are trying to accomplish. The below CAPS are not for yelling, they are for terminology. 😉

First off, “Hi-Def” would refer to one or more RESOLUTIONS, or sizes, of video. those would be 720p, 1080i or 1080p. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-definition_video#Technical_details

Formats that handle HD (or High-Def) are things like D-5, HDCAM, or XDCAM (my personal favorite for it’s flexibility and file-based workflow). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XDCAM

“Beta” refers to a format of video tape that ONLY carries Standard Definition video. Examples would be: Betacam, BetacamSP, and Digi-Betacam. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betacam

So, you confused the heck out of me when you kept saying that you wanted to deliver High Definition video on BETA. That doesn’t work. 😉

Secondly, the format that you are shooting on your camera is HDV (which you probably know), what you probably didn’t know is that you can capture that HDV format to any number of CODECS to your system (including ProRes, which most Final Cut editors will use because of it’s low file size and high quality). ProRes can be used for just about ANY resolution video… from 525 (SD) to 720p (HD) to 1080i/p (HD). https://documentation.apple.com/en/finalcutpro/professionalformatsandworkflows/index.html#chapter=10%26section=2%26tasks=true

In this case, it sounds like you used DVCProHD, which is fine for now.

So, IF you want to deliver HD, the acceptable broadcast formats for this are most likely either HDCAM, XDCAM, or D-5. Most machine rooms will NOT have HDV, which is what your Mini-DV tapes are recording. That said, I’m finding a lot of news stations now carry HDV equipment. So, if you contacted a local affiliate’s commercial department, they could likely give you a price on converting from HDV to a broadcast-level master.

The other option is a post or duplication house. Something like Digital Film Tree or Transfer West.

The reason I asked about the delivery in my first posting is because if your client doesn’t know what format they want, you can figure out what they need asking them for a spot delivery checklist. This is a helpful tool for you, partially because it justifies how much is generally charged for this sort of thing!

If this franchise is in only major cities, they might all have access to HDCAM. If you have smaller cities, some might only have DigiBeta… so you have to know beforehand what you are going to deliver.

The shorter answer is: No, it’s not a good idea to try and simply render out different codecs hoping that they can use one of them.

Who knows? You might get lucky and they can take HDV as a master!
-PJ

[Phil Smith]

I appreciate being used as the “example” here… lol 😉

For you to go to a post house, it would start to cost what Neil quoted you. The idea is getting whomever can play HD the HD version, and then properly converting it for whoever needs SD.

Or, if you’re going to deliver SD only, then you could just spit out the SD-cropped version (this also assumes that you made the graphics/text all SD title safe) and give it to whomever has a deck to print to tape.

In my experience, most cable houses and network affiliates don’t like Anamorphic.

[Deleted User]

As a network we generally shoot and edit 1080 material as 4:3 Safe. Meaning all the important visuals are within the mid zone that can still be shown on SD transmission without anything important getting cut off. The downside is that you can’t use the entire canvas but the upside is that it’s easy to make SD copies that don’t need to be letterboxed.

Lee
CTV Calgary