OT: shopping for a digibeta VTR

[Jimmy Brunger]

Far as I can tell you should be fine with a 500. We have a few of those and an A500p which also plays BETA SP. I doubt there’s much difference between the new decks and the 500’s, as HDCAM kind of took over shortly after the 500’s, so most people would now buy a HD machine that plays digibeta, etc aswell.

That said, the 500 has a much more solid feel to something like the HDW-M2000P. the new ones feel very ‘cheap’ in their build, despite the price tags! (Presumably the build quality is the same for the 2000 digibeta decks?)

Oh, we’re in the UK btw. Don’t know how much difference that makes (PAL vs NTSC, etc.)

The only other difference I can see is the the 2000’s have a slot for a memory card to store menu settings, etc on. Guess it depends how often you switch settings and how quickly you need to do so.

But we use a combination of 500’s daily for broadcast and they seem to do the job.

[Paul Provost]

if you dont need to output to tape try a J30SDI playback only deck. even if you do need to output to tape, you could still buy the J30 and just rent a deck when you need to output. Much cheaper.
The DVW 500 is a great machine – a real workhorse.
for new decks go to bhphoto.com
for used I recommend usedvideo.org – ask for Jon.

[Tim Irwin]

Thanks Jimmybee and Paul for your input. I have a couple of follow up questions. When you mention HDCAM decks Jimmy, it looks like the ones that support digibeta only support playback right? There’s not an HDCAM recorder that could also RECORD to digibeta is there?

Also, we once rented a deck (I think it was a dvw500 but not positive) That refused to recognize any audio embeded in the sdi from our decklink. The rental house later told us that some “older” Digibeta decks didn’t include audio over sdi, is this true and if so, how do I make sure I’m not getting one of those.

Also, still looking for any opinions of broadcaststore.com.

Many thanks to everyone, this is a fantastic resource.

-tim

[Paul Provost]

I’ve never heard of a 500 not accepting embedded audio, but it’ possible. you DO NOT want an older (low serial number) machine. they continually upgraded the design and fixed problems. I am aware of BCS (broadcast store). Again I suggest you give Jon at UBS a call. read between the lines ; )
from what i remember you can get an HDcam deck that does it all, but after you factor in the cost of that particular model and all the option cards you need, you can buy a more basic HDcam deck AND a digibeta deck for the same amount.

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Tim,

[Tim Irwin] “The rental house later told us that some “older” Digibeta decks didn’t include audio over sdi”

I cannot think of any Digibeta which would fail to support embedded audio via SDI. That was one of the great things about Digibeta. My suspicion is that the deck you hired was either defective or else that the menu settings were configured to route audio via AES outputs rather than SDI. Any Digibeta should work fine with any DeckLink SDI card. Any HDCAM should work fine with any DeckLink HD-SDI card.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Peter Wiggins]

Just a quick note here, beware of the difference between a 500 & a J3 style player.
Apart from the obvious playback only restrictions, the ballistics of a J3/J30 are terrible,
so bank on much longer times digitising. In fact I have a couple of clients who refuse
to use them, the timecode not updating properly on shuttle being one of the reasons.

The old 500 was only replaced due to the new legislation about the PCB’s containing lead.
It was actually cheaper for Sony to do a complete redesign of the product and hence the
new model.

My advice? find a low hours used 500 and then get a good service. Do you really want SX or
IMX playback? Also check if the model has the analogue input board option which was another

[Jimmy Brunger]

Our HDW-M2000P only records in HD, not digibeta – sorry forgot about that. Doesn’t mean you can’t get them though. But if, like Paul said – if it’s cheaper to buy a HD and DIGI deck, that’s got to make more sense. We didn’t go for a bells & whistles HD deck, because we have several Digibeta recorders already.

On a side note, our DIGI recorder does accept SDI embedded. So if you’re struggling to find out at what point they updated it for that give me your email addy and I’ll mail you our serial number so you know to go for one newer than that. OR call this Jon character! 😉

Good luck!

[Paul Provost]

another note. if you do buy a used deck from whoever make SURE you have it checked out first by a sony certified digibeta tech you trust! any reputable used equipment seller will give you a “3 day right of refusal” to check it out. these guys are usually brokering a deal, so really have no way of knowing the true condition of the deck. there is so much that can go wrong with these machines. if you get one where the scanner is about to go out, you could be looking at a $5000 repair bill right out of the box! We actually got a great deal one a 500 on eBay, but it was a nervewracking experience and a real leap of faith to trust someone cross country! don’t know if I’d do that again.
ps. J30’s are not THAT bad…but definately not as stable as a 500.

[Tim Irwin]

Thank you everyone for your help and suggestions. I’ll begin the search for a dvw500!

-tim