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What’s the best way to export a DVCPROHD 720p to Betacam SP
I have just finished editing a music video in Final Cut Pro, the footage was shot with the HVX200 in the 720p native mode (DVCPRO HD 720p compression).
I have never worked with betacam before and I have no video card like the ones made by Kona or Black magic design.
I now have to deliver the video in a Betacam SP tape.
I have access to a Betacam SP VTR, however, there’s a problem: this VTR has no firewire input, and the only way to do the conversion to Betacam SP is to downconvert my video to a mini-dv tape first, and then record to betacam sp from that mini-dv tape.So my questions are:
What’s the best way to downconvert my video to sd, so I can export it to a mini-dv tape?
My budget is very small, but I would still like to know what’s the best way to this conversion of my original video to Betacam SP format?
Thanks a lot for your time
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6 Replies
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You are asking for the BEST way in your subject, but then explaining that you can only do this in about the worse way possible.
Best way…get an HD capture card and output directly to Beta downconverting with the card. An HD capture card is a wise investment, even if you only injest tapeless or via firewire.
Given your limitations I’d use Compressor to convert to DV, Letterboxed.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
[Miguel Alves] “I have access to a Betacam SP VTR, however, there’s a problem: this VTR has no firewire input, and the only way to do the conversion to Betacam SP is to downconvert my video to a mini-dv tape first, and then record to betacam sp from that mini-dv tape.”
BetaSP recorders do not have firewire. Downconverting your HD to MinDV and then to BetaSP is just a horrendous workflow. The best way to go from 720p HD to BetaSP is via an HD video card with realtime downconversion.
If all you have a MiniDV deck, just use compressor as Shane suggests, but the results are going to be less than satisfactory by the time you drop your project to MiniDV (with it’s 5:1 compression) and then dubbing that over to Beta.
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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Many thanks Shane and Walter.
Just one more question, which card do you recommnend to use with a Mac Pro Quad Core and Final Cut Pro?
Thanks
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Both Walter and I are big fans of the AJA line of capture cards, the Kona LH and Kona 3. If you can afford them, they are the best ones to get. However, I realize that budgets might be tight, so the Decklink series of cards work just fine too. Decklink Extreme HD…or if you have a PCIe board, you can get the Intensity Pro.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Many thanks Shane, you have been very helpful.
For now my budget is very tight, so I guess that the best thing to do is find out how much will a post house charge for the conversion, if the price is too high, I’ll have no alternative but to downconvert the video to SD using compressor like you said.
Thanks again
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Yeah, put the material on a drive & take it to a facility that has the capabiliites to output your show to SP. It’s a cost effective solution until you are in a position to start outputting your material to various formats.
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