Tom Matthies
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COW Coin
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DaVinci Coin
Forum Replies Created
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We mainly use Sony Digital Betacam decks for most work, but we also have older BVW-75’s and PVW-2800’s in addition to the UVW’s. The PVW series is a pretty good balance between price and features. We’ve been running quite a few around here for years and they are holding up well. The BVW series (the original BetaSP broadcast decks) are still available in quantities on ebay (or new?) for good prices, but look very carefully at any used deck. It might be a good idea to have it evaluated by a technician to make sure it’s in good shape. There is a lot that can go wrong inside a BVW that isn’t obvious at first. Capacitors dry out, belts slip, heads wear out and so on.
As for audio quality for your project, it largely depends on what you will be using the dubs for. While the UVW series may have a little weaker audio specs. (as well as differences in the video signal path as well) that doesn’t necessarily mean that the audio will be bad. For dubs going to local stations, dvd’s or whatever, it will be fine. I’m not sure that I would want to master a series destined for a network on a UVW series, but it’s still a pretty good machine for the money. I have a UVW-1800 for recording and a PVW-2600 for playback at home and both have been workhorse machines over the years. I’ve never got a dub back from anyone because of technical standard problems. It very much depends on the quality of what’s going into the deck in the first place. GIGO-Garbage In/Garbage Out
For general purpose recordings, I wouldn’t worry too much about using a UVW-1800 at all. I’d prefer to use Digibeta for everything, but the price is still a bit steep for a home setup.
Tom -
The meters on a Sony UVW-1800 are notoriously “sluggish” and always seem to read lower than expected. I output to a UVW-1800 thru an Aja IoLa and get much the same results. The “ballistics” of the FCP meters is much faster to respond to peaks than the meters on the deck. I’m guilty of punching the levels a bit hotter into this deck and have had good results. The meter response for a constant level, such as tone, looks OK on the meters level wise, but as soon as the levels vary with a signal, the response seems to slow down and the overall levels appear lower. I’ve checked tapes made on a UVW-1800 on a broadcast deck and they are actually pretty close although the audio recording quality of a UVW series is not quite up to par with the broadcast models. A quick look at Sony’s specs for the decks will show this in both signal to noise, frequency response and dynamic range, the broadcast decks having considerably better audio specs than the UVW’s. And of course, without ad on boxes, the UWV series will not record FM audio, only audio on the linear tracks.
I guess we just get what we pay for…
Tom -
Yes, but you will also give up deck control by doing that.
Tom -
Yea. I haven’t needed to do it yet, but from all of my reading about the Panasonic 24p formats, the advanced mode has a different pulldown cadence than the “normal” 24p mode. If the advanced 24p is put onto tape at the normal 29.97fps rate, the motion looks a bit choppy compared to normal 24p footage. If you are planning to shoot in 24p, edit the tape in a more or less normal fashion and then output back to tape, the normal 24p mode is what you want. Pick up a copy of the book that comes packed with a new Panasonic DVX-100A-I don’t have it handy here so I’m not sure of the author. It has a very good explaination of the differences between the two modes. Also go to Natresses site for another great article on when you should use the advanced mode and when to avoid it. We have one of these little DVX-100A’s for taping small projects. Guess I could actually shoot some 24p footage and try it out myself!
Tom -
Update:
Deleted system ID #, started FCP filled in the registration info and everything working nominally. All of the plugins and thirdparty software transferred flawlessly. All of my favorates are there. My work space looks identical to the old machine.
Well,this was pretty painless! And it’s Friday to boot.
Tom -
Yes, that would be it. I just finished the install a few minutes ago. I had problems with the “Motion 2” disk during the install. The computer woulodn’t recognize it at all. I had to run home and get my FCP5 disks. Ran theinstall again. I used my Motion disk and the rest of the install went fine. I’m going to do the on-line updates and then fire it up.
Film at eleven.
Heck, with a little luck, I’ll even edit that film on the new machine. I think that I will make sure the FCP ID matches the new software by deleting that file. That way I can make sure that it didn’t get transferred from the old machine.
Thanks,
Tom -
Hmmm…
I guess it is all relative. One mans Escort is another mans Escalade.
Tom -
Check uut “Joe’s Filters”. It has a nice, shaped-based blur function.
Vrry useful set of filters you will use everyday.
Tom -
Interesting. I’m still running MY original single 400 as well. I use it for script writing and printing labels. These things just keep running and running and running… The thing just won’t die!
Tom -
Yea, I’m installing it on the new machine right now. I actually used to know where the resiatration info was, butI can always reserialize it later. I’m like a little kid. I can’t wait to get the quad up and running on an actual project.
Thanks,
Tom