Comments

farss wrote on 4/3/2004, 3:07 AM
SP was (is) an analogue system that needs a lot of hardware to do its thing. None of the recording systems you mention come close to what you'd find on a SP camera.
In the world of real video SP has been replaced by DigiBetacam, but if you're asking questions here I'd seriously doubt you've got the budget for even the lens to go on one of those cameras.
If you want something that gives you the sort of image control you could get on a SP camera think about the Panasonic DVX100A. Your still stuck with DV25 and 4:1:1 sampling against 4:2:2 which makes for a big difference.
You could also look into DVCPRO 50 based systems but again VERY big ticket items.
pb wrote on 4/3/2004, 4:06 AM
BetacamSP is an analog recording format, not a line of cameras. It has been replaced by BetaSX, Beta IMX, AND DigiBeta.

If you are looking for a good camera head check out the DXC D50 WS - dockable to DVCAM DSR-1, BetaSX, BetaSP and probably Beta IMX and DigiBeta.

A lot of independents and news depts (in our part of Canada) switched from BetaSP to DVCAM. Good choices there are DSR 390 DVCAM one piece, 1/2 inch chips but I think it is strictly 4:3. Better choice is DSR 570 WS with its 2/3 inch chips and native 16:9. I have both a DXC D50/DSR1 and a DSR 570 at my day job so I'm pretty fmiliar with them. Very close to the same specs image wise.

Most important thing is stick with Sony whether its BetaWhatever or DVCAM.

Peter
pb wrote on 4/3/2004, 4:50 AM
I was just thinking about DVCAM vs Beta and ROI. My wife and I run our home based production business to make money, that's all. We started with BetaSP and a Pinnacle ReelTime MJPEG box but switched to DVCAM becasue of economics. We produce commercials for Broadcast but will never be making prime time TV shows. Most of our product ends up as Windows Media 8/9, MPEG1 or DVD for the industrial clients who are happy with the encoded DVCAM material so for us there is no value in looking at BetaIMX etc. If you look at the start up cost of DVCAM vs Beta you quickly realize you need a lot of high paying jobs to pay for your Beta gear. DVCAM, on the other hand, is affordable. DSR 570 with broadcast lens - just over 40K Canadian. DSR-45, about 6K CAD. Matrox X100 PRO with Premiere Pro, Encore and Audition, 1500 CAD. Not a huge investment by any standard. GO to BetaSX, for example, and you are looking at about 70K CAD for a D50/DNV5 with broadcast lens, at least 10K for a J1-901 BetaSP/SX player, and let's guess at least 30K for an AVID box with MOJO. Holy massive cash outlay! Certainly there are adavantages to having 4:2:2 instead of 4:1:1 but if your paying customers don't notice, doubling your startup cost doesn't make much sense.

Peter
farss wrote on 4/3/2004, 5:50 AM
Peter,
I totally agree with you! Lets face it most of us here are doing well to get a corporate gig, getting enough of them to actually make aliving out of and we're in seventh heaven and that market is being killed off by clients who think all they need is a $500 camera and they can make it themselves.
Outside of TV stations I could see no way you'd ever make you money back let alone make a living as well with that kind of gear. I've bumped into a few old hands who'd invested heavily in SP years ago and they still haven't shown a return on it and now they've got to compete with the DV25 crowd and just recently they've found they cannot sell footage that isn't 16:9 so they're really screwed.
I think the trick in this game is to be very nimble and don't build any attachment to the prevailing technology cause you'll need to jump onto something new every few years, hold out a bit too long and you'll go the way of the dodo.

Bob
pb wrote on 4/3/2004, 6:16 AM
So true, Bob. One reason Jina got the recent long term contract is she can shoot and edit native 16:9. The other guys are stuck with a BVW 400A which, I suspect, they are still paying for. This new client said he will want HD once in a while so we gave him the name of a company that specializes in that kind of work. We aren't going to invest in HDV because the math tells me that if real HD is 100 mps then HDV at 25 mps will be slightly better than VHS. No ROI there.

Peter