Thanks riredale,

The original format is out of my control. Sometimes they were videos that were created years ago, and the company just recently decided they would like to have a Spanish or Japanese version.

Thanks for the link. I have read that article. It was the one I used to talk my company into starting a video editing department using DV.

I guess I am looking for something on the advantages (if there are any) to switching your footage from Betacam to DV. It would be more cost effective for me to edit the footage because I am much cheaper than a video editing house. Plus I have language people available down the hall to proof.

Where I fall short is that I can only output DV. If the client asks for Betacam, I have to send out for that. I do not have $15,000 in my budget for a BetaSP deck. I would need to sell them on taking a miniDV tape as the master. To me, converting back to Beta is an unnecesary step.

For the simple minded client, this is not hard, but it gets tricky when I am talking to someone that for years has known BetaSP to be the standard. That person might think of miniDV as substandard. But yet I go to seminars at American Family Insurance (Based in Madison, WI) and their inhouse production dept. shoots their stuff on a Canon XL1 and edits in Vegas.

Are there any articles out there that would make a BetaSP hardliner think twice?

Thanks,
Al

Thanks GG,

All great information, but I am looking to eliminate passing on the additional costs to the client. I am hoping that if I can show them good reason why they should switch to DV, or be ok with having a master tape that is a miniDV.

Here would be a sample conversation.
Me: What would you like the master back as? I could easily provide you with a miniDV tape.
Client: We gave you a Beta Master, We would like the foreign version master to be on beta as well?
Me: Why do you want a Beta vs. miniDV?
Client: Because that is what we recieved from the professional video production company that made it for us.

This is the point where I say OK and charge them extra to put it back on Beta.

1. Is there any quality loss to worry about. (riredale didn't think so but he only mentioned one coversion A to D. There acutally is another D to A conversion that he did not address).

2. Is there any information out there that I could offer to my client that might deter them from adding the last conversion step. Something like......"According to Video Magazine, 60% percent of video professionals are converting thier projects previously shot on BetaSP to DV when they revisit the projects. They are claiming the DV footage holds up better over time, it is easier to edit, and there is no visible loss of quality in the transfer. Overall, working in the digital domain is much more cost effective."

Maybe I just wrote the article I am looking for, but it would be much more credible coming from professionals rather than a start-up like myself. I already catch some flak from the pro's that I use vegas and not avid. Although it was funny watching one editor trying to put some of our Japanese text in a video we had some time ago.

Sorry for being a pain,
Al

A small comment. Betacam SP is not a digital format and therefore 4:2:2 has no meaning since it is analog. Digibeta is 4:2:2 and therefore that has meaning. Watching DV on a TV versus Betacam is not much different. Do a lot of rendering on an NLE and doing compression rendering even at 3:1 as I do in a 4:2:2 MJPEG format and DV does not stand up to Analog Betacam both brought in as component and digitized at the same compression. For example I must bring in DV at 3:1 to match up to Betacam SP at 5:1 so the renders match after say 3 or more renders due to lack of video information in an already compressed 5:1, 4:1:1 signal as DV is. But for what I think you are saying you are doing...ie...bringing in Betacam as a component signal, editing in DV and then back out to component for a distribution means, probably is just fine. Just did not want anyone thinking an analog signal is the same as a digital signal using digital terms. They are apples and oranges. It makes a big difference in the codecs used as well plus the final medium they are mastered to and distributed in. Great article a year or so ago in one of the professional video magazines discussing how the difference shows up depending on the final distribution. But alas, watch it on a regular TV and it all looks the same...my two cents.

Gary Ashorn, PE

errr....excuse me if I'm butting in like this, but aren't miniDV tapes much smaller??
There, you have at least one argument in your favour!! Saves on storage, which, as we all know, costs $$$....Well, I did say it was a silly suggestion...

Different formats is just one of the issues you run into when editing projects you dont shoot. At least they didnt give you VHS !!! Assuming you are supplied beta sp tapes , they hold up pretty well converting to DV and back, if you dont have a deck I would rent one for final output ,hate to rely on a dub house for my final project. As far as converting your client to dv ,no client wants to hear their 60 K beta sp camera is no better than a 3k dv camera. just my 2 cents

Hi Flashlight,

This has been an agency issue for quite some time.

The struggle to get clients to accept a new format was there with 3/4", 1", Beta, Beta SP ....

Many agencies still want "clutter cassettes" (screeners) on 3/4", if you can believe that...

Change is slow, but eventually it happens. You might keep letting your client know that the DV tape is better/cheaper, and perhaps at some point someone will stick their neck out and try something new.


HTH, MPH

Tips:
http://www.martyhedler.com/homepage/Vegas_Tutorials.html

flashlight: I've just been re-reading this thread and one thing struck me ... you say you get the masters on betacam, but you can only output to DV. Just curious, but how do you import the betacam masters into Vegas to begin with? If you have access to a betacam deck for this, can't you use the same deck for output?

Yes, i realize this isn't helping you convert your clients to DV, but i'm just wondering, if the above is the case, why you have to use an outside service to produce betacam tapes. Or do you also use an outside service to convert the clients' betacam masters to DV? Pardon me for being curious, but this is just a thought that struck me.