HDCAM decks

[fiercecurry]

Hello,

Does anyone know of a good rental house for HDCAM decks in the L.A. area?
How much can i expect to pay for a 1 day rental?

I am interested in renting the cam and a deck to test out the cameras HD SDI quality
recorded at 10 bit 4:2:2 onto HDCAM tape.

thanks.

[Barry_Green]

HDCAM won't record 10-bit 4:2:2, it's an 8-bit 3:1:1 format.

Figure on about $900/day for an HDW-F500 deck.

[fiercecurry]

Ok,

Is there any deck on this planet that does record 10 bit 4:2:2 data (like a Digibeta tape and deck) but in HD not SD?

Is the Sony HDCAM SR the only one for now? Clearly it worked for Lucas on his films.

While what you are saying about the videotapes compression may be correct, it seems that this the best format for preserving an HD-SDI signal onto an analog format (tape).

Have all these high end HD movies by big studios really been shot at 8bit 3:1:1 ?

[Barry_Green]

HDCAM SR or D5HD will record 10-bit 4:2:2. HDCAM-SR will also do 4:4:4.

While what you are saying about the videotapes compression may be correct, it seems that this the best format for preserving an HD-SDI signal onto an analog format (tape).
Not necessarily. DVCPRO-HD is a very comparable format; it'll record 8-bit 4:2:2, so slightly less luma res, but substantially more chroma res (around 80% more). They're basically comparable formats. But the AJ-HD1200A DVCPRO-HD deck is a lot less expensive than the least-expensive HDCAM deck.

Have all these high end HD movies by big studios really been shot at 8bit 3:1:1 ?
If they've been recorded on HDCAM, then yes, because that's all HDCAM can record.

[fiercecurry]

Ok, now we're getting somewhere. So a D5HD deck would be fine.
How much are those per rental day?

thanks.

[Barry_Green]

Probably around $1100-$1200/day. I don't know how common they are to rent, I don't think there are any around here, but in L.A. you shouldn't have much trouble finding one.

[fiercecurry]

thanks,

hopefully there is someplace that goes for under 1k. DigiBetas go for around $250 a day, can a HDCAM SR be that much MORE expensive?

[Barry_Green]

HDCAM SR decks are in the $90,000 range. DigiBeta decks have been around for a long time, many of them have been rented many times and have paid for themselves several times over, so the rental rate can be much lower. HDCAM SR is brand-new and a massive investment for rental houses, and there are very few out there, so it's a seller's market.

[Luis Caffesse]

Have all these high end HD movies by big studios really been shot at 8bit 3:1:1 ?.


Not exactly, when Lucas was shooting with the F900 he ran the signal out of the HDSDI port to a (I believe) D5 deck. A few other people worked this way as well to get around the HDCam format.

Rodriguez always shot with the on camera transport though (as far as I know).
So all of his movies prior to Sin City (and after Spy Kids) were shot on HDCam (8bit 3:1:1).

Of course now both of those guys are shooting on Sony HDSR.
(which actually still has them running the signal out to an external recorder).

[evinsky]

Bexel in burbank rents the Sony SRW-5000 HDCAM SR studio VTR for the bargain price of $1,800
per day. You may be able to talk them down but for that price you could literally buy a Decklink HD card and a few HDD, put them in your PC or G5 and cature directly to your computer. And no tape stock either.

[Spiff]

Is there any deck on this planet that does record 10 bit 4:2:2 data (like a Digibeta tape and deck) but in HD not SD?

For about $10k you can get a fully stocked Cineform ProspectHD edit suite that injests 10-bit 4:2:2 HD-SDI into a 1920x1080(i/p) 10-bit 4:2:2 Cineform format. You'll also be capable of real time editing.

Whee!

-Spiff

[fiercecurry]

Or I can also spend $600 on Blackmagic Decklink HD card, get a RAID drive for around $2000,
or build my own for cheaper, and use FCP 5 and a Mac.

So if you have a MAC and FCP already, for around $3K i can have a 10bit 4:2:2 HD-SDI ingest and editing system.

The only use of for a deck would be the location issues, and the ability to offline/online edit.
Capture your dailies at offline res from the tape, saving you a lot of disk space, than when you have your final cut, recapture at higher res from the tape, your selects.