DV CAM Question

J

justawallet

Member
Hey, i got a freelance editing job and have a quick question for you guys.

I shoot with the dvx100b

The tapes this person gave me to edit are on DVCAM, I don't have a deck to capture the footage to FCP.

I assume i should bring the tapes to a video duplication company and have them capture and transfer the footage to dvd so i can input it onto my mac.

But what codec should i tell them to use for best quality? I am totally unfamiliar with DVCAM

please help!
 
the DVCAM signal is identical to the DV signal.

You want the dub house to make you a dub onto DV over firewire .. you will get an exact copy of the data.

Or rent/borrow DVCAM caipable deck and jsut firewire it into your computer and treat it as you would normal DV.


- Mikko
 
If they are small size DVCAM tape (same size as MiniDV) then they will play back in almost any Sony MiniDV deck or camera. And it never hurts to try any other deck either.


Just about any deck - from any manufacturer - that accepts the Larger size tapes, can play back DVCAM.

- Mikko
 
If it's DVCam on MiniDV tapes, then it will play back only via a DVCam deck or camera. The track pitch for MiniDV is 10 microns and the track pitch for DVCam is 15 microns.

The wider track pitch of DVCam, even on MiniDV tapes, makes them unplayable on anything but a Sony DVCam-capable system.
 
and most Sony DV camcorders have DVCAM compatibility built in.

A head for a 10 micron track can also read a 15micron track...
Adjacent tracks are recoded 180* out of phase from each other, so the playback head (which is actually wider than the recorded track) simply picks up the strongest signal .. and it doesn't matter if the head overlaps a little onto adjecent tracks, as the phase cancellation blocks out the tracks on the sides.

To record DVCAM, you need a 15 micron head, but you can play it back just fine with a DV head by simply adjusting the tape speed.


More great reading on the subject of DV formats on this page by DV-Guru Adam Wilt: http://www.adamwilt.com/DV-tech.html
There's even a note in there from Jan explaining the recoreding process involved with DVCPRO, and the other formats.


- Mikko
 
What I should have said is that a DVCam tape won't play in a non-Sony mechanism such as the ones found in Canon equipment, etc.

I think the Panasonic DVCPro decks might be able to play DVCam tapes.
 
Yup, most all of them can .. it's just the really old ones that can't. That page I linked above has deatials on which DVCPRO deck can & can't play DVCAM.

The most general rule of thumb is: Try it, you can't do any harm.

- Mikko
 
The original DVX100 and DVX100A can play back DVCAM tapes. I'm not sure if the DVX100B can or not.

So if they're mini-sized tapes, just try 'em in your DVX, they might work.
 
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