External Drive to Beta SP

G

George Washington

New member
I own a DVX 100 B, but the project I need to shoot needs to be on Beta SP for broadcast quality reasons. If I record on an external drive (and not on Mini DV) and transfer the edited and completed video to a Beta SP, will that achieve the same Beta SP broadcast quality picture my client wants, or would I need to shoot directly onto a Beta SP? Thanks!
 
I don't know anything about Beta SP, but recording on an external drive gives you the exact same footage as recording on Mini DV. It's all digital, and it's the same bits either way.
 
The DV recording format is very comparable to the BetaSP recording format. Biggest question is the camera head, a $2500 DVX doesn't really compare to a $40,000 BVW600. If they're expecting the image from a 2/3" camera, you're not really going to get away with giving them a 1/3" image.

However, if they really just want the tape format, that's not a problem; shoot on your DVX, finish the edit, then transfer to BetaSP for delivery. DVXs are used in broadcast all the time so it may very well not be an image quality problem. But you need more info from your producer as to what they're expecting when they say BetaSP. If it's just that the product needs to be delivered on BetaSP tape, that shouldn't be a roadblock. Just budget in that you're going to need to do a transfer at a transfer house when the project is finished.

But if they're expecting to receive all the source tapes in BetaSP format, and you hand 'em miniDVs... that's not a good situation to be in.
 
thanks, Barry, for all that you do. This is an excellant thread. Keep on keeping on..from an aspiring son-of-a-gun..
 
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