HDCAM/Betacam

G

gbadgley

Active member
The local cable station will only accept video tape in these two formats. Being new to videography, is there anyway I can take footage shot on the AF100 and convert it the proper codec and then print it to tape. Or do I have to SELL my AF 100 and get another camera!!!!!
 
Of course. Just find someone with a recording Beta deck; most post-production shops will have one. You should also make sure your footage is broadcast legal prior to transfer. You might also want to check to see if the station requires slates, how much black before 1st video, etc. Back in the day I used bars & tone :60, :10 slate, :02 black, content. For short stuff I'd loop a 2nd copy (in case of dropouts).
 
So for HD they'll want HDCAMsr and for SD they'll want Betacam(SP)?

What are you providing to the cable station? Unedited rushes (like news/ENG etc) or full program content?

A lot depends on what you're doing & your business relationship with them... you'll also probably find they'll want interlace not progressive footage.

If they accept SD Betacam, old decks aren't that expensive to buy second hand (if the job is an ongoing one).

 
In Canada, the cable comanys are required to provide access to the community for programming of local interest. So, my proposed content is a 30 minute documentary, and yes the standard is interlace, which of course is no problem with the AF 100. In their standards document, they lay out all the requirments in terms of timecode, broadcast legal requirements etc. etc. My issue is just getting it onto tape. They do require the master to be shot in 25mbts, which might be another hurdle to overcome also.
 
the 25mb thing is sort of a joke, plenty of stuff makes it to broadcast on PBS national (which has some of the most stringent QC specs) that was archival material shot on 3/4" or even VHS. You really need access to a mastering suite or just a good AVID MC edit suite with a HDCAM deck and a couple scopes, it helps if you know how to read a scope and know your way around an HDcam deck. I would imagine that there has to be a fair number of idle Sony HDcam decks in any of the major canadian metropolitan areas by this time. Make your Broadcast master to HDcam, getting a Beta dub from that will be easy. Have you thought about captioning? A lot of broadcasters require it.
 
If you are talking about broadcasting for free on the local access channel, you should be able to get access their edit bays and dub off yourself. 25mbit is dv codec, not that hard to adhere to. They probably have a final cut pro suite and whatever decks they use.
 
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