Hi,

I don´t know if this is a dumb question, but i'm gonna ask it anyway. I'm planning on buying an hvx200 for me in the next few days, and am trying to figure out possible workflows that would make this camera immediatly a moneymaker for me.

Would it be possible that dvcpro 50 recorded on the hvx (or any other dvcpro50 camera for that matter) to be recorded to a digibeta tape after editing?

I'm just thinking of a situation that the editing place would have just a digibeta deck, not a dvcpro deck. So i would import to the nle via firewire and then output to a digibeta tape.

Well, thanks in advance,

Pedro Faerstein

this is confusing because I bet you don't realize that you can only record dvcpro50 on the p2 system in the hvx200. So you are really going from the p2 cards to digibeta, not possible unless you run it through and NLE to SDI out to Digi beta, an interesting workflow but not one I would use.

Don't feel bad, many folk are buying this camera because they think they can record dvcpro50 on tape. Boy are they in for a 5 to 10 grand surprise. You could step up to the SDX-900 but yet again you would need a video card with SDI just to capture it. Maybe your post house has a deck that can take firewire in out of the hvx but then you would need to have enough p2 cards to make it past 20 minutes which would cost over several grand. Dvcpro50 is good IMO but it aint digi beta, might as well rent the dang camera and shoot in that format and save yourself money and headaches.

Actually I do realize i can only record dvcpro 50 to p2. The question was: After editing in dvcpro50, would i be able to record it on a digibeta tape. And I think you kind of ansered it:

"not possible unless you run it through and NLE to SDI out to Digi beta, an interesting workflow but not one I would use."

Why not?

Yes, you can record out to digibeta from your NLE, provided you have an SDI card. Pro50 has a similar quality to Digibeta.

Chris Bell

Actually I do realize i can only record dvcpro 50 to p2. The question was: After editing in dvcpro50, would i be able to record it on a digibeta tape. And I think you kind of ansered it:

"not possible unless you run it through and NLE to SDI out to Digi beta, an interesting workflow but not one I would use."

Why not?

P2 workflow, I would rather rent a sdx-900

yes you can render for a digibeta out even if you don't own a SDI card.
many production houses have Mac/PC NLE's that have hardware cards that go out to digibeta. for a FEE they will take your rendered clip/project and transfer to digibeta. you need to find out what NLE/hardware they are using. IE: they have FCP and decklink card. say you have a PC ... you download the blackmagic codec from decklinks site . you then render out as a QT file using BM 10bit SD 4:2:2 codec .. you deliver files on a 1394 hard drive to them .. they then transfer the files over their network to a mac hard drive ..they then transfer to digibeta.
always check with them and they will tell you exactly how to render so their syatem can handle your files... figure anywhere from 100-200hr to tranfer to digibeta ..most places do not charge for the time it takes to transfer files over network (pc to mac or mac to pc) ... if you have a mac and they are mac based then no transfer of files over network are needed ..

Sony do make a DB field recorder, if you can bear the cost of hiring one you could go component from the HVX200 direct to DB. Deck does run off internal battery and is 'luggable', I know I've lugged one around. Will give you 40 minutes record time. DB is pretty easy to edit, just need a Decklink or Kona card and SATA RAID drive, allow about 90GB/Hour of material.
Failing that then yes, as said, you could edit in DVCPro 50 and output via SDI to a DB deck. I think that the codecs that closest match DB use a bit more bandwidth than DVCPro 50, you might need SATA RAID drives to keep up, not that they're expensive.

why does your card have to be sdi out instead of just component out?

If you shot DV50, and mastered and delivered on Digibeta, via a Kona card for example, thats a perfectly sound workflow. I would bet some will definitely be delivering masters that way. You could also acquire in 720p or 1080p, and downconvert in post or have the Kona downconvert for laying onto Digibeta.

Isn't the answer to this question, simply yes?