I have a client who wants me to edit some footage that they have archived in Beta SP. I don't have a beta deck, and am wondering what the best way to digitize this footage for use in Final Cut Pro.

Can anyone recommend a service or equipment for this?

Thanks,

Aaron

from what i know my friend, you need a Beta SP deck. No other way around it unless i am incorrect, someone will let you know if i am incorrect.

Many pro post houses will have a beta SP deck. Many duplication houses will as well. They can dub it to dvcam or mini-dv or whatever you need, this is probably the least expensive way to get the footage into your workflow.

Here in Portland I can get footage dubbed for $45/hr plus tape stock, or, rent a Beta SP deck for $225/day and do it myself.

Am I mistaken, but aren't there some digital Beta VCRs that have the legacy feature of playing back analog BetaCam SP?

Am I mistaken, but aren't there some digital Beta VCRs that have the legacy feature of playing back analog BetaCam SP?

DigiBeta VTRs are backwards compatible. It's been one of the best features of Betacam over the years and a good duplication house should be able to make a copy for you.

Copying to a digital format that you can use with your NLE would be the easiest method.

Thanks for the information, everyone.

I am in Fairbanks, Alaska and am having a hard time finding anyone with a Beta deck that can do the transfer for me. Can anyone recommend a good duplication house in the lower 48 that I could send them to? Seth, who do you use in Portland?

-Aaron

Aaron...

How much do you have to transfer?

I have a Betacam SP deck here (I'm in Hawaii) and do that quite a bit. It's possible to transfer to a hard drive with files that would be FCP-ready.

Also, since you're in Alaksa, I'd be willing to trade for fresh-frozen salmon roe! :-)

Hi Dean,

Thanks for your offer. IF the client can locate the Beta masters (and right now that's a big if), it would only be 2 tapes with roughly 10 minutes on each.

I don't have any salmon roe but I do have some freshly frozen Copper River sockeye fillets that I caught a few weeks ago. Perhaps we could work something out if the client pulls through!

Aaron

DigiBeta VTRs are backwards compatible. It's been one of the best features of Betacam over the years and a good duplication house should be able to make a copy for you.

Copying to a digital format that you can use with your NLE would be the easiest method.

The real expensive 40 thousand digital betacam decks need a special betacam card installed otherwise they cannot play back betacam sp.

However, some lower cost multi beta format decks have been made in the last few years and they may indeed play back all of the betacam formats, including betacam, betacam sp, betacam sx, and digital betacam.

One more thing.

When encoding from betacam sp, you probably surpass mini-dv quality if you use a kona or black magic card, output via component, and when transcoding to final cut pro, use the DVC-pro 50 codec instead of the mini-dv codec.

The DVC-Pro 50 codec appears to be the perfect compromise between uncompressed 8 or 10 bit, and DV 25.

Unless your local TV station is just a relay point (ie It does actually produce content) it's bound to have a Beta deck lurking around - give them a try.

CS

If I can get my hands on a beta deck:
Is there a way to go from the deck to a Mac Pro WITHOUT a Kona Card
and simply use firewire?

Thanks

Mac sells a convertor for 99 dollars (I think). It gives you an S-video connection along with two rca connectors for the audio. I bought one but have not tried it yet, when I do I'll give an update.

If I can get my hands on a beta deck:
Is there a way to go from the deck to a Mac Pro WITHOUT a Kona Card
and simply use firewire?

Thanks


The newer betacam sp decks have a firewire output. I think it is the betacam sx decks that have the firewire feature. The betacam sx decks playback betacam sp, they may even play back digital betacam. However, they may be playback only for the additional non-sx formats, but I am not sure about that.

Allesandro,
Thanks !
Any idea what the #Mac box might be?

They appear to be available in the Mac stores in the mac mini section. I'm didn't set mine up right away so I'll track it down when I get a moment. I've been meaning to set it up so maybe I'll give it whirl today.

Some DV cameras can convert from S-video to DV.

2- Though to me, it seems like you might as well get somebody else to dub it for you.

3- Be careful about 7.5 IRE setup. Even some "professional" DV devices don't do it correctly. Check the bars and tone in FCP and see if they line up. If they don't then you can use the color corrector to fix that (adjust both saturation/chroma gain and luma black level), but you might as well get the dub done right in the first place.

I have a beta sp deck that i record to for my outdoor tv show

I could dub your MINI DV tape to beta sp for you!

send me an email if your interested


kirk