An almost decent way to get HD on tape at DVinfo.net

Thomas Smet · July 14th, 2005, 05:42 PM

I thought of an almost decent way of shooting HD onto tape with the HVX200. Sadly I found out it will not work.

What I was thinking of was for those people out there who want to use the HVX200 for both high end productions but at the same time event video work.

I thought about what if you bought a cheap portable JVC or SONY HDV deck. At the time I thought you could run component from the HVX200 into the deck and record HDV while recording to P2 cards. This would give you a HD backup tape just in case. It wouldn't be as good as the P2 footage but it would work in a pinch.

The problem with this however is that none of the current portable HDV decks have component input. Man that sucks.

Sorry guys it almost worked.

Now if somebody were to make a device to convert component into HDV and make it portable they would make a lot of money from HVX200 users.

Barry Green · July 14th, 2005, 05:51 PM

None of the HDV decks allow any sort of analog or HD-SDI input. Only firewire.

Do any of the cameras? I think all the cameras are component-out only as well.

Thomas Smet · July 14th, 2005, 06:01 PM

Yeah there is nothing in the HDV world right now that has any kind of HD input other than firewire which will not work. Even though the HVX200 will have firewire it will output in a format no HDV deck or camera will be able to recognize.

The other analog inputs are for SD only.

I'm sure this was done to prevent people from recording HD broadcasts.

This however doesn't mean you couldn't do this as a way of backing up your material from your edit system onto tape.

once your P2 footage is on your system just convert to HDV and use firewire to make a HDV copy of the footage onto tape. This will give those people who insist on having a HD tape backup an option. After making a HDV tape backup of the raw footage and edited master you can still choose to keep a good copy on some other form of digital media.

Chris Hurd · July 14th, 2005, 06:11 PM

That's an interesting concept, Thomas, but I think a lot of HVX200 shooters won't be too interested in HDV... otherwise they'd pass up the HVX200 and just choose an HDV camcorder to begin with. With P2 there's no real need for backup. P2 cards are made to zero-fault specs, plus the MXF file system used by a P2 card is constantly closing itself. If there ever was an actual card fault (or, say, if power to the HVX is ever suddenly interrupted while recording), the amount of data loss is maybe a one or two frames, about equal to a tape glitch. I can appreciate an effort to record in the field to a backup method in general, regardless of format -- be it DV tape, or FireStore, or whatever; but I fail to see why P2 would be more of a candidate for backup than tape or hard drives... P2 is the most reliable recording method to begin with, compared to tapes or hard drives.

Chris Hurd · July 14th, 2005, 06:13 PM

Just read your second post and now I see what you're saying... HDV as simply one other type of media *after* recording. That's definitely a viable way to do it.

Thomas Smet · July 14th, 2005, 06:47 PM

I would actually never use HDV tape for this.

I mainly came up with this because there have been some people moaning about not having a way to create a backup on tape. If they don't want to sacrifice by going down to HDV then I don't know what they want. They can't really expect a DVCpro HD deck for free can they?

July 14th, 2005, 05:42 PM	#1
Thomas Smet Trustee Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Milwaukee, WI Posts: 1,719	An almost decent way to get HD on tape I thought of an almost decent way of shooting HD onto tape with the HVX200. Sadly I found out it will not work. What I was thinking of was for those people out there who want to use the HVX200 for both high end productions but at the same time event video work. I thought about what if you bought a cheap portable JVC or SONY HDV deck. At the time I thought you could run component from the HVX200 into the deck and record HDV while recording to P2 cards. This would give you a HD backup tape just in case. It wouldn't be as good as the P2 footage but it would work in a pinch. The problem with this however is that none of the current portable HDV decks have component input. Man that sucks. Sorry guys it almost worked. Now if somebody were to make a device to convert component into HDV and make it portable they would make a lot of money from HVX200 users.

July 14th, 2005, 06:11 PM	#4
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,368 Images: 513	That's an interesting concept, Thomas, but I think a lot of HVX200 shooters won't be too interested in HDV... otherwise they'd pass up the HVX200 and just choose an HDV camcorder to begin with. With P2 there's no real need for backup. P2 cards are made to zero-fault specs, plus the MXF file system used by a P2 card is constantly closing itself. If there ever was an actual card fault (or, say, if power to the HVX is ever suddenly interrupted while recording), the amount of data loss is maybe a one or two frames, about equal to a tape glitch. I can appreciate an effort to record in the field to a backup method in general, regardless of format -- be it DV tape, or FireStore, or whatever; but I fail to see why P2 would be more of a candidate for backup than tape or hard drives... P2 is the most reliable recording method to begin with, compared to tapes or hard drives. __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

July 14th, 2005, 06:13 PM	#5
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,368 Images: 513	Just read your second post and now I see what you're saying... HDV as simply one other type of media after recording. That's definitely a viable way to do it. __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

July 14th, 2005, 05:51 PM	#2
Barry Green Barry Wan Kenobi Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: North Carolina Posts: 3,863	None of the HDV decks allow any sort of analog or HD-SDI input. Only firewire. Do any of the cameras? I think all the cameras are component-out only as well.

July 14th, 2005, 06:01 PM	#3
Thomas Smet Trustee Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Milwaukee, WI Posts: 1,719	Yeah there is nothing in the HDV world right now that has any kind of HD input other than firewire which will not work. Even though the HVX200 will have firewire it will output in a format no HDV deck or camera will be able to recognize. The other analog inputs are for SD only. I'm sure this was done to prevent people from recording HD broadcasts. This however doesn't mean you couldn't do this as a way of backing up your material from your edit system onto tape. once your P2 footage is on your system just convert to HDV and use firewire to make a HDV copy of the footage onto tape. This will give those people who insist on having a HD tape backup an option. After making a HDV tape backup of the raw footage and edited master you can still choose to keep a good copy on some other form of digital media.

July 14th, 2005, 06:47 PM	#6
Thomas Smet Trustee Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Milwaukee, WI Posts: 1,719	I would actually never use HDV tape for this. I mainly came up with this because there have been some people moaning about not having a way to create a backup on tape. If they don't want to sacrifice by going down to HDV then I don't know what they want. They can't really expect a DVCpro HD deck for free can they?