Betacam SP

Hi,
This isn't really an Apple question, but if anyone knows the answer, it would be a big help.
Is it possible to record onto Betacam SP tapes from a Digital Betacam deck? I ask because I have a deck, and I can import media FROM Betacam SP using it, but I'm told by my employers that It doesn't work the other way. I was just wondering if this is true.
Thanks!

No. This is not possible.
Still annoys the **** out of clients who think they will get something "better" for free or cheap.

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How to deal with scratchy sound in AVI file from BetaCam masters

Recently, I got out some BetaCam edit masters of videos I produced in the 1990s. The university instructional technology center transfered the masters to Mini-DV tape, then made AVI files from the Mini-DV tapes. The AVI files sound fine when I play them from my hard drive, but when I use the AVI files in Premiere Pro CS4 and 1.5, the sound is scratchy--sort of like a scratchy record. So then I got the Mini-DV tape and decided to import the program, playing it on my Canon GL1 camcorder and capturing it in PP CS4. But the sound is even worse. Please advise. These programs are too important to not be able to convert them to YouTube and DVD formats.

If things work OK in "programA" but not in "programB" (B being Premiere) that is usually a codec issue
AVI is simply a wrapper... what is the codec?
The first question at the end of this link has a link to the free GSPOT to find the codec
First, work through all of the steps here http://ppro.wikia.com/wiki/Troubleshooting
If your problem isn't fixed after you follow all of the steps, report back with the DETAILS asked for in the questions at the end of that link

Connecting my G5 to BETACAM

i need to export my work from (final cut pro 5) which will be brodcast to TV through BETA... and my question is ' 1- what is the best and reasonable price BETAcam recorder do i need and what are the connections required from to my Mac G5

What Shane said - rent the beta deck and you can either get a decklink sp card or you can check out Shane's tip here:
http://proapptips.com/tips/article.php?story=20050801043306611
only instead of capturing, hook it up so the video out of your deck goes to the beta...
Patrick

Connecting my G5 to Betacam recorder

i need to export my work from (final cut pro 5) which will be brodcast to TV through BETA... and my question is ' 1- what is the best and reasonable price BETAcam recorder do i need and what are the connections required from to my Mac G5

Hi--
I'd suggest asking your question in the Final Cut Pro discussion. People there can give you a better idea of what to do.
I can tell you this, though. If you have an iMac G5, it may not be possible to do it directly. I've never seen a broadcast Betacam deck with Firewire or i.Link, which is what Sony would call it. So you'd need to go either via composite or component into the Betacam. Most of the ones I've seen are a PCI expansion card that goes into a tower like the G5 or Mac Pro, thought there might be one to convert from Firewire to component or composite.
As for the cost of Beta recorders, you might be able to pick up a used one fairly inexpensively, but new ones could cost up to $40,000 or $50,000 or more.
My suggestion would be to find a TV post production company in your area that also uses Final Cut Pro and ask them if they can help you. Explain what you need to do and what format your project is in and they can help you. Unless you really feel a need to buy a Betacam recorder for future use, you'd be better off paying someone to do the transfer.
charlie

Import/Export from Betacam SP to FCP

I have been contacted to make minor edits to a program for broadcast. The program is on Betacam and I plan to import the footage using a Sony Betacam SP UVW-1600 plugged into an ADS Pyro AV Link Bidirectional DV Media Converter connected via firewire to a Mac Pro with FCP, make the edits and then export back to Betacam via the same route. Can this be done the way I have planned? If so are there any changes I need to make to the video before it is exported (timecode, etc.) for broadcast?
This is not something we normally do and the import/export makes sense the way I have planned it out. But I have learned with video and all the various formats that it is usually never as easy as it seems.
Any help or advice is appreciated.
Thanks,
Leon

This isn't the best way...it really isn't. You are converting the beta footage to DV when you go through the Pyro...then editing it in a 720x480 space instead of 720x486...then you will be sending that back out to Beta...and now will have vertical blanking where you are missing 6 pixels...and your quality will really suffer...and might no longer pass QC.
Then you have to figure out how you will do deck control...you will need a USB>RS-422 adapter.
You really need to get a capture card. The Decklink Extreme can be had for $995 and does SD and now prepares you for HD work...as it does HD too. Decklink does have cheaper SD only cards, as does AJA...but since the world is moving HD, it is time to get prepared for that.
Shane

No Timecode from Betacam deck

Hi,
I've hooked up a rented Betacam deck into a miniDV deck using an s-video cable. The miniDV deck is connected to the Mac via Firewire. I'm using the miniDV as a bypass to get the video from Betacam tapes directly into the FCP.
I can see the Betacam's video in FCP when I pull up the 'log and capture screen', but when I go to capture, FCP waits for timecodes and doesn't capture.
Can anyone assist in how I can capture from a Betacam deck?
Thank you very much!
Richard

Or get the Keyspan Serial Adapter (connects via USB) and and RS-422 cable and use that for Deck Control and TC capture. I routed a signal from a BetaSP deck thru my DSR-11, RCA connections deck to deck, firewire into my computer, Keyspan for serial control...and I was able to capture footage and TC.
But that was....3 years ago? Haven't had to since...I now have a capture card.
But it worked at the time.
Shane

Does anyone know where I can get Operating Instructions for the Sony BVW-75 Betacam SP?

I have been trying without success to find Operating Instructions for the Sony BVW-75 Betacam SP I just bought. Does anyone know where I can get it?

Thank you for trying to help. All of those links are for the product brochure, service/maintenance manual, or other products. I have spent several hours following Google search results and eBay searches with no luck. That's why I am reaching out to the technical community to see if someone has an instruction manual somewhere in the back room of their studio.

Which is higher quality, edit to tape or print to video on digital betacam?

Which is gives higher quality results, edit to tape or print to video on digital betacam?

They should be the same quality.
Edit to tape will allow you control over making sure your program starts at 01:00:00;00.
Neither will send your timecode from the timeline. Edit to tape allows you to assemble your program starting at an in point set on your tape.

Anamorphic Digital Betacam to 16:9 WMV

My client wants to take an anamorphic digital betacam source and come away with a 16:9 WMV file for plasma display.
I was hoping to be able to export some kind of FCP file and take that into Sorenson Squeeze to create the WMV.
Problem is that the anamorphic settings seem to be for DV or HD, and my source is neither. I am coming in SDI via a Black Magic card.
Any way to do this?
Apologies if this has been answered, I did search but found a ton of mostly irrelevant (to me) info on DVDSP and DV anamorphic, nothing about my specific situation.
Thanks for any help!

Maybe this is relevent. As I edit a lot more then I shoot, I get sent about every format there is- most of which are covered in the A/V Settings, but some are not. But I can easily "edit" any preset to fit the desired format, even though not every format is listed. As long as you know what your source media settings are, you should be good to go.

Best way to transfer Betacam SP tapes to AVI files?

What would be the most cost effective way to transfer Betacam SP tapes to AVI files?
I have a Betacam SP deck, Final Cut, and a Mac Pro.
I just need to connect the Betacam SP deck to the Mac Pro.
Thank you in advance for any thoughts.

+" ... I need to convert these tapes into the best possible, broadcast quality file format ... "+
If you are doing it yourself, DV is about the only way you can go. There are no A-D converters that I know of that save to Apple Intermediate Codec or ProRes (and you would need FCStudio to do ProRes, anyway - are you using FCExpress or FCPro?).
Canopus does have a (more expensive) HD series converters - the ADVC-HD50 runs about $650 and converts analog to HDV, but that in turn would need to be converted to Apple Intermediate Codec in order to use it in FCExpress.
+" ... Everyone (PC heads) has been telling me to go AVI. What would you suggest then? ..."+
Even pc heads should know better than AVI.
But what is your intended purpose? Burn to DVD, provide to a TV broadcast, put on a website, upload to YouTube? That would really determine the 'best format'.

Transferring Betacam SP tapes to AVI files using Final Cut Pro?

What would be the most cost effective way to transfer Betacam SP tapes to AVI files?
I have a Betacam SP deck, Final Cut, and a Mac Pro.
I just need to connect the Betacam SP deck to the Mac Pro.
Thank you in advance for any thoughts.

Pretty much, yes.
As I noted above it will capture via FireWire to the DV codec as well as the other usual outputs.
If DV is good enough, go for it.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/325525-REG/SonyJ30SDI_J_30SDI_Compact_BetacamSeries.html#specifications

Which is the best way to record full hd on digital betacam tape?

Hello,
I'm capturing and editing full hd size but the final product has to be delivered on a digital betacam tape with Edit to Tape option to record. I have tried doing so with the following 2 ways:
1. Recording from HD timeline on a HD tape. Then capturing back on the machine from the same HD tape as PAL. Then recording on a Digital betacam as final product.
2. Exporting from HD timeline with current settings as a qucktime movie. Importing the same movie on a PAL timeline. Then recording on a digtal betacam.
My timeline setting for HD is : Uncompressed 8 bit 4:2:2 1920x1080 HDTV 1080i 16:9; Pixel Aspect Ratio SQUARE
My timeline setting for PAL is: Uncompressed 8 bit 4:2:2 720x576 PAL CCIR 601/DV Pal 5:4; Pixel Aspect Ratio PAL CCIR 601 (720x576)
The problem is when the episode is broadcasted on tv, the quality of video looks bad and a little jarred. Can anyone suggest any other way to record on a digital betacam?
Thank you.
P.S. I've tried dragging the hd sequence to a PAL timeline.
And also exporting using qicktime conversion to Custom size 720x576 without preserving pixel aspect ratio with Uncompressed 8 bit 4:2:2 compression and then changing the distort setting to -33.33 to fit on a PAL timeline with black bars. These 2 options look better than the ones i've mentioned above but I'm not sure if it is right. Please Advice.

Go into the AJA Control Panel. For secondary output, choose 525i 29.97. Right click on the output option you want (they are on the right) and choose SECONDARY or 525i. Then a little box should appear between the Frame Buffer and the output option that says DOWNCONVERT.
Do you have the Kona 3? what hardware are you using?

Export from CS4 to Matrox MX02 LE to Betacam deck

Hi,
I'm attempting to export a sequence to tape. I think I have all my inputs and outputs set up right but I can't seem to record my sequence onto tape. I have no problem capturing footage from tape but going the other way won't seem to work. I have a Matrox MX02 LE connected to a Sony Betacam deck. Not even sure where to start as far as diagnosing this problem. Any ideas?
Thanks,
Kevin

Well, the first thing is to confirm that you're getting a signal out of the s-video port on the MXO. Plug it directly into a monitor to confirm a signal. If that's not working, it's probably a Matrox MXO panel option or something similar (i vaguely remember in the past that you had to choose between s-video or component out, although that might be not required anymore). If you are getting a signal out, then it's likely a deck setting somewhere.
One thing that trips people up with betacams is that there's an EE mode that allows passthrough so that, if you're monitoring the output of the deck, it'll pass through the input. If that's off (ie PB mode), you'll only see black when you put the deck in record mode.

Capture from Betacam Deck to Mac Book Pro -- Capture Card?

Okay, mobile editors, now's your chance. I have a client that wants to be able to capture from a Betacam SP or SX deck directly into his Mac Book on location. Are there any 3rd party cards that have component/composite (a la a Kona card for a tower) that slots into a Mac Book Pro? or even a PCMCIA card for a Powerbook G4.
We realize the ioHD is coming out, as well as the AJA io which would work, but we are looking for something smaller that travels better.
My thanks for any insight.
dj

There aren't any capture cards that will serve that purpose.
The AJA IoLA will probably be your smallest bet, if you want to capture Uncompressed (which also raises the question, what drive will you be capturing your media to?). It's a pretty small unit. The Io is full rack width, but the IoLA and IoLD are half rack wide.
If you're capturing down to DV resolution, there are numerous capture devices that will convert any analog composite signal to DV resolution and send it to your computer via FW.
I'd personally use the AJA IoLA. Oh, and I do personally use the IoLA. Rock solid.

Betacam SP recorder/player

I'm looking to buy a Betacam SP player/recorder, but I need one that includes a firewire port so that I can capture/record video from/to my Mac Pro. Can anyone recommend one that might be priced under or around $5,000? I have searched online for one but am not having much luck. Also, is there anything I need to know about the machine that might make it tricky to work with FCP? I appreciate any info anyone has to offer, as I have no experience with this type of equiptment.

We don't have a choice in the tape format...our hosts
do satellite interviews over the phone, and the
company sends us the recorded video of the celebrity
that they interviewed on Betacam tapes...they do not
offer us a choice, and believe me, I have asked.
If the company sending you the tapes is nearby you could record their feed to your equipment, or get the sattelite info and bring the feed in yourself at a local TV station and tape to your format. If it's up on sattelite, it's obtainable to anyone with the coordinates. Is that a possibility for you?

Digitize Beta tape with Sony UVW 1800 Betacam SP deck

Hi guys
I'm trying to digitize Beta tape with using Sony UVW 1800 Betacam SP deck. We've tried so many ways but still no luck.....If anybody has successful experience with this, please share the wisdom...!!!
I wrote what we've tried so far.
From Sony UVW 1800 Betacam sp deck to Sony media converter DVMC-DA2:
-S video cable, From BNC to RCA video cable, Audio cable connected with RCA cable.
(I've tried S video cable and BNC-RCA video cable at a time and one at a time.)
From Sony media converter DVMC-DA2 to Macbook pro:
-Firewire 400w/ firewire 800
FCP 7 settings:
-DV-NTSC easy setup
-Device control preset: We've tried Non controllable device, Firewire NTSC, Sony RS-422
Sony UVW 1800 betacam sp Settings:
-VTR setting(Local/Remote) is on Local
Sometimes we've also tried Keyspan adapter with keyspan driver. Keyspan serial assistant found Keyspan device but doesn't seem like I can have deck control on my mac...We used Rs422 cable to Mini din8 cable to connect Betacam deck and Keyspan.
But in FCP, it keep saying 'no communication'....sometimes it says 'not threaded'.
We've hooked Betacam Deck to Sony monitor to see if we can see pictures but we can't see anything or hear anything.....We can see just timecode. We have PVM-14N6U monitor and we used BNC cable to connect those.
Again, if anyone knows any small thing about this problem, please help me.
Thank you!!!!
P.S:
Even about cheap and good Betacam repair shop info is really helpful to me...!:)
Does anybody know any store which can offer service like sending a person to fix Betacam deck?
Thanks again!!

OK...this hits me:
We've hooked Betacam Deck to Sony monitor to see if we can see pictures but we can't see anything or hear anything.....We can see just timecode. We have PVM-14N6U monitor and we used BNC cable to connect those.
You connect the deck to a monitor and don't see or hear anything. OK...is the deck WORKING? Perhaps you can't capture anything because you aren't getting a signal from the deck. The deck will have 2 possible outputs....BNC that's a COMPOSITE signal (meaning SD video, a complete, but low end video signal), and three separate ones known as COMPOSITE...R-Y, B-Y and G-Y. Try both of those on the monitor. There's also one called SUPER. This is a COMPOSITE signal that also displays timecode. If you can see timecode on the monitor, that means you are plugged into this. BUT, if you see timecode and no video image...that means that the tape is bad, or the video heads are bad....because you are getting a video signal from the deck, but no image from the tape.
So we aren't even talking about the Sony converter...right now just trying to get a good signal...and you can't even do that, right? Might need to try another deck.

Betacam SP

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