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Author Topic: Digibeta or HDcam? John Hawkinson Film God Posts: 2273 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 07-09-2010 06:42 AM                     It's hard to fathom, Tony. HDCAM decks are expeeeeeeeeeeeeeensive, well into five figures. And the tapes are large (ok, there are two sizes), physically compatible with original BetaMax tapes. So nothing like DVCAM. Scott: nobody has them permanently because it's so cost-effective to day-rent them! And right now, it's not like HDCAM (or HDCAM SR) is really a go-to format. --jhawk  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-09-2010 08:43 AM                        Really? My experience has been that no one wants to pay to rent anything, and that most venues would request a Digi-Beta copy rather than rent an HD deck. I can sort of understand this, because a $500 rental would require selling an extra 50 tickets at $10/ticket in order to just break even on the rental cost, and this just won't happen in most cases.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 07-09-2010 09:21 AM                     Yes...the JH3 is over $20K and the J30 is in the mid teens, as I recall. But that IS "budget" for broadcast. A proper deck like the M2000, with the various modules you would want is probably still north of $60K. The 2100, playback only version of the 2000 is going to be knocking around $50K. So yeah...the J series is for "budget" folks. Being in the broadcast industry isn't cheap. In fact, "Cinema" is about as cheap an industry as there is. If you think DCinema projectors are expensive...check out what their counterparts are in the A/V industry (and look at the 3-chip DLPs, not the single-chip amateur stuff. Likewise...see what a Sony T420 goes for compared to the R320 for DCinema. Steve  |  IP: Logged Sean McKinnon Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1712 From: Peabody Massachusetts Registered: Sep 2000 posted 07-09-2010 11:16 AM                        As I said above we have the "budget" HDCAM decks in both our houses. At least in NYC HDCAM does seem to be the "go to" format. Practically everything we get from a past house is on HDCAM and I would guess 80-90% of all our video screenings are from HDCAM next would be directly from a computer, then Digitbeta, then DVD, Then Blu-Ray, Then DVCAM, then DVCPRO HD. As far as renting we used to only have one HDCAM and one DIGIBETA and often we had to bring in another deck for each format for film festivals or when we had both houses booked. It was a huge waste of money that came out of our pockets. Buying the decks outright made sense for us. Now the only time we have to bring in a deck is if we need HDCAM SR which is pretty rare.  |  IP: Logged Tony Bandiera Jr Film God Posts: 3067 From: Moreland Idaho Registered: Apr 2004 posted 07-09-2010 01:41 PM                     Scott/Jhawk: I stand corrected. The decks accomodate DVCAM (which is the full-size version of DV and mini DV tapes) NOT HDCAM. They are HDV (?) capable, which as near as I have been able to find out, is the HD version of standard DVCAM tapes. This is precisely why I fucking HATE dealing with video, there are so many incompatible formats, the image sizes are never standardized, and the video values and audio levels are all over the map. Major pain in the ass.  |  IP: Logged Bruce Hansen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 847 From: Stone Mountain, GA, USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 07-09-2010 07:00 PM                     Digi Beta, and HDcam are standardized. It is DV (I call it Damaged Video) that is the most f**ked up format ever invented. There are SEVEN different versions of DV. Most DV decks will play two of those versions, at the most. DV is overly compressed, and most of the versions are 4:1:1 NOT 4:2:2; in other words, the croma (color information) is bandwidth limited. DV sucks!  |  IP: Logged

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