[MacDV] Sony Media Converter for broadcast

[Jon Blumhagen]

Chris, that's a loaded question.

I had a couple conversations with Adam Wilt a few years ago about DV
and/versus Beta SP. From what I remember, there are some broadcast uses of
DV, but it's gotta be close to perfect (good lighting, setup, etc.) in order
to use it for broadcast because of the compression and low saturation
involved. I've done quite a bit of chroma-keying with DV, and it's tough to
get a good key (again, good lighting makes all the difference in the world).

Beta SP is a high-end analog format that, in it's day, was what everybody
used, and had high-end equipment prices to match (NOT consumer-friendly
prices). At the time I was looking to convert some SP tapes to DV, and the
cheapest I could find a USED player for was around $700-$800.

Premiere and good DV can produce broadcast quality, but going from the Media
Converter to a recordable Beta SP unit would be another step. And I'm
thinking that Beta SP recording devices are still probably gonna run you
$1500 or more, even for a used unit. Maybe someone out there has more
current information - or maybe you can find a place that will rent you a
unit for a couple hundred bucks a day.

jb

> From: czayachkowski at shaw.ca
> Reply-To: "Macintosh Digital Video List"<MacDV at lists.themacintoshguy.com>
> Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2003 18:18:49 -0400
> To: "Macintosh Digital Video List" <MacDV at lists.themacintoshguy.com>
> Subject: [MacDV] Sony Media Converter for broadcast
> 
> I am wondering if you can create a broadcastable master
> using DV on Beta SP.