DVcam to BetaSP

[J. Lamar King IMPOSTOR]

I'm shooting a :30 spot for air on regional TV. It will air on all 3 major network affiliates as well as a major cable outlet in a major market, Dallas. All have asked for BetaSP. :rolleyes:

 

We're shooting in 16mm and have several post options. It was brought up and I think preffered by the producer that we simply TK to DVcam edit then dub to BetaSP. The lab said they do this all the time as a matter of fact because so much is shot for broadcast in DVcam.

 

The alternative would be to TK to BetaSP or perhaps Digibeta, offline on DVcam then conform. Of course this adds an extra step and cost.

 

From my standpoint I was a bit taken back that they all wanted BetaSP. I wonder if we would look that much different next to other commercials done on Digibeta or even HD because I ssume they have dubbed to SP as well.

 

Opinions?

[John Mastrogiacomo]

From my standpoint I was a bit taken back that they all wanted BetaSP. I wonder if we would look that much different next to other commercials done on Digibeta or even HD because I ssume they have dubbed to SP as well.

 

I have done commercials where the networks wanted DigiBeta dubs.

 

DVCAM can look very good. If you want to save money have your film transferred to DVCAM and load it into your system via firewire.

 

As long as you don't have to do a lot of color correction you will be fine.

 

Make your BetaSP dubs via component outputs if you can and use a good BetaSP not.

 

BetaSP in the first generation can look very good.

 

We always transfer all our film to DigiBeta and load it into our smoke system at 10 bit depth. We then make our BetaSP station dubs right from the smoke and they look spectacular.

 

:)