with Digital TV coming, why are Betacam tapes necessary?

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with Digital TV coming, why are Betacam tapes necessary? - 10/19/2009 4:31:55 AM

HatesParisHilton

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I mean, is there any reason why Festivals like Tropfest and TV stations will need betacam tapes for any reason once all the TV channels go digital?

< Message edited by HatesParisHilton -- 10/19/2009 4:32:24 AM >

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RE: with Digital TV coming, why are Betacam tapes neces... - 10/19/2009 8:25:32 AM

flcouple2009

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A lot of stations still have a large infrastructure built around beta. Digital transmission doesn't have a lot to do with acquisition and delivery. You give someone a beta tape they put it in the machine and it plays, not everyone is prepared to take digital files for delivery. As hard as it is to believe there are still places that play back on air from old BVW 10's and even 3/4" It will be years until a lot of the middle to small market stations have moved to an all digital structure for receiving material. As it is now you have to ask everyone what type of digital file they want.

Some of these formats are never gonna die until they finally stop making tape for them.

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RE: with Digital TV coming, why are Betacam tapes neces... - 10/19/2009 9:32:54 AM

Termyn8or

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Actually what they use(d) IIRC is Dbeta. Much better quality than even EDbeta. Even EDbeta rivals the quality of a DVD, but only in 480i. I don't know if it is worth the trouble to convert Dbeta to a higher resolution, or if it is very feasible. It is digital, but I have no idea if it is really stuck in 480i or not. If it's all it can do, it will have to be converted the hard way with the resultant loss of quality.

Neither format will play on your basic home beta deck. An ED beta would run upwards of a thousand bucks, and Dbeta much more than that. Actually I still have a beta, and some old tapes. One day I'll start capturing from them and will have some cool videos to upload - somewhere. It's kind strange watching a show and actually anticipating the commercials, but they date the show better than the show. For example I have the last episode of MASH. So OK, everyone has seen that, but think of the commercials. I mean a Packard Bell PC - a 486 for only $1,200 !

Last time I talked to someone in the industry was about ten years ago, and he told me they were in process of converting to digital, way back then. Of course now all that stuff can go in the dumpster if it is stuck in 480i. Either way, since he did the maintainence on VCRs and VTRs that meant the eventual end of his job.

They will abandon video tape unless they already have. It's just shitty. Too many moving parts with wear factor. Head to tape contact, a drum spinning at 1,790 RPM. All disasters waiting to happen compared to optical storage. Usually the camcorders they carry on remote shots are seperable, the recording deck or the camera unit could be replaced independently. So I would imagine that for the better cameras someone will or is building an optical drive to fit the form factor. But then if all the camera does is 480i they will also be going to the scrap heap.

I kinda wonder why the question was asked. Is someone thinking of going dumpster diving over at local action 5 news ? Believe me I have thought about it. A wealth of uncut shots, interviews unedited, all kinds of goodies. Youtube would be pleased to say the least. I would love to get my hands on stuff like that, partly because it can be very interesting, but mainly because I am the type who wants everything they don't want me to have, and almost nothing that they want me to have.

T

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RE: with Digital TV coming, why are Betacam tapes neces... - 10/20/2009 3:33:23 AM

HatesParisHilton

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LOL

and

APPRECIATIVE belly laughs!

both great replies, but Term's was two-fold knock out gorgeous! I mean the closing paragraph is SUBLIME! (much gratitude to flcouple as well, of course...)

on the record, I would never swipe anything from the tip/dumpster that might be illgal appropriation, BUT sometimes their are loopholes or merely for the sake of a "time capsule" to show people 20 years from now what was really goin' on versus whatever the three-times-re-written-by-Rupert-Murdoch version will be.

However, I was mainly thinking about the pending switch to digital here in Oz, where by late 2010 they tell us there will be no analog TV anywhere, period. Get a new DTV or buy a set top box or have no TV.

But while the consumer and end user is expected to part with any old beloved CRT tellies, Tropfest and many equivalent film festivals still demand a beta if you become a finalist after sending in a dvd for review. Oddly, Aurora from Austar (nationwide community TV, massive user-generated content) only required a DV tape if you didn't want to put up with beta, and when a young'un at the local film festival asked "why can't you just use dvd's from us to transmit?", the Aurora official basically said "When Australia goes digital we'll be able to do that but the quality of the transmitted footage will still be an issue so it's unlikely we'll let you give us a dvd to use even then, though it's possible if dvd technology improves significantly."

This was just before blu-ray came out.

so I was mainly wondering if the Aurora guy was giving the kid (and other audience members) a real answer or just "getting through the round" to make it to afternoon cocktails.

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