Posted by Richard Crowley on 04/13/06 03:44

"Sir Sharkie" wrote ...
> The professional places around here are starting to charge upwards of
> $100 each time we go to them and the thought is that over time the
> equipment will more than pay for itself. This is *not* going to be a
> one-time (few time) thing so it makes sense for us to actually
> purchase
> equipment reasonably priced. Plus, I already got it approved from the
> higher-ups so if they're gonna buy it for me I'll take it! =)

I suspect that the reason Betacam machines are becoming
"reasonably priced" is because they are rapidly becoming
obsolete, no longer produced, and the available ones are
likely rather long in the tooth. Wait until you start having
to get it repaired (or find repair parts for it).

If you are making tapes to send to the news media, you
might want to investigate one of the services that do this
as a specialty, or at least a dubbing/fulfilment house where
you can send the master and a mailing list of where to send
the copies. I'd bet they don't charge $100 per copy.

> So another question I guess I have is: is there another
> device that I can setup to go from PC to (X device) to
> BETA instead of a dv camera? - or is there a way to
> go directly from PC to BETA?

Much of it depends on what format/codec your video is
in on the computer. You could find high-quality video
output hardware that does component to feed directly
into the Betacam machine, but it might cost more than
the VCR does.

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