Posted by woodenbicycle on 04/23/06 07:32

I have seen lots of these BetaSP vs DV discussions, but I'm hoping this
one will be a little different.

In about 2 weeks I will be videotaping interviews and art gallery
spaces for a university project. The focus will be on the people and
the environment, not the artwork itself. The majority of the video will
be shot using a tripod and light kit. There will be some outdoor shots,
but not much motion.

In the past, I have shot my video with my little personal MiniDV
camcorder and edited on my PowerBook with Final Cut Express. The
quality was so-so and the autofocus wasn't always so auto.

For this upcoming project I have a few side goals. I want to try
something different and I want to strive for better quality. There are
two avenues I can take. One is to use a JVC GY-DV500 camcorder with a
fairly standard Fujinon lens. This route would keep me in the DV realm
and I would just edit as usual with Final Cut. The other path would be
to use a Sony UVW-100 industrial BetacamSP camcorder, also with a run
of the mill Fujinon lens. There are two BetaSP editing suites
available, one is an Avid setup and the other is some sort of SGI
system. Both use UVW-1800 decks and both use uncompressed capture via
component inputs. The lack of compression results in larger files,
hence both machines have large disk arrays, and don't have to deal with
compression artifacts.

I have seen sample work from the BetaSP gear and it looks great, but
really not much different from the sample work I've seen from the
GY-DV500, but I don't really have an eye for detailed quality analysis.
What are your thoughts on my two options? I am leaning towards the
BetaSP system as it's different and to me that's a positive aspect, I
don't mind learning new software and a new workflow, even if it's only
for one project. I do realize that this is just "industrial" UVW
equipment, not the "broadcast" PVW/BVW gear that the real pros used.

Are there any gotchas I might face by going the BetaSP route? I have
time to learn how to use the camera, but I don't have time to jump ship
for DV in the middle of the project. Most importantly, how does the
UVW-100 compare to the GY-DV500 in terms of color, quality, and light
sensitivity? Both were "bargain" industrial camcorders in their day.

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