05-23-2007, 08:14 PM
to edit uncompressed standard def. footage from BetaSP (which is what I believe you're talking about) normally requires a capture card and a Beta deck. You can find capture cards (AJA Kona and Blackmagic Design are two manufacturers) for about $500 or so, but that would be a PCI solution for a G5 or MacPro. I'm not sure what your external options would be for the powerbook. In addition, you'd need fast hard drives that could handle the uncompressed video--normally takes at least a 2-drive RAID. Since it sounds like this is a one-off project and you might not have need for all that equipment, there are a couple other options that will also work.
1. Digitize all the footage from the beta tapes onto computer downconverting into DV format. Capture cards can handle this and will maintain timecode
2. Use a DV camera or DV deck to dub all your beta tapes onto miniDV/DVCAM. You'll lose timecode (I believe), but the quality should be pretty much the same as option #1. Edit using the DV tapes like you would if the project had been shot on a DV cam.
3. get the cameraman to create DVDs of all the shoot tapes. rip dvds and eventually decode into a format that can be easily edited in imovie or fce. downside to this is that it will take a long time to rip/decode all the footage and you will lose a little quality in the process.
So, to recap, I'd choose either of the first two options I listed since it sounds like editing uncompressed isn't really an option (but if it is in the budget, I'd recommend that). You didn't say how much footage we're talking about. If you're talking about half a dozen beta tapes, find someone that will dub them to DV and then edit off the DV tapes. If you're talking about more than that, it may make more sense to rent a beta deck for a day and do the dubs yourself or find someone that will digitize them all for you.
good luck!
1. Digitize all the footage from the beta tapes onto computer downconverting into DV format. Capture cards can handle this and will maintain timecode
2. Use a DV camera or DV deck to dub all your beta tapes onto miniDV/DVCAM. You'll lose timecode (I believe), but the quality should be pretty much the same as option #1. Edit using the DV tapes like you would if the project had been shot on a DV cam.
3. get the cameraman to create DVDs of all the shoot tapes. rip dvds and eventually decode into a format that can be easily edited in imovie or fce. downside to this is that it will take a long time to rip/decode all the footage and you will lose a little quality in the process.
So, to recap, I'd choose either of the first two options I listed since it sounds like editing uncompressed isn't really an option (but if it is in the budget, I'd recommend that). You didn't say how much footage we're talking about. If you're talking about half a dozen beta tapes, find someone that will dub them to DV and then edit off the DV tapes. If you're talking about more than that, it may make more sense to rent a beta deck for a day and do the dubs yourself or find someone that will digitize them all for you.
good luck!