Betacam SP VS. Betacam SX
 

I,'m planning on buying either a betacam sp camera or betacam sx, the problem is i'm not sure what the difference is or should I say what is the major difference?
Help? Thank Jeff Denlea

ARe you aware that these formats are now considered obsolete? Lots of them out there, but new cameras designs in these formats are no longer produced.

The SX cameras are much newer, the only one I've used was a top notch cam. I think the SX is a 4:2:2 mpeg format. I assume it's 50mbit, but I'm not sure.

Like I said the cam I used was hands down better than the bvw300 very little noise, incredible low light... on and on.

You may consider a dsr570 though, about the same class and a more widely used format. If you need the 4:2:2 color info SX or d-9 are probably good options to look into.

SX uses it's own compression, 4:2:2P@ML, IP frames, 18MB/s.
It's quite a good quality, only if you need to shoot for example at the sea, where is much movement and pic information, you will see "blocks", compression is quite heavy.
If you do'nt have very tight budget, i would preferre IMX or new XDCAM. Both have exellent camera part.

Margus

Betacam sp vs. betacam sx
 

Thanks all for the info. One more if you had a budget of $7000.00 what camera would you get for Documentaries or broadcast commericals.

What does the $7,000 cover, just the camera or what?

yeah, not much actually...
it depends on what kind of editing system you will use, what formats are accepted by broadcaster, what level of commercials you want to do.

Just the camera, I work in dvcam,beta sp,mindv, I edit on Avid, FCP 4

Thanks Jeff

Go for panasonic ajdvc200 camera incredible low light performance, light weight, direct dock wit Firestore FS3 with anton mount, sexy professional look at a shoestring cost. the camera should be around 5000USD plus the lens you choose. I have one with fuji 19x for last five months and am very happ with the performance and shall soon be adding one more by the year end. go to

http://www.panasonic.com/pbds/subcat/Products/cams_ccorders/f_ag-dvc200.html

Compare your budget with its output against the higher end no doubt very good piece of equipment ut then look at their price and your budget.

Cheers !

Will the panasonic dv tapes play in a sony dsr-11 or do I have to get another deck

assuming that you have some "heavier" AVID
sx vs sp: sx has far better audio
in most conditions sx gives better picture
with sx you will most probably need also additional desktop player or recorder
when looking for used equipment, do'nt take camera which is out of production for longer than some 3-4 years. Sony provides spare parts for 7 years after ending the product.
check carefully condition of optics, it's hell of expensive thing

if you use editors with dv compression, it's maybe wiser to look for DV or DVCAM camera, that reduces number of decompression-compression cycles.

Margus

I own a cannon xl1s now, will i see a major difference with the panasonic AJDVC 200

Hey Bro,

DSR 11 is a Large or Mini DV/DVCAM player & recorder. it shall very conviniently play both tapes from ur xl1 and dv200. i had a dsr11 which i traded for a DSR25 a more heavy duty player and recorder. You shall not be needing any extra DV player.

As far as your visul comprision between DV200 & XL1 ... Definately YES you shall be getting results showing difference in terms of Pictures sharpness (XL1 has about 500TV Lines & DVC200 has 850 TV Lines of rsolution) Excellent Low light shoots, a Professional feel & look on field with DV200. I own a PD150 which is much like XL1 in output, DV200, FS3, Laptop Firewire Non Linear editor, RTX100extreme witn various softwres.

I used Large DV tapes from Sony & Panasonic running uotp 180 & 276 minutes resopectivly with approp. tape. But with the unavailability of these tapes here I am experimening with DVCAM 184 tapes which run 278 minutes in DV mode recording (becuse of Difference in speed & track width of DV & DVCAM ie, DV records 10micron and DVCAM 15microns) just one doubt inmind fro which i had posted a thread about the head wear & ter if i use DVCAM tapes in DV based camcorders like DV200 ...

But i strongly recommend you a Panasonic DV200 its based on DVCPRO AJD410 hardware..when u look 200 & 40 nyou wouldnt find any difference in features and looks except for the price & recording system.

I look forward to your becoming a Panny Gang Member !!!

Cheers !!!

You can buy a low-hours ( just a few hundred hours) DSR-300A camera with lens and batteries and charger for under $7,000. Great cameras, great low-light capabilities. Will run miniDV or full-sized DVCam cassettes. Good sound.

As high a resolution as the tape can handle.

My last word on this would be that one should always consider buying a new BRAND NEW equipment. As you shall be shooting with full confidence on field and be ssured about the output...god forbid but if using a second hand unit and aything goes wrong cox of any malfunctioning you would regret it once and for all and feel the unit unit woudl b having such problems befoe u bought.

AND there NO such low hours machine...one sells the unit and can play with the hour reading. You can never be rst assured of its genuine reading. Why compromise for a second hand stuff may be like DSR300 which is giving less resolution etc when compared to DV200 camcorder. this is jut to carry on the discussion toward a healthy decision for you.

The best way is to on Sony and panasonic website and get ur self doing apple2apple comparison between 200 vs 300...After all it ur mone HRD EARNED MONEY !!! So better spend it wisely.

Check this link

http://www.globalmediapro.com/av/messages/44462.html

http://www.saferseas.com/vsd/eye/eye8.html

Cheers !