Transfer DVCam from F350 to PD150?
 

Hi, I'm doing a shoot tomorrow for a client who will shoot secondary footage on a Sony PD 150. He doesn't have an XDCam machine and I was wondering if it is possible or practical to dub my F350 footage over to his PD150 via firewire? The alternative is a Betacam SP dub.
Thanks, Peter

If the PD150 supports firewire in then it shouldn't be a problem. Just put the 350s firewiremode in video (not FAM) and if you shot in SD you can transfer immediately. If you shot in HD then set the HDtoSD output for firewire to ON and your HD material is downconverted to SD-DV.

Since you stay in the digital realm I would prefer this solution anytime as opposed to a BetaSP dump.

Have a good one tomorrow,

Ron

I just had a try with a pdw-f330 -> VX2000 (= PD150)

It works easily. Only thing is that the pd150 will probably start with its own timecode instead "copying" the TC coming from the XDCAM HD.

Make sure to use a proper cable - I could not get a 6/6 pin Firewire cable + Adapter (->4pin) working. After I found the right 6/4 pin cable (with no Adapters) it worked at once. Simply put the PD150 into VCR Mode like you would do when connected to a NLE via Firewire.

Kind Regards

ULi

Watch out for the audio-channels. If you set the 350 in the firewire-out 4Ch mode, you will only have 12bit audio channels on your PD150.

Thanks for all the responses! I picked up a 6 to 4 firewire cable yesterday, and I should be all set.
Good call on the four channel mode Robert, I check that out.

Would any "cheap" camcorder do the same thing? The reason that I ask is, if that was the case I could look around for an older used camcorder for doing this sort of dubbing. Might come in hand from time to time.

Peter

I would guess so - as long it has "DV in"

I purchased a VX1000 as a backup recorder / cam in the past - but the VX2000s drive feels better and more robust. Perhaps you shouldnt go for the very cheapest option...

ULi

I've done it with my Pana 953. However, you should use the PD150 because it supports DVCAM recording. Less time per tape, but has locked audio. I would need to check, but I believe DVCAM mode on the PD150 would also allow for 4 channels to remain at 16bit/48khz like it is on the F350. That's part of the reason you only get 40 minutes on a mini-dv cassette with DVCAM.

-gb-

Well the shoot and the transfer went well. Just hooked up the firewire and made to dub.
Thanks everyone.

Peter

Tape DVCam cameras and decks can only record 4 ch at 32khz. The reason, you can fit only 40 min. on a small DV tape when recording in DVCam is not due to audio quality but instead to the wider recording track pitch of the DVCam format.

T.

DVCAM 4 channel audio is the same as DV, 12bit, crummy quality.

Well - in the worst case you could think about exporting the 16 bit audio from your NLE and send it to your customer as WAV oder AIFF files - so he could archive the higher quality audio as well with its 12bit DV/DVCAM 4ch tapes.


ULI

I just transfered two channels of audio so it should be ok. I'll know after I get some feedback from the the client.

Peter