So, I'm really comfortable with DV for private and commercial work, and have really been building up my compositing and CGI skills and toolset. Now, I would like to be able to expand into (or at least offer) broadcast-grade post production (compositing, CGI, etc.) services. My big concern, though, is being able to support raw, broadcast grade media. T

There are plenty of places where I could rent a deck for playback and recording, but I guess my concern is PC capture and output. Renting outboard gear on a per-job basis should be no problem, but I don't think the logistics of renting using and returning a quality capture board are so strait forward.

So...I'm wondering if I can build on my existing DV based infrastructure and pipeline at all for SD broadcast grade work.

Are there DV based cameras/decks/interfaces that support SD broadcast quality 4:2:2 compression instead of 4:1:1 that can still interface with a PC via firewire ? Maybe DVCPRO or DVCAM ?

My naive hope is that there exists some DV based, firewire enabled gear, that could accept a feed from a Beta-based or other broadcast deck via component connections, and pipe that to a PC with 4:2:2 compression as well as output back via the same basic path. This way, I could continue to use my existing Firewire capture/output gear, and just rent whatever deck I need to support a given job.

Does anything like this exist, or am I looking at having to build out a whole new post production infrastructure (capture/output card & software) to effectively support SD?

Thanks in advance.
Have fun.

Try looking into Avid's Mojo setup - uncompressed video via firewire.

FireWire is just the pipeline, it can handle the data rate for 4:2:2 or even uncompressed formats. You'll need hardware and software to make it happen. Are you Mac or PC based?

Thanks guys.
I'm on PC.
Combustion for the video compositing.
Whole library of tools for CGI.

I guess I could go with a capture baord to go with Combustion for input/output, but my thought was that, perhaps, for not a whole lot more than a good capture board there may be a firewire enabled deck that could do the job and I could expand the utility of that investment instead of "just" getting a card.

At the same time, I'd like to "dodge" investing an whole editing system. At least for now.

Thanks again.
Have fun.

A lot of the 'big' video is transfered over SDI which can move video data at 4X normal speed.

I 'think' Sony has some upper end decks that have all of the interface options. However, I don't think Sony supports DVCPro so it may take a JVC or Panasonic deck to encompass all formats.

Does AJA's Io work with PCs? That supports uncompressed video with Firewire 400, SDI inputs and serial control. Their web site only mentions Macs, but I wonder if you can connect it to a PC. I'd like to know for future possibilities.

I think BlackMagic just answered my prayers.
They seem to have lowered their prices in the last week or so and now a DeckLink SDI capture card can be had for under $300!

That pretty much wraps it up for me :)

Thanks for all the advices and ideas guys!
Have fun.

Be aware that there is hard drive speed requirements that need to be met in order to smoothly playback uncompressed video files, and possibly even DVCPRO 50.

I don't think standard IDE drives can handle the 50mbps of dvcpro50. Has anyone done this before?

Eddie