XL2 for Television COmmercial
 

I have been offered a contract to shoot a television commercial with my XL2. Is XL2 and mini-DV Broadcast quality? For instance, once the film is edited can my client just give a Mini DV Tape to a television station broadcaster? Or will there have to be some kind of transfer from Mini Dv into another format?

Thanks,
Curtis

The XL2 will work fine. Some stations, however, may want the spot on Beta or standard size DV. You will need to put proper bars and tone and a slate at the begining as well.

Sure, your XL2 is fine for most television spots. It's much more a matter of skill than equipment anymore when it comes to producing material. So much of the prosumer hardware out today way exceeds the capabilities of pro gear just a few years ago.

As to using MiniDV format. Some stations can, some can't. Most don't know that they can play a MiniDV tape in a DVCPro Deck (some require an adapter). Best way to find out is to call the stations in the market you are working. Worst case is you send it to a dup house and get it dubbed to Beta SP which most every station still has.

okay thanks a lot guys. So worst case scenario is I have to get it dubbed. How much would it be, ballpark, for a one minute video to be dubbed into Beta SP?

"You will need to put proper bars and tone and a slate at the begining as well."

Bear with me, but I have never had to do this before. For the bars, is it just the bars from the XL2 that I use?

For the slate, is just a clapping slate okay, or are we talking a digital slate?

Thanks again,
Curtis

Different markets approach the bars/tone/slate differently but most will accept the following

If you're outputting your clip or sequence for delivery to a post-production house, tape duplication facility, or television station, there are accepted conventions for how leader elements are placed on tape. Here is one common way to lay out elements, although different facilities have their own standards. When in doubt, ask ahead for what is preferred.

60 seconds of color bars and tone [a 1 kilohertz (kHz) reference tone, preset to -12 decibels (dB)]
10 seconds of black
10 seconds of your slate
10 seconds of countdown if this is for broadcast, or 10 seconds of black if it's for duplication

After all these elements have played, your program should start at hour 01:00:00:00, unless you are given specific instructions otherwise.

If you're striping tapes in advance to do a video deck insert edit, start the timecode at 00:58:00:00 so you can start the leader elements at 00:58:30:00

The "Slate" referred to, is a title card with the name of the spot, the production company and the length of the spot. Also the date of production is sometimes added. The color bars from your camera or your NLE are fine, as long as they are the smpte bars.

Nico:
Just budget for a few hours at a pro online facility to finish the spot(s). they'll take care of making it braodcastable.
You will need to tell them which format to finish to -- probably beta.