Beta to MiniDV
 

I have a commercial shoot coming up soon and was planning on shooting it either BetaSP or DBeta. My question is, is there any point in shooting on beta only to have it transferred to miniDV so I can edit it on my computer? Also, it's more than likely going to be broadcast. Any input would be appreciated.

well, you have time code to edit with if you shoot on Beta.
also, its already broadcast quality.
would the miniDV be going on the air?

There are various ways to get Beta into FCP without going to DV first. YOu could use an analog capture box or card. There are cards that allow SDI input or component input as well. After the piece is edited you can go back out to tape that way as well.

You could do the offline edit on your computer and take your FCP project to an online suite to get uncompressed quality. The main benefit of uncompressed would be no DV compression crap on titles and CG elements. mini-DV quality could be more than good enough for you, and has less generation loss.

If you want an online edit to go smoothly, you need the original beta timecode on your DV tapes. You could get dubs to DVCAM if you have something that can handle it. Or you could even do a timecode window burn and manually enter in timecode numbers- not terribly hard for short projects.

2- Beta cameras are generally better quality than mini-DV cameras. Of course, beta cameras generally cost more so the comparison is unfair.

3- I don't have much experience with this stuff myself. Maybe someone with experience could chip in, or if worse comes to worse you could do your own test at an online uncompressed suite (comparing capturing and editing uncompressed, to DV output).

Is my XL1 capable of shooting broadcast quality images? This is a pretty low budget commercial and if I could get away with shooting it on my camera, it would save me a whole lot of money.

yes, it has more than enough lines of resoultion.
but always run the final project thru the broadcast safe filter.
this eliminates any illegal white ire levels.
dont want to piss off any tv engineers.
if you do they wont accept the next spot with your logo/slate on it.

John...

The XL1 is definitely capable of doing the job.

Besides the camera, be very aware of lighting and exposure. That's what will make the biggest difference more than just cameras or formats.

Dean Sensui
Base Two Productions.