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Advice needed: Transferring HDCAM SR tapes to HDD...

Dave Draper

Dave Draper

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I have a bunch of HDCAM SR tapes that I need to transfer to hard-drive at their native resolution, bit-rate, color-depth, etc.

Is this something I can do by myself, if I hire an HDCAM SR deck? Or not something I should even contemplate trying?

The reason I ask, is because I simply don't have the type of cash required to have them professionally transferred at a Post House.

M101.
 
At the minimum you will need a capture card capable of 4:4:4 dual link HDSDI and an application that can put the captured video on a fast drive array.
The HDCamSR deck is a fairly complex machine with tons of menus but once you have it set up and configured there should be no problem.
 
Keith Neff said:
At the minimum you will need a capture card capable of 4:4:4 dual link HDSDI and an application that can put the captured video on a fast drive array.
Click to expand...

Many thanks for your reply.

Any suggested manufacturers for the components I'd need?

Keith Neff said:
The HDCamSR deck is a fairly complex machine with tons of menus but once you have it set up and configured there should be no problem.
Click to expand...

This is a lot more promising than I was expecting.

M101.
 
How many tapes do you have....I cant imagine you can do this cheaper yourself than having a post house handle the transfer. An HDCAM SR deck rents for $1k/day, plus you will need a 4:4:4 capture card and a fairly expensive host machine, a SAN, etc.
 
digitalfx said:
How many tapes do you have....I cant imagine you can do this cheaper yourself than having a post house handle the transfer. An HDCAM SR deck rents for $1k/day, plus you will need a 4:4:4 capture card and a fairly expensive host machine, a SAN, etc.
Click to expand...

I have six tapes, and am able to rent an HDCAM SR deck for around £300 a day over here.

If buying a capture card would make for a good investment, then I'm fine with that... depending on the price, of course.

I'll probably sound like a complete dunce here, but what is a "host machine"?
 
digitalfx said:
Host machine is the machine that will host the capture card. A PC or Mac Pro.
Click to expand...

Sorry, my fault... I thought you were referring to the "host machine" as being a "SAN", but you meant Storage Area Network for dumping the footage onto, right?
 
Keith Neff said:
At the minimum you will need a capture card capable of 4:4:4 dual link HDSDI and an application that can put the captured video on a fast drive array.
Click to expand...

You only need 4:4:4 if the recordings are in that format. If these are recordings that were made using cameras (i.e., Genesis, Viper, F23, F35) the chances are pretty good that they are 4:4:4. If they are edited masters that represent a finished program, or studio recordings, they can be either 4:2:2 or 4:4:4. If they are 4:2:2 you wouldn't use dual link.

The main concern should be a drive array, which must be capable of performance that will allow uncompressed capture of whatever format you're doing to feed it.
 
mmost said:
You only need 4:4:4 if the recordings are in that format. If these are recordings that were made using cameras (i.e., Genesis, Viper, F23, F35) the chances are pretty good that they are 4:4:4. If they are edited masters that represent a finished program, or studio recordings, they can be either 4:2:2 or 4:4:4. If they are 4:2:2 you wouldn't use dual link.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure they are 4:4:4 - We shot on the D-20.

mmost said:
The main concern should be a drive array, which must be capable of performance that will allow uncompressed capture of whatever format you're doing to feed it.
Click to expand...

Can you name any examples that will stand up to the required performance?
 
Model 101 said:
I'm pretty sure they are 4:4:4 - We shot on the D-20.
Click to expand...

You're probably correct, then. I would still consider having a facility do this for you. All HDCam SR studio decks are relatively complex, and it's very easy to set one up incorrectly, especially if you have no experience with them. You should also be aware of the disk space this is going to require. At 24p, an hour's worth of material is going to take up about 500GB using a 10 bit codec.
 
Is there any green screen footage that needs to be keyed? If not you could just use the format converter card in the deck and bring in the 4.4.4 as 4.2.2 ProRes HQ to firewire drives (assuming your using a Mac or DNXHD if Avid).

As your funding is limited that might be the best option. You might be surprised how many shows are doing that.
 
mmost said:
You're probably correct, then. I would still consider having a facility do this for you.
Click to expand...

I would, but last time I checked (and I will check again, just to make sure), I was being quoted several thousand pounds, which I simply can't afford ATM.

mmost said:
You should also be aware of the disk space this is going to require. At 24p, an hour's worth of material is going to take up about 500GB using a 10 bit codec.
Click to expand...

We shot 240 minutes of footage @ 25p, HQ, 880 Mbit/s, which I'm guessing equals around 1.5TB... So that's not too bad. I just don't have a clue what type of hard-drive(s) I'd need. Any suggestions? :)

jonnycom said:
Is there any green screen footage that needs to be keyed?
Click to expand...

We didn't shoot any green-screen footage.

jonnycom said:
If not you could just use the format converter card in the deck and bring in the 4.4.4 as 4.2.2 ProRes HQ to firewire drives (assuming your using a Mac or DNXHD if Avid).

As your funding is limited that might be the best option. You might be surprised how many shows are doing that.
Click to expand...

Ideally, I'd like to capture the footage in its native format. I know this isn't necessary, but I'd feel better about it. If I'm not able to, or if it truly isn't the best option, then OK. Thanks for your suggestion, though - I will definitely keep it in mind!
 
Andrew McCarrick said:
The only way to capture HDCAM SR in it's "Native Format" would be to capture uncompressed 4:4:4, so you don't add any more compression on to it.
Click to expand...

Is "uncompressed 4:4:4" from an HDCAM SR 880 Mbit/s, or more?

Andrew McCarrick said:
If you want Avid, I'm thinking the cheapest option there is a Avid Media Composer Nitris DX which about 20k new....
Click to expand...

I don't use Avid, unfortunately. And 20k is a little out of my price range...

Andrew McCarrick said:
Your other options are AJA cards (http://www.aja.com/products/kona/kona-3-3x.php).
Click to expand...

These cards look to be a much better option for me. I literally just want to be able to capture all the footage to a universal file format that I can view in any NLE.

Would Blackmagic also be an option?
 
digitalfx said:
880 Mbit/s is only available on a 5800 HDCAM SR deck.

There is no way you are going to save money doing it yourself.
Click to expand...

I might be able to call in a few favours, so we'll see.

I just need to get a list together of required components.

So, first and foremost, I'll need a 5800 HDCAM SR deck...

Secondly, I'll need some sort of capturing device, either internal or external. I'm presuming you can hire the external ones. If so... Any recommendations?

And lastly, I'll need around two terabytes worth of hard-drives. Do these need to be any specific sort of hard-drive, or will any do?
 
Why would you need a 5800? did they shoot at 880? almost no one does that anymore as you would need a SRW1 to get it off it before the 5800. If someone shot 880 with no green screen or dual camera they must have been insane.
 
Model 101 said:
So, first and foremost, I'll need a 5800 HDCAM SR deck...
Click to expand...

You would only need a 5800 if the material was recorded in 880 mode. I seriously doubt that's the case.

Secondly, I'll need some sort of capturing device, either internal or external. I'm presuming you can hire the external ones. If so... Any recommendations?
Click to expand...

I don't know of any external device that captures 4:4:4 over dual link HD-SDI. The only interfaces I know of for the Mac are Blackmagic HD Decklink Extreme and Multibridge, and the AJA Kona 3.

And lastly, I'll need around two terabytes worth of hard-drives. Do these need to be any specific sort of hard-drive, or will any do?
Click to expand...

You will need at least an 8 drive array to reliably keep up with the data rate of 4:4:4 capture, and either a hardware RAID card or at the very least some type of host bus adapter to connect the array to your computer. You might be able to do it with some 5 drive arrays, but I wouldn't try to fill up more than about 70% of the arrays capacity at that rate.

All of your questions indicate you have very little if any experience at doing this sort of thing. All previous advice to let a facility do it for you still applies.
 
Call around... it probably does not cost several thousand pounds to do this... that's like a thousand pounds per tape. That can't be right.

There is no way you are going to save money doing it yourself.
Click to expand...
 
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