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Re: Tape Transport Of Choice

 Reply to:     RE>Tape Transport Of Choice
---------------------------
Date: 04-26-95 19:52

I would like to get opinions (as if I have to ask.....) on what is the
tape transport of choice for telecine and graphics.

|---------------------------------------------------------|
| Steve Darsey, N5PMB    "30,000 careers to choose from   |
| sdarsey at metronet.com    and I picked television"        |
|---------------------------------------------------------|

---------------------------

Gee, that's not a loaded question, now ist it?!

BT's opinions:

D2: Why won't will this format just roll over and die?

D1: Still the best for the day-to-day stuff. Short of extravagant
technology, this still represents the state of the art in video
recorders.

DCT: Nifty, sweet transport, good performnace. Biggest drawback is
the DCT compression. Yeah, it looks great, but there's still a general
feeling that for graphics work you can't afford to lose any more data
than is already lost on 4:2:2. But it is great for longer form work
that demands "D1" quality. For example, major high-end productions
with some archival or world-wide distribution value, such as opera
productions and the like.

DIGITAL BETA: Well, it's OK I guess, but it's still a beta transport
and compressed to boot. Big drawback is the lack of 525/625 switch-
ability. Not my favorite format, but we own one.

D3: I don't own any, but for a composite digital format, I think it
could be on par with D2. After the initial shakeouts, the edit and
interchange performance of D3 (I used some during the NBC Barcelona
Olympics) was quite good- more robust than D2.

D5: Another pretty impressive entry from Panasonic. Nice, uncompressed
component recorder. Again caught by the non-525/625 bisexuality trap.

Other formats (DVC, etc.) are cool but not for the graphics crowd. I
also did not address add-ons and processors for 4:4:4, etc. If you are
serious about that kind of graphics work, then maybe a DDR is the way
to go.

My general conclusion is that for tru graphics work, in the video domain,
I would still put my money on D1. For long form component digital that
may require lots of editing and archival and world distribution, I would
consider DCT. D2 and D3 are there just because clients want it. 

bt at edny.univid.com
"30,000 televisions to pick from, and I chose an AM radio"