#SoftVTR works! (finally)
6 messages in this thread
Don,
I didn't ask Mom and Dad about the dropouts, I asked a guy who's a graphic
artist. He was looking at the 2nd gen VHS tape, and I think he was somewhat
dazzled by my anmimation. Anyway, I think I can find a good 30 sec worth of
drop-out free tape on any HMP tape. The problem was that I recorded 3,339
frames to the same tape to make my demo tape.
I think my current setup will be more than adequate for getting my foot in the
door of the animation business. Later I will upgrade to a Betacam deck and
maybe an ATVista or Illuminator Pro. Oh, yeah, and a Pentium machine.
Bailey
If you bought from B&H give them a call to see what kind of deal they'd give
you.
Let me know if your business plan works(enough Hi8 business profits to pay for
Betacam,ATVista, Transcoder, Pentium etc.). I'd like to try it in this part of
the country.<g>
Don,
I really don't feel like going through the hassle of exchanging my deck for
another one and shelling out a couple of grand in the process. As I said
before, I can find a good 30 sec spot of dropout free realestate on just about
any Hi8 MP tape. I couldn't take advantage of this when making my 3,339 frame
demo tape because I have only one pro deck and one consumer VHS deck.
I had to start somewhere. Basically I went with the cheapest (at the time,
which was a couple of months ago) frame-accurate solution which I knew would
work:
Targa64+ $1700
SoftVTR $825
EVO-9650 $4200
If I had known the SVO-9600 was an ok deck for animation, I probably would have
gone for that and saved around a grand.
Bailey
Hi! We work with 3DS a lot here in Sweden. This SoftVTR sounds great! Is there
a cheaper solution for us here in PAL-country that the current Betacam SP and
Diaquest DQ-422+ ?! There is a lot of people over here that would love to have
a "budget" alternative.
-Michael
MIchael,
Don't they make PAL versions of the frame-accurate S-video (SVHS and Hi8)
decks? You can use SoftVTR with just about any deck out there.
Bailey
I work in Scotland with PAL. I haven't tried the SoftVTR but it sounds as if it
might work. I use an Animax controller from Videomedia (UK 0753 581596 at 835
pds). I works fine and is upgradeable to control multiple machines if you want
to build up an edit facility later.
My VCR is an S-VHS Panasonic AG7750 (about 4300 pds with Timecode) but JVC do a
good S-VHS/PAL machine too. PAL and single frame recording is not a good mix.
Get your dealer to show you a system working before you buy. I'm thinking of
setting up as a dealer to spread my new found expertise.
Most of my corporate clients are surprised at the quality of the S-VHS material
and are happy to use it. The format becomes a much bigger issue when video
companies using Betacam get involved.
Martin Bowring