For those of you in the broadcast industry, I have a few questions about D5 and HDCam.

1. If I were to integrate these with an (existing) non-cinema projector that only has HDMI inputs, would I need anything else other than a SDI to HDMI converter?

2. What playback decks would you recommend and are there any for less than 75K? We need playback only, nothing fancy.

If there are any other questions I should be asking, or any reasons we should not do this from an implementation standpoint, I am all ears.

Please, let's keep budget and lectures about how it does not make sense to spend xx dollars out of this, that is for my Client to decide :).

Thank You

For those of you in the broadcast industry, I have a few questions about D5 and HDCam.

1. If I were to integrate these with an (existing) non-cinema projector that only has HDMI inputs, would I need anything else other than a SDI to HDMI converter?SDI is standard definition (CCIR 601), you need HD-SDI (SMPTE 292M) for the Sony HDCAM®. One such device is made by Gefen, click here (http://www.gefen.com/kvm/product.jsp?prod_id=4211) for more info.


2. What playback decks would you recommend and are there any for less than 75K? We need playback only, nothing fancy.I would recommend that you contact your local Sony and Panasonic professional equipment representatives (for Sony, this would normally be a Sony employee in the broadcast group). The machines in this group has many options, some you may need and some you may not. You can get an idea by looking here (http://bssc.sel.sony.com/BroadcastandBusiness/DisplaySubCategory?m=10014&p=16&sp=114&navid=videotape__digital_recorders).


If there are any other questions I should be asking, or any reasons we should not do this from an implementation standpoint, I am all ears.For production purposes, I would highly recommend Sony HDCAM-SR®, info here (http://bssc.sel.sony.com/BroadcastandBusiness/DisplaySubCategory?m=10014&p=16&sp=143&navid=videotape__digital_recorders). For dubbing purposes make sure the machine has a “Clone” feature (not available on the D-5 machines).

If you just need playback Sony makes two lower cost models, the J-H1 at $15K and the J-H3 at $26K. They can be found at the same Sony site noted in the previous post. Also you may want to look at Panasonic DVCPRO HD which is in the same <$30K price range.

HDCAM: 3:1:1 recording at 143mbs. Supports only 1080i/60 and 1080/24sF. No 720P support. H is downsampled to 1440h on tape.

HDD5: 4:2:2 recording at 270mbs. Supports 1080i/60 720p/60 1080/24sF.

HDCAM-SR 4:4:4 and 4:2:2 at 440 or 880mbs. Suppports 1080i/60.720p/60, 1080/24sF, and 1080P/60. There are several models to choose from based on feature sets and bandwidth. The first studio machines were only 440mbs. The new 5800 can do 880mbs as well.

Thank you both. Another naive question as I am not up to speed on the broadcast formats - I assume that since D5 and HDCam are two totally different formats that there are no machines that support both? Also, if we wanted to experiment with one of these, are there any rental houses you recommend? I looked online but unlike your average consumer stuff it is a little bit harder to find by Googling.