Ive got these HD tapes (HDCAM, D-5, HDCAM SR, DVCPRO HD, HDV, ProHD, etc.), but I don have the hardware to capture it. What do I do?
HDCAM, D-5, HDCAM SR capture options – these formats all require that you capture the video via HD-SDI. That’s a High Definition Serial Digital Interface. There is no analog HD used in production (analog is only used for monitoring). There is also no FireWire type option for these, the data rate is way too high among other reasons. (Sony has a proprietary editor and connector that can edit HDCAM natively called XPRI and HD-SDTI, respectively, but they don’t let anybody else play in their backyard so it’s moot.) To capture these formats, you (or someone!) need to have a dual G5 with PCI-X slots. This includes the OLDER dual 2.0 GHz models, and the 2.3, 2.5, and 2.7 GHz dual processor models. DOES NOT INCLUDE the new dual 2.0 GHz model. Then you also need an AJA Kona2 or BlackMagic Design DeckLink HD, DeckLink HD Plus, DeckLink HD Pro (single or dual link) card. For the compressed codecs, regular SATA drives will do, FireWire 800 probably, FireWire 400…maybe, depending. For uncompresse
