Need a shopping list of sorts

Hello everyone,

Thanks for a great user community. I am looking for a shopping list if you will for a new FCP system for broadcast. My current studio is Avid Meridian 4.1 on an IBM system. We shoot on DVCPro and BetaSP. Along with the G5 I want to know which capture cards (Kona, IO, etc) would be best for connecting these decks. I typically film on DVCPro and master back to the SP to send to the TV stations that we air on.

I have personally used FCP since version 2, but always in the DV environment. It is now time for me to upgrade to a full broadcast system and I am sure that many of you can point me in the right direction.

Thanks so much for your responses,

Mark Crownover
Director of Media
Word of Life Christian Center
Las Vegas, NV
www.thewordforliving.com

It's not that much different from DV if you're shooting on DVCPro. In fact at 25 bit, the codec is the same. If you're shooting 50 bit, you'll need to switch to the DVC 50 codec, but Apple and Panasonic are pretty much in bed together, so you shouldn't have any problem there.

As far as capture cards, I was initially a big fan of Kona, but their stock in my eyes has dropped a bit because they've been slow to update their cards to work with the newest Mac OSs or FCP versions in the past. Blackmagic Design has some really good cards that are just as good or better than Kona, but have the added benefit of being cheaper too. And they've been very good with customer service as well. Check out their websites or talk to a rep and they can help you choose the best card for your needs. One caveat: think ahead about 5 years and make sure the card you get will still be the best choice then. Either Kona or Blackmagic will have SDI/Analog cards but keep in mind you can digitize DVCPro 25 or 50 bit through the firewire.

If you're going to be doing graphic or FX work that requires using the uncompressed codec, I would recommend a serious upgrade in media drives. Maybe an XSan or something.

Andy