post cutting betacam preread

[@billgoldie3212]

Just discovered these videos. Remember doing inserts for Children in Need and producer turned up with a master edit that had been done at an external editing company. Demanded to put captions on using pre read. It was only a 4 minute item and I argued not to use pre read as if the caption was wrong or misspelt (a common occurrence) we had no rushes to replace the shot and redo caption. Made a copy and captioned that but she wasn’t happy with the extra time it took (5 or 6 minutes). But pre read was great for football where you could do mixes with one machine.

[@WheresWalterTravel]

Absolutely glorious. I had that exact edit setup at one of my jobs in the 90's. Cannot recall the last time I heard the term "pre-read." What a glorious find, thanks so much for sharing!!

[@alexisjorge3044]

Instablaster

[@thequantaleaper]

I learned editing with deck controllers and VERY slippy non-frame accurate decks... this really brought me back. Wonderful content!

[@Jim311366]

Yes the days of tape editing I remember well

[@MegaSunspark]

WOW, that is a GVG 100 switcher. They had that in one of the offline rooms where I worked on the 90's.

[@PaulsOldVids]

What a cool function!

[@themekon]

Fascinating.. I’ve been an avid offline editor for the past 20 years in the UK. I’ve never actually seen this technique done with a linear suite. And I’ve learned something I remember the switch from beta sp to digibeta.. and I’d been using non linear systems for years at that point. That would mean that this technique was still used a lot more recently than I’d have expected. The channel looks fascinating.. and I’ve subscribed.

[@thedave7760]

Do you know Spud?

[@evil-wombat]

Having never seen any of these machines/consoles in action (but having read about them), this trip into the editing world was extremely informative, to actually see things in action. I do have one silly question though - what exactly is a how-around (howl-round) and where does that term originate? Thank you

[@video99couk]

Oh, can you just move that first blob to the left a bit? Oh dear, could be tricky. I wasn't aware of this feature but I see my DVW-A500P has pre-read, it's good to have some idea what these buttons do.

[@bgcreations6995]

I got my start in TV back in the day we used these gears.

[@Warp2090]

Betacam is still used alot today, its been updated a bunch

[@bgcreations6995]

@@Warp2090 lots of memories. I learned editing on an RM450.

[@aviationodyssey1892]

Wonderful video, we need more and more! I just bought the Betacam SX recorder and player for Frederic Chopin University as a generous gift. How to get advanced editing manuals for such a cool machines? Not just operating/service manuals

[@freespeechmatters583]

Pre-read was a great way to add downstream key titles and credits to an EDL conformed master. Also adding adding dissolves between the existing shot into a new shot. All very easy in a SDI digital suite, but if you used it in an analogue suite you would need to ensure the suite was lined up property several times during the session.

[@edgardopaladino4502]

Pre read or xroll

[@DaniDogenigt]

Did he say you could watch the recorded signal on the tape as you are recording it? With some delay of course, but I have been looking for a way to have my machine output the recorded signal on the tape while recording to see the quality of the recording. You can't do that on VHS unless you feed the tape into another machine as a tape loop on reel to reel recorders.

[@shahraizayoub4369]

good work

[@WestCoastDP]

Not early 90's, I was going to Video-It in Los Angeles for D2 Pre-read about 1988

[@OldProVidios]

Here is a good example of how to use this in production. Each price and cross out was a separate preread edit. kzbin.info/www/bejne/f3fYmI2ja7mKsM0 9:50 into the program.

[@arkadybron1994]

I'm surprised that you're not triggering the GVG transition from the editor

[@hifiandrew]

So, it's playing and recording at the same time. As you said, sure risky if you're using a single master tape. If you keep adding graphics, I'd think you'd get generation loss on the tape? Or is this digital beta? It's still quite amazing what they did with linear, analog and digital magnetic tape.

[@thelightherder]

I used DigiBeta pre-read from 1997 to 2001 in an online suite (online, as in en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_editing_(video_production)), coming from more tradition A/B online editing using Beta SP. At first it was weird getting used to doing a dissolve from another deck directly to the record deck (that is, the record deck was also one of the source decks). But, it was so great not to need to do a match-frame edit every time you wanted to do a dissolve. There was no noticeable loss of quality generation to generation and you could layer like crazy without fear of losing anything or corruption. My workflow was to lay off an unsupered (or unlayered) “generic” before adding supers or layers so if a mistake in layering was made (which often happened) you could start clean from that point from the generic (this would kind of be equivalent in the NLE world to doing the basic edit, then creating a new timeline to begin the more complicated layering, that first timeline always there if you really mess things up). I also stopped using an EDL (something very much needed with traditional A/B editing), since I was doing such high-volume car commercials, it was just faster to keep a written index of where the master and the generic was for each spot, and if there was a change needed, like changing the price super, use the generic to clear out the old super, and re-layer the new one. This workflow, compared to an NLE workflow, is kind of bonkers, and it actually took me quite some time to wrap my mind around the much simpler way of working in the non-linear world when I switched over in 2005. This workflow I was using was not the traditional online editing workflow, where normally an off-line edit and EDL would be created, and taken into the online suite for the conform (which I would occasionally do).

[@richfish101]

D3 pre-read editor here, make a clone before you start !

[@DJRobbie54]

P.S. After watching this video again, he talks about the pre read, if that is the case, which he does, he should have a third video monitor sitting there monitoring the out put of the pre read, after and before the program monitor, see's the finished edit, as a playback video. Then you will see it on playback on the program monitor. But, when you think about this process, the smaller monitor to the left as he said it's connected to the video mixer, which is in the effects preview monitor, which would not be a pre read. Then he says, there's a lot of heads in there that of, a, erase head, re-cord head, and playback head. On an audio tape recorder, or reel to reel on some high end machines, there is a third, head which you can actually hear the playback as you are recording it on tape on other speakers or cue'ing speakers. So, if I'm incorrect in my thinking about this process in the way that he is explaining it, somebody please, let me know, how this is working in this video.

[@rpb424]

It doesn’t work like that, because you are already using the playback head for preread purposes, this is ‘read before write’ rather than ‘read after write’. You can either use the playback head like you would on an audio tape deck to give ‘confidence replay’ of what you have just recorded, or else use it to read from the tape, process the result outboard (via vision mixer etc.) and then write that back onto the same tape via the record head i.e. preread as demonstrated here. You can’t do both those things at the same time.

[@ciccone39]

How many times could you copy a Betacam recording before you started to loose picture quality? For example, a second generation VHS copy clearly already had breakdown in the picture.

[@JayDeeIsMyName]

Betacam was made for being broadcast quality, and digibeta and SX were developed to give no qualityloss whatsoever as it's all digital. However, betacam SP and it's former version, plain betacam, were a whole different ballgame. On those formats, you actually did see small parts of ghosting around the edges, especially if you dubbed them too much from tape to tape.

[@rpb424]

Digibeta was 2:1 compression and not lossless, so there will inevitably be quality loss through multiple generations.

[@heathdamien5347]

so could you add like a lower third graphic running through an entire hour program for example using one machine? Were there any time restraints or maximums with pre-read?

[@OldProVidios]

No time limit. Yes, you could do the entire tape.

[@OldProVidios]

I did an 300 layer deep program bumper 100 seconds long. Just because the most Disk Recorders any other post house had was 90 seconds. 300 layers, because each object had a shadow, a glint and a frame. If you get over the glitzy sales pitch, this video explains what you can do with Pre-Read. kzbin.info/www/bejne/poLao3SkfLiemLc

[@DylanReeve]

@@OldProVidios I used to build retail spots on Digibeta with pre-read... Photoshop graphics into Inscriber, into a DVE and on to tape. Layer by layer... Lay in the background for 30 seconds over the voice over, [REC] fly in the product over the background [REC] fly in the price [REC] etc etc... It was great when you'd get a way in and the client would say "oh, actually can we hold on that first product for a beat longer?" Awesome technology.

[@OldProVidios]

@@DylanReeve Yea. Talk the client in to liking what we have and offer a solution that is an easy fix. I would save critical layers on a backup deck. We called that D2 Squared. By saving the DVE/ADO moves and the edit list, we could match in with graphics. Reverse hold outs and using the graphic key filled with the previous layer made things go away. I think that is what made editing fun. Finding a work around for an effect. I made a long time client because I found a way to unroll a poster.

[@KardSharp]

Can anyone tell me what is needed to hook up a digibeta deck to import into FCPX?

[@dilipmacbookssaparamadu3522]

fanstric ... lesson thx a lot fans from Sri Lanka..!

[@7landentertainment281]

I miss this, "matchframe" / preread

[@Vladislaw81]

What is the audio mixer here?

[@idustrialrevolution]

The whole suite hasn't been setup correctly. You can drive the vision mixer from the edit controller and never touch the T bar. Makes it look a lot harder and a lot slower than it was.

[@8teillumin]

I think it was set up for demonstration purposes. He is a pro-editor and I would do this to teach some about the process.

[@idustrialrevolution]

@@8teillumin I'ma pro editor and used a similar setup for many years - I've eaten pizzas off that kit at 3 in the morning trying to finish a program for broadcast the next day, trust me I know how fast things work

[@8teillumin]

@@idustrialrevolution let’s not get into a pissing competition.. I’m sure like yourself I grew up with 1” VPR3’s and 6’s then into Umatic, BetaSP, D2, D3 and D5. We both know how fast you can be. I just meant that for the purpose of the video which is for public engagement he has “slowed the process” Just out of curiosity where did you work?? I worked for several independent prod houses and briefly for the BBC.

[@idustrialrevolution]

@@8teillumin All over the place, BBC TVC, BBC OBs, First freelance editor at ITN, CNN, CBS, TWI/IMG to name a few

[@rpb424]

You can only do that if the BVE910 has the option card to support it. Maybe this one doesn’t.

[@KeoniFilmTV]

Errata: Sony invented and debuted "PRE-READ" on its D-2 VTR (4 Fsc Composite Digital; Uncompressed), the DVR-10, in 1988, not the ealry 1990s.

[@artemb.3867]

Old school

[@SirKenchalot]

That took you 4 days?

[@berylhemmings7003]

Shoot and edit wid beta then master wid Umatic to make copys

[@DJRobbie54]

Sorry, but I disagree with his assessment, you should always make (copy) of your master tape, then edit the copy when you're using this type of a machine, never use the master if you risk making a mistake, or as he puts it, MUCK IT UP. When I was a TV engineer, we always copied from the master, just in case of accidents like that would happen. That's the first rule you learn as a TV engineer, if you did anything like that in a commercial TV station, you could get fired, no ifs, and's, or buts, cause usually the advertising agency only send you one copy, of that commercial tape. Or any program that is sent to you from another station. Then it goes through production Department for editing. I also might add, while broadcasting the news or any program Live, waiting for a spot commercial tape to come in To air in that broadcast, and it needed a tag at the end, we did it live. But if you have time, to do that kind of editing with that type of machine, you are told to make a copy first, before tampering with that video tape. That would save your ass. And I mean that, in a Real Since, Some body's Head will row. Back in those day's, they didn't play around. You would have to do a written report, or at least, tell your supervisor what happened to that video spot. But bottom line, that is a great machine to use, too Short Cut The Editing Process.

[@moow950]

This is done in ..uh..5 seconds in NLEs like FCPX today. It was so complicated in those early days.

[@milojenikolovski7522]

The best years of hightech, today made in china....

[@edgardopaladino4502]

It's terrible, like all that equipment that's worth thousands and thousands of dollars that I worked with as a lineal editor, today it's garbage and it's useless.

[@yoeymeme]

Yep everything becomes smaller and efficent leaving old behind

[@Warp2090]

@@yoeymeme Digital betacam is still used today and is the same size.

[@dillipkumarmallickmallick756]

Good morning