24p Playback Question

[Anonymous]

I’ve seen the topic around this forum about playing back tapes shot in one camera, and then playing it back in another.

Here’s my question. I’m making a film with the Canon XL2. As you might have quessed, we’re shooting it in 24p. After paying $5,000 for the XL2, the last thing we want to do is use it for a deck in post. Are there any decks that will plackback 24p?

Also, can I put the 24p shot tape in say a cheap $300 mini DV camera and have it playback correctly?

I hope this doesn’t sound like a dumb question. I’m only asking because I once has Beta SP transfered to Mini DV but it was compressed to DVCAM on accident, and it didn’t playback correctly.

Thanks for any replies!

[Anonymous]

Yes, you certainly can use an “el cheapo” miniDV camcorder as a deck for 24p playback.

This is because your 24p (progressive) video is written to tape as regular ‘ol interlaced video, with flags to alert your NLE of its special properties. Only when your 24p video is ingested into your NLE does it return to it’s Progressive origins. So, any “normal” camcorder that plays miniDV tapes should do.

A real deck is the best solution though, as a cheap camcorder is more likely to break down on you because of its construction. Real decks are built to take the abuse.

-a

[Anonymous]

chicoab3,

Thanks for your reply! This makes me feel a lot better. Now I don’t have to hunt around for a deck that plays back 24p, because they all do 😛

[Author]

Posts