hiddencosts

Unless provided by the client, Visual Services charges $25 per HDV tape used and $10 pr MiniDV tape used.

We use Sony MiniDV tapes to be shot in either Standard or DVCam mode depending on the situation. DVCam mode presents a crisper image than regular NTSC but not quite the same density that HDV tape captures (1080i pixel resolution). While wholesale values may differ, this cost includes our storage and archiving of the videotapes (unless client requests otherwise). On multi-camera shoots, this can be an unexpected cost as each camera will need 1 tape pr. 1 Hr or even more than that if shot in DVCam mode (42 Minutes pr 1Hr tape).
EXAMPLE
Mr. Smith wants a local charity auction, dinner and musical performance turned into a multi-camera edited DVD. Our imaginary auction lasts 2 hours followed by the dinner with no cameras. 1 Hr later is the performance. While the Auction only needs 2 cameras, the performance requires 3 active cameras. The Performance last 1 and a half hours.

Therefore: The Auction will need 4 minDV tapes (2 Tapes pr Camera for 2 Hrs). No tapes are rolling during dinner but then the Performance requires 2 Tapes pr camera (1.5 Hrs per camera) totaling 6 tapes used.

At the end of the day, that is 10 miniDV tapes used ($100) before anything has been logged in or edited. The better you understand or target an event schedule, the more economical the tape cost.

DVCam Mode:

Also important to note is that 1 Hr tapes cut down to 42 minute tapes when recorded in DVCam mode (the cameras are running at a mechanically higher speed). DVCam does increase the quality of the overall look but not to the extent that Hi Def 1440 X1080 does. DVCam serves as a convenient middle ground.

On the other hand, our HDR Z5 also shoots in DVCam and NTSC Standard mode. While you sacrifice slight quality degradation in NTSC Standard Mode (61 minutes pr tape), for a multi-camera shoot of something that's longer than 2 Hrs, it can save tape and keep costs down for any archival or regular series work.

For projects that have a short, targeted end time (i.e. commercials / infomercials / documentaries / promotional web movies), you may want to budget the $25 pr Hr for HDV Tape costs since the resolution is so much superior to both NTSC DV or DVCam.

LOGGING FEES:
$10 pr Hr

While a lot of Digital Video Editing and Authoring can be done in shorter time frames, anything on tape involves real time. So whatever the length of video being transferred to DVD, it still must be read into the computer for processing. Since this is a simple, straight-forward task, we don't charge full video editing / authoring rates.

While the SR12 HD Camera shoots on a mini Hard Drive (no associated tape costs) , there are still Logging Fees for each hour of Hard Drive space consumed (anywhere from 8 - 25 gigabytes of space).

We do have a lot of projects moving back and forth and Hard Drive memory space becomes a premium. Therefore we charge the $10 per Hr of logged video in addition to the regular Post Production charges. Think of it as a sort of short term rental of memory space (the bigger the project, the sooner we try to move it along).

EXAMPLE

Mr. Smith drops off or mails a VHS tape to be transferred to DVD.
While it was labeled as a 2 Hr tape, it was recorded in Extended Play and actually contains nearly 5 hours of video.

The logging fees alone would equal $50.

Since the DVD's are limited to 2 Hrs, Mr. Smith will actually need 2 Discs per one copy. Therefore, one Double Disc Set will equal $15.

Mr. Smith also wanted 5 copies of the DVD. 5 X $15 = $75 + $50 (Logging Fees) = $125.00.

Before you start, you might want to check the lengths of your videotapes in regards to the number of DVD's it will take to transfer it.

As technology continues to evolve away from tape and starts to rely more on Hard Drive image capture, there is still a nice insurance factor when recording to tape. It is also a great medium to store final Edit Masters. However, for the time being, there are some complications with different camera formats and computer interactivity. It still usually takes an hour of transfer time per hour of video shot (as in the case of the SR12). Therefore, the same LOGGING FEES apply to Media Capture times. You still will save on actual tape costs, though.

Hard Drive versus Tape:
While the Sony SR12 shoots straight to Hard Drive, there is still nothing quite as reassuring as having a video tape back-up. If you are working with a limited budget, the MiniDV Tape tends to be the more affordable choice. And our Standard Definition videotape cameras still have great flexibility in capturing a project in a lowlight or extreme environment than most consumer grade cameras.

Gradually this will most likely change, but aside from the $18,000 and above camera class, the consumer grade Hard Drive cameras tend to be limited in lens & aperture adjustments as well as audio capabilities (adding balanced line feeds). They’re often stuck with unchangeable auto-features a lot of the time. Still, in the right environment, the Sony SR12 is a perfect compliment to HDR Z5 for the 1080i X 1440 Hi Def resolution it shoots. The basic gist of everything is about pixel resolution: 1080 X 1440 versus 720 X 480.
Videotapes:

$25 pr HDV Tape

$10 pr MiniDV Tape