DigiBetaSDI to MXF DVCPRO50, what capture card?
 

So I've got 250 DigitalBeta PAL SD-tapes that need to be captured, with time code, and delivered to client as MXF OP1a DVCPRO50. Container and codec is not negotiable since the media is going into their media data base. Original tape timecode from VITC or possibly LTC.

I painted myself into a corner while going for the cheap and easy way: AJA U-TAP SDI. It does not comply with AJA Control Room (the vendor told me it would). Seems more like a solution to get an SDI signal pop up as a webcam or UVC device than a hardware for ingesting. So I'll have to return that unit.

So where do I go from here? Anyone who knows a hardware/software setup that can capture and store to the format mentioned above in realtime?

I've looked at the Blackmagic Design UltraStudio HD Mini but the BM Media Express looks like a software with quite limited features. I'd rather to go the external (Thunderbolt) road but the AJA IO Express could be an option if the AJA Control Room gives me more of the options I'm looking for. I've downloaded the software but can't tinker around with the capture settings since there is no hardware connected.

On the plus side for both above mentioned hardware is the machine control port. Ideally I could have the capture software chase the DigiBeta timecode, start the player from within the software and make the software start capturing at a certain preset timecode value. But this would just be sugarcoating.

Thanks in advance!

Capturing to a particular container and codec is easy, its getting the timecode that can be a pain. The most common route with Digital Betacam formats appears to be using RS-422 serial deck control and pulling the timecode in via that feed. Out of Blackmagic's current lineup, the Decklink 4K SDI PCIe card has RS-422. Looks like the AJA Kona-1 has RS-422 too. I'd like to think there are cheaper solutions out there for this. A used AJA IO-Express might be the ticket.

The Aja app should have DVCPRO50 and plenty of Aja SDI-PCIe interfaces if you are on a desktop, Laptop not so much. I use BM MediaExpress but I save the SDI stream in it's native state AVI 4:2:2 and convert later when I need to.

Get a used Aja Kona LFI