Possibly a silly quesion...

[richblend]

Hi, sorry for my stupidity if this is a silly question.

I own a panasonic GS-400. I'm renting an HVX200 for one day to shoot a music video. I'll be shooting it in SD mode, on DV tape.

Since I only have the HVX200 for one day... can I shoot all my material onto the DV tapes, and then use my GS-400 to get the footage onto my PC? Will this impair the quality at all?

Thanks.
Rich

[THoff]

Yes, you can shoot DV on the HVX and use the GS400 as a deck, there is no degradation in quality, it's a digital transfer.

For compatibility reasons, don't use LP mode, only SP -- there is no industry standard for LP and material recorded in LP mode on one MiniDV camera may not be readable in another camera.

[richblend]

Thanks for the reply THoff. So in theory, as long as you use SP, any DV tape recorded from one camera can be played back ok in another?

Rich

[KMR]

So in theory, as long as you use SP, any DV tape recorded from one camera can be played back ok in another?

In theory, yes. But I do know that the DVX has issues with timecode. That is, some camcorders cannot read the timecode from tapes recorded on the DVX. (I know that my GS200 can't.) The video and audio can be read with no problem; it's just that the original timecode isn't there. I have no idea if the HVX has similar issues.

[THoff]

The problem isn't with the DVX, it's with the GS200. Consumer cameras have rudimentary timecode support at best, they usually only do REC RUN.

But that won't prevent you from using the GS as a deck for HVX tapes.