Does anyone recommend a good playback device for Mini-DV tapes?
I was looking at the Sony HVR-M15U, on eBay for around $600.
hvr-m15u.jpg
There are also several of its bigger brother, the HVR-M25U, but they're more than twice the price.
hvr-m25u.jpg
I'm apprehensive of the DSR-11, which is much more common. I bought one when they were new and immediately resold it, because I had a bad experience with it (I think it ate the first tape I put in it). Anyway, the HDV players that I just mentioned are newer, and the HVR-M15U is about the same price as a DSR-11.
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I have about a hundred Mini-DV tapes that, after years of procrastination, I would like to transfer to SSD.
At first I tried with the camera I still own, the TRV900, but the results were bad. Sometimes it played back the footage fine, sometimes with the slightest audio squeaks, sometimes with that dreaded blockiness moving on the left and right sides, and sometimes with thick white stripes across the video!
The tapes were recorded by a few different cameras (Canon GL2, Sony TRV900, VX2000) on mostly Panasonic Professional brand tape, but there a few from Sony and Fuji. (I vaguely remember the disproportionate catastrophe of mixing tape brands in the same camera without running a head cleaner in between. I just ran a head cleaner for 10 seconds in the TRV900, but still the same video artifacts remain.)
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If you think it's just my old TRV900 that's the problem, and a cheap Mini-DV camera off eBay in good condition would play back all the tapes fine, by all means let me know.
Otherwise, I am considering a professional deck that might be better at handling a variety of magnetic terrain.
Surely some of you have gone through this same kind of project!
P.S. I don't miss tape.
I was looking at the Sony HVR-M15U, on eBay for around $600.
hvr-m15u.jpg
There are also several of its bigger brother, the HVR-M25U, but they're more than twice the price.
hvr-m25u.jpg
I'm apprehensive of the DSR-11, which is much more common. I bought one when they were new and immediately resold it, because I had a bad experience with it (I think it ate the first tape I put in it). Anyway, the HDV players that I just mentioned are newer, and the HVR-M15U is about the same price as a DSR-11.
---
I have about a hundred Mini-DV tapes that, after years of procrastination, I would like to transfer to SSD.
At first I tried with the camera I still own, the TRV900, but the results were bad. Sometimes it played back the footage fine, sometimes with the slightest audio squeaks, sometimes with that dreaded blockiness moving on the left and right sides, and sometimes with thick white stripes across the video!
The tapes were recorded by a few different cameras (Canon GL2, Sony TRV900, VX2000) on mostly Panasonic Professional brand tape, but there a few from Sony and Fuji. (I vaguely remember the disproportionate catastrophe of mixing tape brands in the same camera without running a head cleaner in between. I just ran a head cleaner for 10 seconds in the TRV900, but still the same video artifacts remain.)
---
If you think it's just my old TRV900 that's the problem, and a cheap Mini-DV camera off eBay in good condition would play back all the tapes fine, by all means let me know.
Otherwise, I am considering a professional deck that might be better at handling a variety of magnetic terrain.
Surely some of you have gone through this same kind of project!
P.S. I don't miss tape.
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