Anxious to playback, but no miniDV deck or camera to use...

D-Day

D-Day

Member
So, you've all experienced this. It's the first day you own the sacred DVX100A camera, and you want to start shooting stuff and testing options out. But you need to play it back on a TV to really see how it looks, not just looking through the LCD viewfinder when carrying it around.

I went broke getting this camera, and I don't have a dime to spare for a separate miniDV camera or deck to playback stuff (so I don't have to use the DVX heads). It is my intention to get one for editing and playback, because I know it's hard on the heads to playback; but for now I'm broke. Which is why I haven't done any recording or playback at all, just fiddling with options.

But...if anxiousness is to overcome me, will a few minutes of playback hurt once in a while? I just wanna see what it looks like on TV so bad. It's almost aching. It has 46 hrs on it and is in great condition, and I'd like to keep it as pristine as possible for long as possible. You know how I feel.

What do you think? Keep waiting? I know it's the better idea, but man, I wanna see it so bad.
 
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i hereby give you permission to press record & then play, you know you wana have a go so do say i, 46 hours is nothing, enjoy yourself
 
ade4all said:
i hereby give you permission to press record & then play, you know you wana have a go so do say i, 46 hours is nothing, enjoy yourself
Click to expand...

I second that. Just as long as you don't get in the habbit of constantly using the DVX itself as a deck, it'll be fine.

My boss has been using a DVX as a B cam AND DECK for almost two years now, and it works just fine. Not to mention he buys crappy tapes and switches brands to whatever's on sale at the time. The DVX doesn't seem to mind too much.
 
that's impressive. I've seen one panay to sony tape change ruin heads. It's sad and most of the world doesn't understand this. A few people have asked me to capture their footage with my camera and I always make them give me their camera to capture their footage.
 
Well, I already learned an important lesson. This is why experience is key.

I took it on a drive with me to get some test footage (in 24p only, of course), hoping to get some good music in the background from the radio. And the perfect song came on Sirius, Iggy Pop's "The Passenger". Perfect, I thought. Though I was late, and only turned it over there when the last minute was playing. Either way, I would have been happy with that.

Took the highway home, recorded some road footage with more punk music in the background out of boredom, and when I go to play it on the TV...it's...silent?

Greeeat. I skimmed through the manual and read like 70 pages of the DVX book before I hit the record button, and I failed to check what the audio buttons were set on. Input 1 and 2. The guy who owned it before me used it professionally, so he had external mics.

I didn't.

So, that was my first lesson learned. Set the input to the stock mic, and I'm good to go again. Hopefully I'll do better next time.
 
Think of the onboard mic as "decoration".

I know that you wrote that you were broke, but when you do find the $$$ (and before you invest in a deck), your next purchase should be a decent mic. A good/inexpensive mic is the Oktava M012. Check out the AUDIO section of DVXuser...the Pros in that forum will steer you right. REMEMBER it's not just a cliche, "Sound is HALF your picture".

As for using your coveted DVX as a deck, you should be OK if you...

1) stick with the same tape stock
2) avoid shuttling/scanning etc...
3) run a Panasonic miniDV tape cleaner ($6) for 5-10 sec every few hours of use.

Now, it is true, you shouldn't use your DVX as a tape deck/capturing device.....but if you're broke, you're broke....wha cha gonna do???
 
OOPS, I just realized that this original post was from 4 months ago....

well....i hope you have a mic AND a deck by now. ha ha
 
Yes, it is safe to use the camera as a deck, but dont use it to play back too much, and definetly dont shuttle with it. Just rewind the tape, hit "scene detect" in your NLE, capture. Then get rid of what you dont want later.

And DONT use cleaner tapes, there very bad on the heads.
 
I'm the new owner of a DVX 100B. On the topic of seeking other options for capturing / playing back, I'm in a similar situation, where I've essentially blown my budget on the cam itself. I'm considering buying a cheap MiniDV camcorder with firewire connection that i can use for this purpose. My question is, if I buy a cheap cam (saw a Canon ZR800 1/2 price at $150), do I risk jeopardizing quality when capturing from it.
 
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