Can I use a DV cam to capture hdv footage?
- Thread starter Sithxace
- Start date
If he recorded in HDV, no. If he recorded in DV, yes.
plainman007
Well-known member
Yes. Because i believe there is a hard chip of the HDV codec inside the camera and only the HDV camera can read back the stream. If it was that easy none of the guys i know would be buying expensive HDV recorders/players stand alone. They would all buy a cheap dv cam or handycam and capture the hdv tapes from it. I face the same problem all the time. Even this morning i hired the Z1U to capture some tapes.
LightningFilms
Active member
I'm confused...
David, are you saying the footage cannot be captured in the DV device because its an HD TAPE or just because it's HD footage. I'm pretty sure you can capture HD footage using a DV device as long as its on a DV tape.
someone clarify?
David, are you saying the footage cannot be captured in the DV device because its an HD TAPE or just because it's HD footage. I'm pretty sure you can capture HD footage using a DV device as long as its on a DV tape.
someone clarify?
plainman007
Well-known member
First off i hope you are reffering to HDV. Some poeple conveniently call it HD but they are two different things. Since you say your friend recorded in 'HD' and the tape looks like a normal tape. It is normal DV tape. And he has a HDV camcorder. Not HD. HDV is a codec. A kind of compression algorithm that fits HDV data (very highly compressed mpeg2 of 1440x1080 resolution) onto a normal DV tape. Now to capture that data if you played the tape on a normal DV camera, it would lack the neccesary hardchip codecs to recognize the stream. EVEN THOUGH its a normal dv tape. The information is in a different language which this camera cant decipher. So you need to play that tape on either a HDV recorder/player or any HDV camera so youll get the correct m2t stream out.
HDV tapes are the same technology and pitch speed etc as normal dv tapes. In fact HDV is recorded on normal dv tapes. There are dv tapes out there selling as HDV tapes. Maybe a little better quality in the tape which is optimized for HD/V. I think in your case you are reffering to HDV only and not HD. A HD tape would probably never fit a normal DV camera.
HDV tapes are the same technology and pitch speed etc as normal dv tapes. In fact HDV is recorded on normal dv tapes. There are dv tapes out there selling as HDV tapes. Maybe a little better quality in the tape which is optimized for HD/V. I think in your case you are reffering to HDV only and not HD. A HD tape would probably never fit a normal DV camera.
Because it's HDV footage. As plainman007 said, the physical tape cartridges for DV and HDV are the same. This was done on purpose to keep the cost of the cameras low because existing DV tape transports can be used in HDV cameras and so that we didn't need a new tape format. But the similarity stops there.
Nope. That's like saying that you can read a Mac CD in a PC because it's a CD. The format of the information on those CD's is very different. Likewise, the format of the information those tapes is very different. In fact, it gets worse. All HDV cameras CANNOT read all other HDV camera tapes! So you are not guaranteed that an HDV tape from a Cannon can be captured by an HDV Sony camera!
Sometimes HDV stands for "Harder than DV" to capture. ;-)
~jr
LightningFilms
Active member
I shot something recently with a DVX and an HVX. My buddy with the HVX isn't around at the moment, I guess this means I'm SOL capturing that footage.
:-( None the less, thanks for clearing this up.
:-( None the less, thanks for clearing this up.
Efexone
Well-known member
We actually had a problem with that...Tried to capture a Canon HDV tape with a Sony HDV camera - did not work. Does Canon record HDV on a tape differently or is the Canon HDV codec different from Sony's?
Barry_Green
Moderator
Yep, Canon's 24F mode is incompatible with Sony camcorders.
strangways
Well-known member
The HVX does not shoot HDV on MiniDV tape, it just records standard definition footage to tape, like your DVX. You will be able to use your DVX to capture that footage without any problems.
LightningFilms
Active member
Thanks for clearing this up!
If what's the case? Re: the HVX? Not the same thing. The HVX doesn't record anything to tape except DV; it records everything else to the P2 card. It doesn't have anything to do with the tape itself. And the HVX doesn't record HDV at all.
Mini-DV and HDV tapes are functionally exactly the same. If they're labeled as "HDV" tapes, it's either marketing, or they did something to toughen up up the tape a little. But it'll work with either HDV or DV.
Mini-DV and HDV tapes are functionally exactly the same. If they're labeled as "HDV" tapes, it's either marketing, or they did something to toughen up up the tape a little. But it'll work with either HDV or DV.
strangways
Well-known member
It's just marketing, the tapes are not toughened up or anything. JVC started labeling some tapes as "HDV" when they released the HD100, but they were the exact same tapes physically, according to one of their reps who I talked to. As David said, the tapes will work with either HDV or DV cameras, no matter what the tape is labeled.