Logging/Capturing footage and Head wear

P

pbrmoney

New member
I'm using my DVX100B to log/capture my footage onto my computer. Obviously this means playing lots of tape straight from the camera.


I've read a little on MiniDV decks. I had a video equip. store tell me they're duds. Is worrying about head wear a legit concern?

Thanks for your help!

Cheers!

ADam
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pbrmoney said:
I'm using my DVX100B to log/capture my footage onto my computer. Obviously this means playing lots of tape straight from the camera.


I've read a little on MiniDV decks. I had a video equip. store tell me they're duds. Is worrying about head wear a legit concern?
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Absolutely! The biggest worry here is the wear on the tape transport. The transport in any DV camera is made to move with regular runs of record and playback, but isn't robust enough to withstand lots of jogging and shuttling.

The little miniDV decks (Sony DV Walkman, etc.) have essentially the same transport in them as the cameras, so they are also not built to withstand the rigors of editing.

Are you going to kill your camera by capturing a few clips? Not at all. But if you use it regularly, especially for batch capturing, all the back-and-forth is sure to destroy the transport.

Your best investment is in a DV editing deck. I've had a Sony DSR-11 since 2002 and it hasn't let me down. Sony doesn't make it anymore, but has a new model in its place: HVR-M15U. Same price point as the DSR-11, and still handles full-size DVCAM, but also supports HDV.

There are other affordable DV editing decks from Panasonic and JVC (the same machine, different logo and chassis color).
 
I think a great many of us -- myself included -- use inexpensive, consumer-level MiniDV camcorders for capturing. It's worked great for me for years! I particularly like the little Panasonics.

My 2 cents.
 
I have burned thru 3 little mini DV cameras as transfer decks. Heads don't last long especially for cheaper cameras, but it is worth it $200 or $300 every three years to keep from paying $700 or $800 to replace your heads in the DVX. Plus being without your camera for a month or so.
 
ekuseni said:
I've been using cheap MiniDV cameras as playback devices for years without any problems.
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And what I've noticed is that folks who echo that trend talk about use of multiple cameras over the years. I have had one deck. Period.

Yes, the cheap cameras work as capture decks. But they get burned out and then must be replaced. Why spend the $300 every couple of years? It adds up, and while you don't invest much on the front end, eventually you've paid for a decent edit deck (which is available under $1500 now).

If you don't use batch capture, you won't kill it as quickly. If you don't do that much each year, as a hobbyist, then a cheap camera may last a while. But if you're working your edit suite regularly, a deck is the way to go.
 
I'm am also in the using the cheap mini dv cams to capture. Both places I've worked that had decks, we had nothing but problems. They were in the shop more than we had it, in the end, we ended up paying for it again just in repair costs.
I'm sure the more you pay for a deck, the better it will be, but I don't have a few thousand lying around, and can easily come up with a couple hundred for a new cam.
 
Jaimebailon said:
what exactly is a batch capture and also i know this is an old deck but would this be ok for just capturing regular mini dv stuff my sony handycam broke and i dont feel like buying another cam just to capture

http://cgi.ebay.com/SONY-GV-D300-PO...7275081QQcmdZViewItem?_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116
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I never liked the Sony DV Walkman. It's glitchy. And, as I stated previously, these little decks have the same transport as a miniDV camcorder, so you're essentially buying another Handycam, without the "cam" part attached. I was doing on-site production for a conference a few years ago and the video support crew in the auditorium had one of these as the playback device. It wouldn't read the time code from my tapes. It would play the footage, but the time code was blank. Very annoying. The tapes worked perfectly on every other system.

Batch capture takes a list of logged media and captures all the clips in one sitting. You can log the clips offline, including all notes, as you watch the footage in the log window. Once you have logged all your footage, you can select all the offline media and go to batch capture. You will then be prompted to insert the first tape in the batch, the computer will shuttle through and capture all the logged clips from that tape, and then prompt you to insert the next tape.

Now, I'm speaking in terms of Final Cut Pro. AVID does this, as does Quantel Editbox (if anyone still uses that). I don't have experience with Premiere Pro or Vegas to know if they do. iMovie doesn't have batch capturing.

Logging and then batch capturing is much more reliable than "capture now." If you ever have to pull out an archived project and recapture all the media, you're going to have to use batch capture. But if your original session used "capture now," you might find that the footage recaptures out of whack. I have tried to recapture "capture now" footage before and it has not come in with the original time code markers, meaning that everything in the time line was then out of sync. Batch capturing from logged footage the first time around will prevent that problem.

But, if all you ever do is "capture now" as you go, then you aren't beating the tape transport to death like you would otherwise.
 
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wow thank you for that very informative and very fast responsei have only used capture now but since it already killed one handy cam i think i am just better off using the batch capture and have something that is a lot more reliable. i have had this problem once with a live concert i filmed and it was a nightmare recapturing and syncing all the recaptured clips to the audio track that had been mixed it would have been much easier if i used the batch capture

thank you
 
The other advantage of using a camcorder instead of a deck is -- it can always be used as a camcorder. You can even connect it to your DVX via firewire and use it as a portable capture deck, preventing more wear on your cam's heads.
 
Anyone have any inexpensive models they would recommend (preferable Panasonic?) I don't really use batch capture at all, I would still like to minimize any wear on my heads. Plus- I think that mimizing the head usage would directly affect the resale value, because that would be my first question if I was buying a used DVX.....how many hours do the heads have? Just ike a used car....how many miles?
 
Is there any way to confirm how many hours the heads have on them; and how many they may have left, and how much does it cost to replace the heads?
 
Importing

Importing

I'm considering purchasing a DVX100b, and I wanted to triple check that no one has had any problems importing to FCP 5.1 on an Intel Mac (I have a Mac Pro).

Thanks!
 
If you do get a deck, be wary of shooting in 24p. I had a mini-dv deck that just gave me dropped frames, couldn't read the pulldown. I also use cheaper mini-dv cameras as logging workhorses. I have the little canon zr-10. Spent a few hundred and have been beating the hell out of it. Buy the extended warranty and get the new camera if the heads go down. waranty is only an extra 50 bucks or so for replacement for 4 years. Seems like a deal to me.
 
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