Buying deck to capture mini-dv

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Davis Ingersal

New member
I'm interested in buying a deck to capture some footage from my dvx 100. I'd like to buy one for about $1500. I'm looking at a Sony clamshell model- gvd 1000 walkman-
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...757&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation
Any suggestions?

A friend suggests to spend $1500 more and get the Sony hvr m10u so as to have the ability to capture hd. Is this true hd? I thought hd decks were much more than 3 grand.

Since I'll be mainly working with mini-dv, I'm inclined to wait. What do you think?
 
..i think you should just buy a cheap little DV cam to use as a deck.. then you can throw it off cliffs and do other stuff that you wouldnt do with your DVX too. cost is alot less than what your talking about and it essentially does the same thing since youll be very likely be using the transport controls in your software anyway.
 
i'm wanting this to be the highest quality possible (within reason). i know people say that dv is dv and it doesn't matter how you capture it, but i think it does. especially if the footage is going to be shown on a big screen. plus, i like the composite ability instead of firewire. the sony deck listed above is about a $1000 which i think could be a nice fit. reasonable price without (as much) compromise in quality.
 
Davis Ingersal said:
i like the composite ability instead of firewire.
Click to expand...

If you really care about quality then firewire is the way to go and "yes" a cheap miniDV cam will work just as well as that deck you have listed.

Composite = analog
Firewire = digital
 
DCERVENKA said:
If you really care about quality then firewire is the way to go and "yes" a cheap miniDV cam will work just as well as that deck you have listed.

Composite = analog
Firewire = digital
Click to expand...

They are right. A cheap DV camera will not only capture just as beautifully as a WAY overpriced DECK but it will free up A LOT of money to purchase other needs/wants. The trick (if capturing timecode is of utmost importance) is to find a cheap mini-DV cam that will recognize the DVX timecode. I have a small panny one chip that does NOT recognize the timecode. But there are many other 1 chips that do. I just dig the compatible batteries and extra charger. So, it's all good.

Good luck!
Rick
 
I'm about to start uploading footage too - 20 hours of MiniDV tapes to an external hard drive. I was planning to use the DVX-100a to do the capturing. But I also have a Canon ZR80 as well. (I'm new to 24pAdvanced and didn't know footage shot in it could be uploaded using a cheaper, non 24p shooting camera.)

Does anyone have a suggestion on whether to use the DVX-100a or the Canon ZR80 to do the uploading?

If the camera doesn't matter in Final Cut Pro capturing 24pa, then it must be all in the settings there, yes? Does anyone have a minute to help me confirm that I have Final Cut Pro set up right so it'll upload 24pAdvanced?

Thanks,
Jay
 
I don't know about the zr80, but I have an xl1 and an xl1s, and they are incompatible with the dvx100a or the cheapo Panasonic deck that I bought for playback. Canon seems to live in its own world when it comes to compatibility.
 
Decks are not overpriced, they are built to do a specific task and they do it very well adn will last you a very long time if properly cared for.

That said, you may be alright with a cheap MiniDV camera, if you're just using it to digitize your own footage. Chances are you don't shoot as much as you would if you were also shooting for other people. What I mean is, I make my living editing, so I had to get a deck because a camera wouldn't hold up to the amount of work I put my deck through.

But, if I were to only account for the footage from my personal projects, then I could probably get away with using a camera wiht no problem.

As far as the connections go, I'll just repeat what others have already told you.

FireWire is FireWire.
You'll get the same signal off a cheap MiniDV camera's firewire port as you will out of an editing deck's firewire port. No difference in quality.

And yes, FireWire is what you want NOT composite.
 
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