External Decks

K

kris_boustedt

New member
Hi everyone. Just purchased a 100a and as such am new to this board (a fantastic resource, by the way).
Anyway, I've read plenty of articles, and a few posts on this site, about the benefits of having an external mini-DV deck.
My question is: how vital is it? After purchasing the camera, lights, and sound equipment, I am financially stretched to the limit (I read the thread re: the DSR-11, and it is prohibitively expensive) -- but at the same time, I don't want to ruin my beautiful new best friend by using it to playback and log footage.

Am I really going to destroy my camera, or will it be OK? How much wear/tear does playback really inflict, and are there any ways to minimize the degredation?
 
Re: External Decks

If you're really strapped, just go buy one of the sub-$300 cheapo miniDV cameras at your local discount electronics store (or better yet, on the web). After your big investment, that's not so much...

Not a pro deck, but it'll do 99% of what you need.
 
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That's a solution many opt for. While you're at it, get a Panasonic brand one, and that way you'll be able to use its battery and charger with your DVX. (just don't get a GS model, those batteries are incompatible with the DVX).
 
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Yeah -- that's what I was thinking (good idea on getting a panny, thanks). But it will have to wait a little while. Is a few months using the dvx going to hurt it?
 
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it will be fine. I bought my camera last summer and have shot and edited 5 projects so far and I have used the camera to import video into the computer as well as log tape. This is ONLY until I get a deck!
 
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That is a stellar idea about buying another panny to import your video and save your heads...goddamngenius.
 
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Also, on real critical shoots, you can use the cheapo cam as a backup recorder to cover any glitches...
 
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The DVX heads are very very solid... Mine is hitting 250 hours on the heads and have had no problems, no bad dropouts etc. All I do is clean the heads every 40 or 50 hours.

So, you should be fine for a couple months until you can muster up some dough for a backup panny. Although having a real deck is marvelous, the cheapo camera is gonna give you the same visual quality as the $2000 deck.
 
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i recommend not to wind forward or rewind a lot. simply put the tape in and record everything. then throw out what you don´t need. so basically make sure to have enough harddisk. cams dont like all the fastwinding on manual captures.....
 
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on that note.. Maxell makes a $20 little tape rewinder that you can use to save those motors.
 
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You can find cheap minidv cams on Ebay for around $200 bucks, that's cheap enough for anyone who can come up with the dough to buy a DVX. Make sure to get one that has both 12 bit audio and 16 bit if you've got any old footage in 12 bit audio or it won't import the audio.

I've never used my DVX as a VCR, does playing/rewinding/ect increase the camera's hours?
 
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On the same subject, does the DVX work in chain mode with other miniDV camcorders? Any other mini DV camcorder?
 
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I tried chain mode with a Sony DCR-PC120 and a JVC GR-DVL 9600 and it worked perfectly. Might be part of the I-Link/Firewire specification.
 
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[quote author=Jarred Land link=board=Events;num=1087502058;start=0#7 date=06/18/04 at 14:41:56]The DVX heads are very very solid... Mine is hitting 250 hours on the heads and have had no problems, no bad dropouts etc. All I do is clean the heads every 40 or 50 hours.
[/quote]

What's your definition of "Bad Dropout"? Do you never get the occasional "sparklie" frame? I'm just trying to pin down the difference between "bad problems" and "normal problems".

I get sparklies about once an hour... always have since the camera was new - and it's been babied with MQ tapes and paranoid care all the way. Since almost all of what I shoot is unbroken 45-60 min segments, this is a big disappointment.

Mind you, other cameras do this too... I'm not knocking the DVX, which I love. Again, though, I'll compare to my old Digital8, which was never maintained or cleaned, has 100's of hours on mixed tape brands, and has never had a single glitch. Truly. MiniDV as a format sucks... and I'm always surprised at how people put up with it. But perhaps they never used a cheapo D8 camera for comparison...
 
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I agree 100%. I never completely trust any DV camera, starting from the original VX1000. Dropouts happen. And while the dropout problem is not as bad as it used to be with Hi8, the nature of the dropouts is uglier.

"Real" DVCAM does seem to help. I've shot many, many hours on DSR500's, DSR300's, DSR200's... I can't recall seeing a dropout. On the PD150, I've seen 'em, even in DVCAM mode, which was disappointing.

It's really disappointing that the QuickStream turned out to be apparently not-ready-for-prime-time. I'm still waiting to hear from someone about the CapDiv/DirectDrive. I think hard drive capture, with tape backup, is the only way to go.
 
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[quote author=Barry_Green link=board=Events;num=1087502058;start=15#15 date=06/21/04 at 16:18:55]
It's really disappointing that the QuickStream turned out to be apparently not-ready-for-prime-time.  I'm still waiting to hear from someone about the CapDiv/DirectDrive.  I think hard drive capture, with tape backup, is the only way to go.[/quote]
.... given, say, 18GB blue laser DVD-Rs (without any "disc rot" problems) for archiving... ;-)
 
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I dont trust those damn Disks either.. ive burned too many coasters on normal DVDs to be 100% confident on this new fangled format. I think my money is going to the first HD system that does it right.
 
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bad dropout is one on tape, not just a firewire hickup dropout. Whats a sparklie frame?
 
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Sparklies happen when an 8x8 macroblock gets trashed, so you have a very small area on the frame that glitches, and it usually looks like a bright sparkle. Usually only one frame long, as opposed to the "venetian blind" big scrag dropouts.
 
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