How do you transfer your footage.....

Jay Rodriguez

Jay Rodriguez

Coffee Member
Ok so I have the DVX firewired into my mac and I'm grabbing footage off of the DVX.
Life is good.
Then, I realize that there must be a better way to get my footagoe off of my DVX.
So, what do you guys use to do this?
I think I saw somebody mention something about a DV Deck or something. Is this what I should be looking into?
If so, what do they usually run for?
 
many of us use cheap camcorders for capture.

two ways to go, get the cheapest camera you can find (even used, check ebay or with friends who may have some old mini-dv camera they don't use)

just as long as it is mini-dv

another way to go is sometimes the dvx-100 is overkill to take on a vacation with the wife and kids, so look for something a little bit nicer that you might want to have for other uses.

i don't know the model but i heard that panasonic was coming out with a 3 chip camera that would be in the consumer price range.

matthew
 
Panasonic has a 3ccd consumer cam that is pretty good, and I think costs around 700. For capture, its good to have a small camera that can also double as a "beater" cam when the DVX would be overkill. However, while the initial investment is low, as little as 350, the lifespan of the camera is relatively short, and won't stand up to the wear and tear professional DV decks are made to endure. So when buying a camera for capture, keep in mind that you'll be buying another soon, or maybe not so soon depending on your usage.
 
I think instead of purchasing another mini dv....for say 700+...it is better to get an FS4 for around the same money...and forget about the whole business of capturing videos, etc for ever...
 
Hey, Coffee!

Digitizing from a DVX100a presents a risk. As phenomenal as the camera may be, it lacks a critical buffer in the firewire circuitry to prevent burnout from disconnecting a camera prematurely. If it breaks under warranty, they'll fix it, of course. Many/most buying another camera for digitizing get a specific Panasonic consumer model as it uses the same batteries as the DVX100a.. I don't remember which line/series that is specifically. That would be useful since you would then have two chargers for your DVX batteries, a nice benefit indeed. I personally bought a used Sony MiniDV and it works great! Anything cheap with a firewire on it is good enough. Talk about "lifespan" is only relevant for wayyyy more use than personal equipment will ever see. hope this helps.

Brian Wells
 
Also... The reason we use an inexpensive camera is because a VTR goes for around $1200 and up.
A consumer-quality camera accomplishes the same task, with a built-in LCD monitor to boot.
 
Hi coffee,
iam using the NV-GS 11 for digitalization. It has the DVX batteries and was is quite cheap. Bought it before i got my DVX.

I also would use a Panasonic model, because so you can use the scene detection. While my last production we used several camcorders from Sony and so on. But the scene detection with my NV-GS 11 was only working with the tapes shot on the Panasonic's.

Greetz Max
 
I bought a Panasonic PV-GS9 to capture with, but it doesn't recognize
the DVX timecode all the time. That means that I can't batch capture or even
capture now on FCP. I don't know if this is the case for most lower end camcorders.
I might just have to pre-record the in the GS9 before using them in the DVX.
So make sure you try it out right away so that you can return it if there is a problem.

Anyways, good luck!
 
I don't have this but have been looking at it... DV Rack will capture your footage as you shoot it if you want. That seems to me like a great thing if your in the field. It will save wear and tear on your gear and deck for sure.

Do I understand this correctly?
 
Well DV rack requires you to remain tethered to a laptop which can be a pain and awkward.
You also want to make sure you have enough disk space and they're fast enough.

As noted the GS9 and most of the Panasonic low end seem to have problems with timecode. Sony cameras seem to work fine.
 
Scottdvx100 said:
Well DV rack requires you to remain tethered to a laptop which can be a pain and awkward.
You also want to make sure you have enough disk space and they're fast enough.

As noted the GS9 and most of the Panasonic low end seem to have problems with timecode. Sony cameras seem to work fine.
Click to expand...


What speed for drives should be the minimum? Any idea?
 
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