Just Bought a DVX100B and Need Help! (with everything)

R

Reelkid

Member
So I've literally just purchased a DVX100b and I need some advice on a decent work flow and not breaking the camera as I've heard of the firewire cable horror stories.

I've only ever shot on a 5D and so I don't know a great deal about the tape workfow at all.

Question 1:
I've read that using a 4 pin Firewire cable will prevent the firewire port on the camera from burning out?
Is this true? And is it completely safe to use the camera to import footage from tapes using the firewire or do I need to buy a second DV camera as a deck?

Question 2:
Secondly, is there any reccomended miniDV tape I should be using or should I just purchase any miniDV for the best price on eBay?

Question 3:
Is there anything else really important I should know about this camera? Or anything I should know to avoid another horror story?

Apparently it has 205 hours on the clock (which doesn't sound bad), I hopefully want to use it for some short films as I love the old-school look it has.

Thanks in advance for any tips!
 
1. Yes, use a 4 pin cable. As long as you're not shuttling back and forth, you should be ok capturing from the DVX. Just rewind the tape once and play it back into your computer.

2. Ask the original owner which tape he/she used. I've used the cheap Sony tapes in my 100a for 10 years with never a dropout.

3. Download the camera manual and read it (and get a copy of Barry Green's book if possible).

Good luck.

Ken
 
Nice purchase. I just recently got back into some old tech with an HVX200. You never shot on tape? You may experience some frustration at the import stage but it is a very zen moment kind of thing. If you can afford it go find a really cheap mini-dv cam to use a deck to capture from. Don't use the DVX as it will wear down the heads more quickly. It can be almost any old mini-dv camera as all the important pulldown information is encoded to the tape. I use a Canon ZR900. Got it really cheap. Have fun.
 
One last thing,
not sure what editing program you are on but don't forget to remove the pulldown when you go to import. FCP X has a menu button that has to be clicked so you get that beautiful 24fps footage.
That's it. Go have fun.
 
Thanks a lot for the responses, really helpful stuff. I have a firewire port on my macbook but it's not a 4 pin connection so I'll to get a 4 pin to 6pin cable.


MDKfilms said:
Nice purchase. I just recently got back into some old tech with an HVX200. You never shot on tape? You may experience some frustration at the import stage but it is a very zen moment kind of thing. If you can afford it go find a really cheap mini-dv cam to use a deck to capture from. Don't use the DVX as it will wear down the heads more quickly. It can be almost any old mini-dv camera as all the important pulldown information is encoded to the tape. I use a Canon ZR900. Got it really cheap. Have fun.
Click to expand...


Getting a cheap miniDV cam as a deck is a good idea, I found a cheap Panasonic GS50 on ebay that looks ideal for the job. And no, never used a tape based system at all, so should be interesting getting use to it. I'm really looking forward to playing around with old camera processes though. Can't wait to make some cool films with the DVX!

And I use Premiere CS6 but I'm guessing there must be a similar option to remove the pulldown if it does it by default?

Thanks again!
 
Great camera. One of my first. Definitely get a cheap minidv. I bought mine new way back then and my port blew within days. Not sure if it was my fault or just faulty camera.
 
Although it would seem that all the information is encoded to tape, is there in fact a difference between capturing straight from the DVX and capturing from cheap camcorder?

Barry's book mentions something about 12-bit vs 10-bit, but I'm not sure if that actually affects the quality of the footage that'll be digitized (better quality if captured through higher-end devices, and worse from a consumer cam.)

Any truth to it?
 
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