Mini dv deck, loves and hates?

evolvnyc

evolvnyc

Well-known member
Although it is expensive, it seems that buying a deck is inevitable... I would like to spend as little as possible, and only need a simple play deck, and it is too risky with non-repeatable footage to risk tape eating in a cheap dv cam (in place of a deck)... So... would anyone who has experience talk about decks you have had and/or used and liked or didn't and why, and speak to the best value/cheapest? Cheers.
 
I've never had a miniDV cam eat a tape. If that were to happen, it would probably be just as likely with a low end deck. Most decks, BTW, are going to run at least $1K+. Unless you're at an advanced editing level, I don't think you really must have a deck ... and even once you are at that advanced pro level, you can still get by without one if needed.
 
it makes WAY more sense to just capture with a cheapie 1chip cam w/ firewire. don't get a deck until you work with larger format tapes like DVCPRO and DVCAM
 
well okay, what's the cheapest most dependable 1 chip mini dv with timecoding that won't eat my tape? And, If I captured in 24p on the dvx100a, will it be a problem importing from a drappy $200 jvc for fcp 5 to read the footage? (Yes, it's my first time doing this, I apologize for the dumb questions...)
 
I don't think timecoding is a concern either, as that's put on the tape when recording with the DVX. There are even cheaper out there, but I purchased a handy little JVC with built in light, 25x optical zoom, etc. ... listed for about $359, and I think I talked 'em down to about $290 over at Best Buy.
 
Actually the ability to timecode does matter. For example, I was shooting a short film of mine and used multiple tapes. 7 in total. I would timecode each tape so the 2nd tape started at 1:00:00, the 3rd tape at 2:00:00, etc. Anyway, I noticed that when I set the timecode, instead of just leaving it in the default setting starting from 0:00:00 all the time, I couldn't use my Canon ZR45 to log my footage. If I didn't set the timecode to 2:00:00 and so on, it captured fine, but obviously that's a bit limited when you're shooting multiple tapes for a short of feature. So I would like to know if anyone can answer this question myself as I am in the market for a cheap "deck" cam too. What's the cheapest mini-DV camcorder that supports timecode that I could use to log DVX footage? I heard the Sony Handycam DCR-HC21 is a good deck cam that supposedly supports set timecodes. Can anyone confirm this? Is there anything cheaper?
 
I have a Panasonic PV-GS9. It can capture interlaced DVX footage fine,
but it can't read 24P timecode. This means that I can't capture 24P footage,
at least in FCP 4.
 
Aha, I thought this might be a problem... does anyone know if fcp5 will capture 24p from, say, the Sony DCR-HC21?
 
Maybe it's a Mac/FCP issue, but what's on the tape is on the tape, digitally. I honestly don't believe it matters what "quality/model" of miniDV cam you use.

My little JVC can't do ANYTHING other than 60i, like most consumer cameras, and I capture my DVX's 24P/24PA footage beautifully through it with Vegas on my PC. So with that, even though I've not worried about the time codes, I don't believe it would matter ... should be able to capture with timecodes in place, as it's on the tape digitally.

Hopefully a moderator can chime in soon as to if this is fact or not.
 
Yes! that would be great as I intend to go buy one today... it makes sense that the tape is the tape, but someone else has said that 24p couldn't be read truly through a non-s4p camera on fcp, or maybe I misunderstood... Anyone? Barry?
 
24p can be read by any DV camera. The only exception I've ever heard of was a certain model of JVC dual-deck (I think it was something like SR10) that for some inexplicable reason would "strip out" the 24P flags from the data stream. So you could digitize the footage, but not use it in a 24p timeline. Other than that one isolated incident, I don't think I've ever heard of a camera or deck that couldn't be used to digitize DVX 24P footage.
 
What about the time code, Barry, they were concerned about a miniDV camera not capturing the time code. Shouldn't that be in the same boat as the 24P?
 
I shoot lots of footage on a DVX100a in 24p and 30p with tc. I use a cheaper Sony MiniDV cam to firewire my stuff into FCP 4. It sees the TC just fine. No problems. I feel much better doing it this way than spending a large sum on a deck.

It's recorded onto tape the way it is. Plays back just fine in other cam's.

Jeff Patnaude :beer:
 
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