mini dv deck

J

jackfate

Member
What is the point of a mini dv deck. Is it simply too much work for the HVX to log hundreds of hours of mini dv tapes. How bad is it for the cameras heads? What else does a mini dv deck do? And if one is necessary which should I get? Thanks for the help, as always.
 
yeah. its kinda like highway miles or city miles on a car. youre just gonna wear your expensive camera out quicker - and needlessly.

you can always buy you a cheapy mini dv camera at best buy or such and use it until it breaks, throw it away and buy a new one. but there are often time code issues with the cheaper decks/cameras.

youre not going to get a decent, time code accurate deck for much less than a grand. i wouldnt go less than say a sony dsr 20
 
usually a tape deck is a bit more "robust" in the moving parts (and heads) department than a video camera. it's designed to be used as a deck, unlike the tape transport systems in a camera.
 
Decks are fantastic. Don't kill your heads man. Unless you wanna lay down at least a grand, go buy a cheap camera and use that.
 
I've been using one of these:
Canon-ZR100_vanity.jpg

for a couple of years now.

You can probably pick one up for under $200.
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Canon-ZR100-Camcorder-Review.htm

Of course, now, 90% of what I shoot goes directly to hard drive via DV Monitor Pro.
 
I bought a Panasonic GS60 miniDV camera to use as a deck. Works like a treat! It cost 240 Euros. Well worth the money in my opinion. I went for Panasonic to try and reduce any problems with the miniDV tapes and the heads. Has TC and 16bit sound. Most importantly, the camera cost less than it would cost to replace the heads on the HVX, should they become damaged.

Schmolic
 
I've been using a cheap DV cam for years. Decks are nice for clients.. but you could get 5 cheap cameras for the price. A DV rewinder is kind of nice too and only 15 bucks..
 
This on is 600 bucks. That aint bad. I have a pro-model JVC VTR and I think mine was 1600 new, now worth about 800 years later I even sent it in and got them to make it brandnew inside :) so I have like 50 hours I think on it. It is great. Of course my camera has NO HOURS on hte heads. I have never used. So with that It sits in the tote in teh basement now :) LOL
 
so by using a cheap camera as a deck is any quality being lost?? sounds stupid but i have always been unsure so used dv decks instead, never really thought to check on here, i assumed that no quality would be lost but never wanted to risk it.......doh!!
 
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