MiniDV / HDV Decks

SLavictoire

SLavictoire

Well-known member
I'm planning to buy for my self a HVR-M15AU for playback, ingest and making back up on tapes. I've already use this system in other stations and back at school. I was think : it's great having HDDs for back ups with master tapes and making tapes full of finished product. Also, some TV station still DVCam, Mini DV and HDV as support and since I'm a freelancer, I might ran into them soon.

So, I was wandering is some of you used this deck, or another one from Sony. Is it a good Idea? What do you think about it?

Thanks for let me know!
 
Well, your kind of investing in a dying (dead?) medium. Tape is the past, I'd invest in ssd if you can afford it.
 
Well I'd say if you really do need it, you need it. If not then don't, because tape is dying. My mini dv deck isn't as nice as that one but I keep it because I do still need to be able to ingest tapes sometimes from clients plus I still have quite a lot of footage we shot on tape.
If I needed a mini dv, hdv and also dvcam deck, I think id get that one.
 
I have that deck and it's a good solid reliable deck.... or so I guess, I've had it 6 years and over that time used it very little. I've considered selling it, but the used market for these doesn't bring much in and there may be a time that I'll need it. For now, it's happily collecting dust.

If you think you really need one, I would suggest looking for a used one on ebay because as I mentioned above there isn't that much of a market for them so you should get a good price.
 
You're all right, I might got carried away from some excitement. This media is fading away and I'll only need tapes only when it is requiered... But at least everyone seems to tell me that this deck is a nice one!

Thanks for the replies!
 
When I built out my home studio from scratch six or seven years ago I decided to go completely tapeless. A few of my clients were still delivering on tape up to that point, but they had no problem switching to digital delivery on portable hard drives. In all this time I've used tape twice and both times was able to borrow a deck or camera with no problem.
Unless you have a major client who insists on it, I'd avoid investing any money in tape these days.
 
The ol' HV30 is one of those cameras I'll never sell, for this express purpose - firewire, component, HDMI, it can do passthrough... heck, I've even used it as a camera, rigged with a Ninja 2 recorder as an unmanned angle on a few shoots this year. I also have an even ancienter Sony Hi-8 handycam that's seen use recovering a client's old tapes in the past year... it isn't often, but it's nice to have.
 
Good question. I have a Sony DSR11 that I used to ingest tapes for a project that I worked on and now have no need for it. I wonder if there is even a market for these tape decks anymore?
 
On a related topic, it's getting harder and harder to find a computer with firewire, or even a motherboard which has it. Without that, you have no way to connect to the computer from a Mini-DV or HDV deck. Days. Numbered. And running out.
 
Exactly David. And mini-DV cameras don't do DVCam so that makes it even LESS appealing. I have a nice DVCam deck and short of pulling back OLD stuff, it's never used. I hadn't even hooked it up in 2 years. There's just much better ways to spend money these days.
 
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