.Videodeck vs. Tape playback with DVX100

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I am still in my honeymoon days with the DVX100AE, all joy etc., but one thing happened that made me a bit anxious. When I captured some footage via firewire with my G4 notebook and FCP4 all went well until - without an obvious reason to me - during a fast rewind the tape was audibly running in the camera but the time code did not move. Worse: in replay mode no picture appeared, as if the tape was erased. Finally, when I bumped the camera accidentily and very slightly with the sunshade on the table I heard the well known sound of the optical stabilizator unit and - the replay picture reappeared. After that all went fine again.

Did anything like this happened to you? Could it be that I gave conflicting commands to the camera by using FCP commands parallel to using the camera interface (I believe I did this at some moment)?
I would very much like to hear you before I call the service, as my experience is that we make ususally something wrong to which the machine reacts in her way.

This brings me to the second question: which MiniDV-player/recorder
would you recommend to use for post-production? I don't feel comfortable to use the camera as a tape player on my desktop.

Thanks for sharing your ideas and experiences,
this is a great forum.

Hans
 
Re: .Videodeck vs. Tape playback with DVX100

Someone tell me if I'm wrong - but as far as I can tell or have heard, you won't see any quality or other differences using different decks for digital editing. I imagine that there may be different tolerances and such that cause (or forgive) some "dropouts", but I've never seen any.

For this reason, I tend to use cheap Mini-DV camcorders as editing decks... they are much cheaper than editing decks, have LCDs, and can double as backup cameras in a pinch. The main problem is relative inconvenience of tape loading and the crappy A/V connections they tend to have... but it's worked for me so far.
 
Re: .Videodeck vs. Tape playback with DVX100

Decks can carry preset timecode, most mini cams cant.

Most decks cant play back LP tapes, most dv cams can.

DVdecks have very robust heads, which should last 4x longer than a camera
Cameras cost 4x less then decks

as mentioned, cams can also be used as a crash cam or b cam etc...
decks can just sit there.

Decks fit nicely on a rack, and are very easy to load with one hand
Cameras use 2 hands to load, but are portable.

So it all depends really..
 
Re: .Videodeck vs. Tape playback with DVX100

You can get a dsr-30 deck for $3,000 new or a dsr-11 for $1,500. Only the most expensive decks like a dsr-85 would cost 4x more and those are overkill for capturing video into the computer and outputting back to the deck. I got a dsr-30 in like new condition for $1,800 on ebay and it works fine
 
Re: .Videodeck vs. Tape playback with DVX100

The JVC BR-DV3000 (and its twin, the Panasonic 2500) go for around $1400-$1500.

As far as the quality of the footage being identical, that's true if you're talking about firewire. If you're bringing in footage analog-ly, through the s-video port, a $1500-$3000 deck should produce better-looking footage than a $200-$300 camcorder -- it should have better D-A circuitry, etc.

But as far as firewire goes, you're right, it should be identical. But a deck is still a veeerrrry nice thing to have.
 
Re: .Videodeck vs. Tape playback with DVX100

Middle ground -- the JVC SR-VS30.  $800.  Mini-DV and S-VHS.  Doesn't have all the bells and whistles of a pro-grade VTR, but it will hold up better than a camcorder and will give you many of the benefits of a deck.  Don't know about the comparitive, quantitative quality of its analog acquisition (as compared to a high-falutin VTR), but it does have a full array of inputs, as well as the ability to send VHS or S-VHS over FireWire.  And it allows capture of live TV straight from the cable.

Any more knowledgeable comments from the uber-techmeisters?
 
Re: .Videodeck vs. Tape playback with DVX100

THe only thing I would add is, while it may not be a full-featured pro DV deck, it's supposed to be able to make some of the highest-quality VHS dubs possible.
 
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