The Gigantic Mini DV Deck / Camcorder as Deck Thread

[Gabe Strong]

Originally Posted by Ethan Cooper

The dsr-11's I've used were freakin workhorses and we couldn't break them if we tried. Just use some common sense. If your brain is telling you to run a cleaning tape, then just do it, it'll take a whole minute of your life but if it makes you feel better then go ahead.
As a side note, was that the golden age of Sony prosumer electronics? The pd150's and dsr-11's just worked dang it. They were well built and lasted forever. At least the ones I worked with anyway. Now stuff just seems cheaper. Sorry to get sidetracked.

Ethan,

You are SPOT ON. I have a PD-150 and a DSR-11 deck. Bought them both 5 years ago....both still work like they are brand new. They are both absolute WORKHORSES and I still use them both all the time. Shot a 2 hour meeting last night for the PBS station with my PD-150 and am working on capturing it now with my DSR-11. They still get a ton of use and I haven't had a SINGLE problem with either one of them. I sure do wish all the new gear was made like this.

[Vaughan Greer]

Originally Posted by Ervin Farkas

Professional videographers never use their expensive camera to play back or capture the footage. If money is not an issue but reliability is, then a deck is used. If money is an issue, than a cheap camcorder can be used to capture tapes.

As long as this camcorder works as expected (no dropped frames, no tape messed up mechanically), then there is no difference - capturing video from a miniDV tape is nothing more than file transfer. But of course, if you have to transfer a tape filmed in HDV, you will need an HDV deck or camcorder.

We have a Canon XH A1 that we use primarily. If we wanted to shoot HDV could we buy a Canon HV 30 and use that to dump the video to computer?

[Colin McDonald]

Originally Posted by Vaughan Greer

If we wanted to shoot HDV could we buy a Canon HV 30 and use that to dump the video to computer?

I've even heard that some folks use one to take video with when its not being used as a deck - fancy that!

[Duncan Craig]

Originally Posted by Vaughan Greer

We have a Canon XH A1 that we use primarily. If we wanted to shoot HDV could we buy a Canon HV 30 and use that to dump the video to computer?

Yes, for sure, if you are shooting 1080i.
I don't know if the HV20/30 understands Canons other 24p footage format.