I just bought a GY-HD251E , still awaiting delivery , but should be here in a day or two ...

According to the advert , this is a 'new old stock' unit which is still boxed and unused ; I know this series is 'only' capable of recording 720p , and therefore less valuable than the later GY-HM card based ones which do record 1080i , but I didn't pay too much for it and I hope it will be a good replacement for my HVR V1e which is well used and getting a bit long in the tooth , and will fall somewhere between it and my DSR500 which is a big , heavy thing , and these days starting to look a bit soft as everything else is HD .

One factor in its favour is that the JVC will also use my PAG L95 batteries which I have for my DSR , and , since it isn't coming with a lens , I can in the meantime use my 2/3" Canon lens on it with an adaptor , until I pick up a native 1/3" lens for it .... someone , somewhere must have a broken GY-HD 1xx or 2xx camera with the lens going spare .

I'm also hoping to use one of my Firestore recorders on it , although some uncertainty about compatibility due to the 720p output from the Firewire port on the camera ; I'll wait and see .

I'll update this thread in a week or so once I've had a chance to play with it .

I understand that the Firestore recorder for the GY-HD251 and others of the family was a purposed unit specific to the JVC ProHD system. Firestore recorders for other camera types may not work.

Be incredibly careful with that firewire cable. The firewire system on the JVC ProHD cams was its achilles heel. The design uses PCB-mounted firewire sockets with very light rims with rolled edges which were originally intended to be supported by the clamping sides of casework joins in other appliances like laptops.

On the JVC cams, the rim of this socket is not supported by the camera casework. Because the socket has to pass through the casework through a hole which is not clamped between two separate case halves, clearance is left for the rolled edge to pass through and the sides of the socket are unsupported.

Side load on the cable spreads the socket rim which opens up. It then fails to support the plug body and its conductors in the socket tightly enough, leading to unreliable connection.

To avoid side loading the plug and socket, the cable should be secured to the camera body somewhere and care taken not to get it hooked up on rose bushes outdoors.

As a bodge fix, I inserted narrowly cut pieces of plastic beneath the rolled edge, between the casework and the socket sides to pack some of the clearance and prevent the socket halves from spreading apart.

I have heard of but not seen, that a few owners used clear silicon bathroom sealer, fed around the assembled plug in the socket and into the gap between socket sides and casework to limit movement. The plug became a near-permanent fixture in the socket.

It is recommended that that you never use the camera to a computer for capture because the camera type is essentially end-of-life. Support if still available is usually expensive for replacement of complete PCBs to fix burned out firewire circuits. There were some computers which fried the camera firewire ports.

There are a lot of cautions and suggestions relating to this problem in the old ProHD threads in this forum. One solution to firewire circuit failures was a short cable in which the power conductors were not connected. This was intended to remove possibility of voltages between two appliances interacting to cause damage.

The JVC ProHD cams, despite their age, still produce a pleasing image.

Thanks for that info .

I have been reading through the forum and noted similar comments .

Thankfully , perhaps , I already have a Sony HVR M15 deck , which I use to ingest material from my HVR V1e and DSR 500 ; while it seems that it will work with 24p and 25p footage , it may not cope with 50p footage .

I will be very careful with the firewire port , making sure both devices are turned off before connecting .

1/3" lenses are very hard to find on their own , so for the meantime I've ordered an adaptor which will allow me to use my B4 lens on the control room and elsewhere

For what it's worth - I'm still using two of them and love the images - and for my needs, with everything going to DVD still, no issues at all. Re: the firewire - I leave a 6 pin to 4 pin adaptor in the camera permanently and if I attache a cable, it's secured with a tie to the handle, to take the pressure off it - and with no DC connection on the 4 pin version, it's not something I worry about.

Thanks for that .

The tracking shows the camera in transit and due for delivery tomorrow . My lens adaptor is also in transit from the Ukraine , but hasn't landed in the U.K. yet , so likely to be a bit longer .

The only thing I'm likely to connect via FireWire is the Firestore drive , which I will need to experiment with to see if it will work ; I know there was a dedicated version , which mine isn't , so I'll need to wait and see . A friend who is a BBC cameraman gave me a tip to only use the genuine Apple thin FireWire cables which don't put strain on the socket - this was more for the Firestores on which the sockets are board mounted , and I had to resolder one of mine for this reason .

I know my Canon 2/3" lens won't be ideal for the camera , but it should do as a starting point until something else turns up .

I must admit I never tried it - but I wonder what the lenses that came with the SD 5000 series would be like? I used to have 500, then 5000 cameras and the lenses were very nice - Fujinons - old SD JVCs tend to go for very silly money, complete with lens?

I had thought of that as a stopgap . Although I sold both of my own GY-DV500s , at work we still have a 500 and a 5000 , both with very nice Canon IF lenses .

Problem is , no matter where I've looked , I haven't seen a 1/2" to 1/3" lens mount adaptor for sale ; however I did easily find a B4 2/3" to 1/3" adaptor for a very reasonable price .

The camera arrived this morning , as promised brand spanking new and zero hours on the counters .

Last night I bid on a Canon KT14x44 HD lens and was outbid by $50 , drat . Currently watching a Funinon Th16 lens with a lowish buy it now price - I've read on here it isn't the best lens , so I made an offer a bit below the asking price - if the seller accepts I'll be happy , but I do prefer Canon to Funinon , besides I already have a Canon zoom demand .

I ended up buying the Fujinon , just to get a working lens ; if a Canon turns up I can always sell the Fujinon on .

Although still waiting for the Fujinon lens , my 2/3" to 1/3" lens adaptor arrived today , so I fitted my Canon lens onto the camera .

A few minutes roughly setting the back focus , a quick white balance , and I was recording , having set the camera to HDV 25p mode .

With a few minutes worth recorded to tape , and playing back nicely in the camera , I then went to ingest it into FCP 7 to see how it looks ,

I took the tape out of the camcorder , and put it into my Sony HVR M15AP deck ( which has 'progressive' etched on the front , and lights for " 60i , 30P , 24P , 50i , 25P " spread along the front .

In FCP , I set the sequence to HDV 720p25 , Capture preset to HDV and Device Control Preset to HDV Firewire .

When I went to Log and Capture , the window opened up , I had machine control and when the machine was playing , I could see the timecode in the capture window , but just a black pane and a message 'no data being received from device'

I messed around with various capture settings , sequence settings ( don't think that so much matters until I go to drop a clip into a sequence ) all to no avail .

I can set the camera to DV 50i and ingest that footage which works very nicely indeed , but I can't seem to ingest the JVC HDV footage . Sony HDV 1080i footage from my HVR V1e works very nicely ( I haven't tried playing 1080 progressive through the deck , but I do recall playing it in from the camera OK a long time ago ) .

I checked the user manual for the deck and it says :

Compatible with both interlaced and progressive HDV recording/playback
The unit can record or play back HDV 1080/60i, 1080/ 24p, 1080/30p, 1080/50i and 1080/25p videos.
Also, the unit can play back HDV 720/30p, 720/24p and 720/25p videos.


I then , very carefully , turned off both my computer and my camcorder , then connected the camera via firewire to the computer , and tried playing in from the camera directly . Despite using a cable I know to work with other devices , the camcorder was recognised as being connected , no device control and no data played in .

I'm more inclined to think this is an issue with FCP 7 , than either the camcorder or the deck .

Has anyone been here before ?


EDIT

On further reading through the HVR M15 manual , I came across this

The unit can play back pictures recorded in 720/24p, 720/25p or 720/30p of the HDV format, but you cannot input/output these pictures via the HDV/DV jack.

Notes
HDV/DV jack,

• HDV 720/30p/25p/24p signals can be played back, but cannot be input/output via the HDV/DV jack on the unit. • HDV 720/60p, HDV720/50p and SD 480p/576p signals cannot be input/output, recorded, or played back on the
unit.



Still doesn't explain not being able to ingest directly from the camera though .

Looks Like I need another HDV deck ...

One bit of good news is that the camera does work , kind of , with my Firestore FS4 HD .

Although no trigger from the camera , the Firestore does record M2T files from the camera , and I can drop these onto the Mac Desktop .

It's a start , and with a bit more time I'll figure out how to import HDV footage from the camera .

More good news !

After a bit of time reading manuals , going through both this section of the forum , and the Final Cut Suite section , and then trying again - I got it working perfectly .

I think my main mistake was that I didn't have the mode switch behind the LCD screen set to VTR !

Once I did that , I immediately had machine control and the camcorder started playing in video , which I was able to capture . It does look very nice !

I don't want to continue capturing directly from the camcorder , but with suitable care I can do it short term .

Hopefully , tomorrow I'll get out and shoot some footage , then I'll see what it's like .

Not only can I shot to tape , but my Firestore FS-4 HD records M2T files from the Firewire output , albeit without being triggered from the camera , but if i want to record a full day conference , I'd just want to set it running then leave it going .

My 2/3" Canon lens from my DSR 500 does work very nicely on this camera , even if it is a bit bigger and heavier than ideal , and a bit long being 6.5mm at the short end .

Once I have some footage to work with , I also need to see how it matches footage shot on my HVR V1e , which up to now I've always shot at HDV 1080i , but it does also shoot progressive , so a bit of experimentation will be needed .

I've already noted that I can drop the 25p footage from the JVC onto a 1080i timeline without any problems , but I just need to work out what's best as opposed to what merely can be got away with .

Derek.


My understanding was that there was a dedicated firestore model for the JVC ProHD cameras but if you have managed to get your FS4 working then that is all you need.

I read from your response that you are capturing data from the camera into a Mac computer with FCP7. The Mac computers of the same vintage as your camera were certified firestore port killers. The disasters are well documented in the older forums here.

I would strongly recommend that you do not capture directly from the camera firewire port to your Mac computer unless you have the small isolation cable inserted into the path from the firewire port to the computer.

This short cable apparently has the power supply conductors disconnected so there can never be any conflict between the power supply circuits of the camera and computer. This occurance is apparently what nails the firewire circuit in the camera.

There is another lurking assassin. That is the common carpet spark or static electricity. Before connecting two appliances with the firewire cable or any sort of cable for that matter, touch the shields only which are the shiny outsides of the plugs to a bare shiny metal surface on each appliance so that any static potential between the two appliances is discharged outside of the circuitry before connections are made.

The safest course will be to copy files across from your Firestore. That firewire plug on your camera must be disturbed as few times as possible. It is not a matter of if but when it will mechanically fail and soon afterwards take down the associated electronic circuits with it.

If you have recorded to your camera tape without recording on the Firestore, there is a function in which you can record the playback on the Firestore. Then you can safely copy the files across to the computer.

The extensive menus which interact with physically switched functions of the camera can be confusing and lead to underconfidence and doubts. When you become intuitively familiar with them you will love the camera, I guarantee that.

Bob , thanks for your comments , which I much appreciate . Believe me , I am very uneasy with the situation regarding the FireWire port on this camera , and am now actively looking for a JVC HDV deck .

Given that my camera is still new , and the port has only had cables plugged in with extreme caution a couple of times , I'm seriously considering mixing up some epoxy resin and building it up around the exterior of the port to reinforce it ( I realise that could cause problems opening the camera later ) . I'm also now looking to find some of the thin white Apple FireWire cables which will put minimal strain on the socket , but those for sale are mostly very expensive .

I know there was a Firestore dedicated to the JVC cameras , mine isn't that model but I seem to have some functionality . The M2T files don't import directly into FCP , but I will find a work around ( I think I previously bought Clipwrap for working with MXF files from XDCAM cameras at work , but since upgrading from FCE to FCP7 I no longer need it for that ) it may be lurking somewhere on an external drive . The M2T files I imported last night onto my desktop do play back and look very nice though .

I need to mess around with settings , both on the camera and the Firestore to see if I can get it stopping/starting from the camera trigger .

I do somewhere , by accident rather than design , have a 6 pin FireWire cable that is only wired on 4 pins ; I'll give that a try as it is probably the power pins which aren't connected . I'm also very aware of the static issue as at work ( where I won't be plugging my camera in ) I often get static shocks off the Macs there , thanks to the synthetic carpets in the office . At home , we have wooden floors and it just doesn't happen , but I will still observe precautions and ground the case of my MAC to something like one of the BNCs or some other metal part , maybe the 4 pin XLR , before plugging in to FireWire . I will be ultra careful using it until I find an alternative . if that cable I mentioned doesn't work , I will get a 6 pin to 4 pin adaptor , and use a 6 pin to 4 pin cable to avoid power transfer .

Having only been using it one evening , I don't yet have the confidence to run tapeless , but I am hugely impressed with the image quality from the camera .

A bit further on again .

I dug out that cable again , and metered it through on my Lindy cable tester , which showed no connection on pins 1 and 2 ; double checking on the Firewirestuff.com website , pins 1 & 2 are indeed the ones that carry power .

FireWire 400 Technical Specifications IEEE 1394a (6-pin, 4-pin) (http://www.firewirestuff.com/techspec400.html)

However , with this cable , there is no connection between the camcorder and the computer . Cautious use of a fully wired cable , everything worked again - go figure .

I guess pin 2 ( ground ) , as well as the two twisted pairs , is needed .

I have in the meantime , ordered a couple of 6 pin to 4 pin adaptors , so that I can try using six to four pin cables , with no power . I also ordered an Apple 4 pin to 6 pin thin Firewire cable .

I also got the camcorder triggering the Firestore - in the 'others' menu the setting for 1394 rec trig needs to be 'serial' and not 'synchro' as I had originally presumed .

Firestore now records m2t files and starts and stops with the tape .

I haven't dug out Clipwrap yet , but iSkysoft video converter converts m2t to .mov and these ingest fine into FCP7 . With that working , once I've played a bit more and got confidence in it , then I'll be happy enough just to look at tapes as a backup for archiving , when required , and use the Firestore as the primary recording medium , hence almost never need to connect the camcorder to the computer .

I'm getting there .

Oh , on the subject of HDV decks , the Sony ones will play HDV 1080i and HDV 1080p ; they also play back HDV 720p , but won't output it via Firewire . The JVC ones , on the other hand will play HDV 720p , but not HDV 1080p via firewire , so no universal solution . I therefore think I'll be keeping my HVR M15 , and will keep a look out for a JVC HDV deck when one pops up locally on eBay ( I've saved the search to alert me ) . I also still have a DSR 45AP which really is redundant now , along with my DSR 500WSP , but I see they still fetch good money , so think I'll put it up for sale while I can still get something for it .

In regard using epoxy to fill in around the firewire port, I would not recommend this. The material, especially the catalyst may be chemically hostile to the plastic casework. It does eventually rot the plastic bottles or tubes it comes in.

I think you will find that thin slivers of plastic cut from ice cream containers, fed in with tweezers around the socket to build up thickness and stabilised with silicon sealer will be adequate and capable of being removed.

I would normally advocate water cleanable white bathroom sealer but before it sets, it may also be chemically hostile to the surface coating on the thin metal of the firewire socket and set off corrosion so for me, this material would also be a no go..

QUOTE: "I also got the camcorder triggering the Firestore - in the 'others' menu the setting for 1394 rec trig needs to be 'serial' and not 'synchro' as I had originally presumed". - There was something tricky going on because the real firestore for the JVC that I had dealings with also did that. once you get it sorted and that port stabilised you will find the arrangement very useful if a bit awkward looking.

From memory, you need to keep an eye on those little screws which hold the carrier for the firestore onto the camera body. From memory because they were not intended in the original design to be more heavily loaded in that manner, they tended to work-loosen and get lost or become strip-threaded from constant re-tightening. My personal preference would be to use some silicon sealer on the screw heads and the contact faces of the bracket surrounding the screwholes between bracket and camera body but keep clear of the threads.

Re the epoxy , what I was thinking of , rather than bonding to the casing of the camcorder , was to apply gaffer tape around the socket as a masking layer ( this was just to make it easier to remove , I wasn't aware of corrosion issue ) , then to use an enclosure around the socket to contain the resin . I'm looking at cutting the top off a Lego brick and using the rectangular sides . The main thing is to stop the sides of the socket from spreading . Once it has set , I can dress the epoxy back with my Dremel and a cutting disc .If I need to open the camcorder I can equally cut away with the disc .

With the thin FireWire cable the need might not arise ; I won't do anything before getting and testing it . I'm also looking for right angle FireWire connectors I can use to make my own cables , haven't found any yet , but I only started looking tonight .

The Firestore seems to be working well enough , but the final option might be to look at using something like an Atomos Samurai connected to the HD-SDI output , which would also give 1080i functionality .

It's still early days as I've had the camcorder less than a week , and only been using it for one day . I won't do anything irreversible without weighing all the consequences .

Re mounting the Firestore , the cradle I have is mounted onto the PAG V-mount to PAGLOK adaptor plate and not to the camcorder itself ; this is the same plate I've been using to attach my PAG L95 batteries to my DSR500 and it has been fine ( it was ex BBC kit ) .

A few pictures

Overall view of the camcorder , with Canon lens mounted via Ikon Glass adaptor

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a242/Pontoneer/image1_zpsloyyalgg.jpg (http://s12.photobucket.com/user/Pontoneer/media/image1_zpsloyyalgg.jpg.html)

and some shots showing PAG battery plate and Firestore cradle

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a242/Pontoneer/IMG_0842_zpssxzmuts7.jpg (http://s12.photobucket.com/user/Pontoneer/media/IMG_0842_zpssxzmuts7.jpg.html)

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a242/Pontoneer/IMG_0843_zps6qvogl2u.jpg (http://s12.photobucket.com/user/Pontoneer/media/IMG_0843_zps6qvogl2u.jpg.html)

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a242/Pontoneer/IMG_0844_zps9qqxlgoo.jpg (http://s12.photobucket.com/user/Pontoneer/media/IMG_0844_zps9qqxlgoo.jpg.html)

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a242/Pontoneer/IMG_0846_zpsqto2lups.jpg (http://s12.photobucket.com/user/Pontoneer/media/IMG_0846_zpsqto2lups.jpg.html)

Hi Derek...
I just picked up 2 JVC GY-HD200 cameras recently from Ebay with low hours and in mint condition... they do produce fantastic images... I am having fun using them... I did pick up a Firestore HD unit for the JVC cameras also but have not played with it yet as I am recording to tape...

I can tell you for tape playback you can use the JVC BR-HD50 deck obviously... BUT I was surprised to learn that my Sony HVR-M35U deck will also playback the JVC tapes... I get a nice image on the monitor attached AND it will also send the JVC HDV stream down the HD-SDI output, and I also assume down the firewire (but have not tested that as of yet).... I think this may be the only Sony deck in the HVR line that will play these JVC tapes although I could be wrong on this. I know my HVR-1500A and HVR-25U will not do it.

You might want to look around for a deal on an HVR-M35U deck...

Hi Dave , glad to hear there are others still enjoying these fantastic cameras .

My Fujinon TH16x5.5 lens arrived the other day , in mint condition , apart from missing the lens hood , but I've been in touch with Fuji UK to try to source one .

This Fuji lens really is tiny compared to my Canon lens ( just over half the length ) and much lighter - so much so that it really shifts the balance to the back of the camera when the battery and Firestore are hanging there . I've still to fabricate a bracket to hang a wireless mic receiver on the other side .

Purely by chance , though , the Fuji lens shares the same 82mm filter thread at the front with my Canon lens . It is close enough in external diameter ( 85mm ) that my Canon lens hood can slip on , but since the front barrel of the Fuji lens is made of plastic rather than metal , when the locking screw of the Canon lens hood is tightened , just enough to secure the hood , it deforms the Fuji lens barrel enough to interfere with the internal focus .

I've got an 82mm adaptor for my Lee filter holder , and a matte box which will attach to the holder , both on order , and good to know I can use them with either lens . I still need to play with the two lenses a bit more as I can't yet determine any difference in performance . What I have found ( and expected ) is that my Canon zoom demand controller will only zoom the Fuji in one direction ( had this with previous Fuji lenses ) , but the Fuji zoom demand I also have , which has worked with previous Fuji lenses won't zoom this one in either direction ! I need to get my meter out .

That's interesting re the HVR M35U . I went onto the Sony website and downloaded the user manual .

While it will play the JVC tapes and out put via HD-SDI , it won't output them via Firewire ( see paste of page below ) . My existing HVR M15 will play them via analogue , so I'll need to look at different capture options for either of those machines , although I've also got an alert set on eBay for any JVC BRHD50s that come on the market .

From the Sony HVR M35 manual -


1) The format of the picture output from the HD/SD SDI OUT jack can be set in [SDI/CMPNT] of [VIDEO OUT] in the [IN/OUT REC] menu (page 73).
2) Outputs signals down converted from HDV format. The setting for down conversion can be changed in [DOWN CONVERT] of [i.LINK SET] in the [IN/
OUT REC] menu (page 74).
3) Through the down conversion, HDV 4-channel audio is converted to 2-channel audio. The setting for down conversion can be changed in [DOWN CONV
AU] of [i.LINK SET] in the [IN/OUT REC] menu (page 74).
4) 24p signals are converted to 60i signals by 2-3 pull-down, and then output.
Notes
• HDV 720/30p/25p/24p signals can be played back but cannot be input/output via the HDV/DV jack on the unit. • HDV 720/60p, HDV720/50p and SD 480p/576p signals cannot be input/output, recorded, or played back on the
unit.

Having played a bit with both lenses , there seems little to choose between them other than focal length , at least on initial impressions . The Canon lens , not surprisingly as it was originally much more expensive , is more solidly constructed and made of metal where the Fuji is deformable plastic , but the zoom and focus movements of each are equally tactile .

The Canon , with its 2x doubler , offers more reach , while the Fuji is 1mm shorter at the wide end ( hardly worth bothering about ) . The Fuji is much lighter , which would be a bonus for extended handheld shoots , but it leaves the camera heavy at the back , even without the Firestore and the wireless receiver mounted , and with the shoulder pad all the way back . With the Canon lens mounted , the camera balances nicely on the shoulder with the Firestore and a PAG L95 battery on the back , the wireless receiver makes no noticeable difference .

While I already had a bracket for mounting the Firestore to the camera , it was attached to the V-Mount to PagLok adaptor plate I have for my batteries , I fabricated a bracket to mount my Sennheisser EK3041 wireless receiver onto the two threaded mounting points on the other side of the IDX plate on the camera ; this now stands the receiver off just enough to allow 90deg BNC connectors to be plugged in if required and keeps the receiver just clear of the tape compartment door when open ; it is neat and secure , and doesn't get in the way when the receiver isn't in use , I also made up an XLR cable with 90deg connectors on both ends which allows connection without the cable getting in the way of anything .

On the subject of cables , my Apple thin Firewire cables came in , these really are the best , being very nicely constructed and lightweight so that no strain is put on the camera Firewire socket ; I have it routed round the PagLok adaptor plate and secured with a length of double sided Velcro in such a way that it can't snag on anything and yank at that fragile camera connector .

I haven't handheld the camera with my new matte box which arrived today , but I expect it might be a little front heavy , but that might be compensated for my moving the shoulder mount forward . The matte box will be more for tripod mounted shots anyway .

Fuji came back to me yesterday re the hood missing from the lens I bought , it is still available at a cost of approx £43 , so I ordered one .

Further to the matter of capturing from tape , and not wishing to keep using the FireWire port on my camera , I just bought a Matrox MXO2 capture system , which comes with the PCIe card to go in my MacPro , an express card 34 adaptor to use with my MacBook Pro and a Thunderbolt adaptor , which I don't currently need . This will allow me to play in 720p footage either from the HD-SDI output from my camera , or to use the analogue component outputs from my HVR M15e deck ( which does output HDV 720p ) , until such time as I manage to obtain either an HDV M35 or a JVC deck ( if I end up getting a JVC deck I'd need to also keep my Sony deck to play tapes from my Sony camcorder which are HDV 1080i .

The Matrox unit will also allow me to capture from analogue tape formats , something I very occasionally still get asked for . While once an expensive bit of kit , these things are now very cheap to buy and will generally come in handy .

It should arrive later today .

Incidentally , I sold my DSR 500WSP and my DSR45AP the other day , which goes some way towards what I've been spending on new toys lately , and whilst up in the attic I identified a pile of other stuff I'm unlikely to ever use again , so time for a further clearance .

In case this is relevant to anyone else , the Matrox MX02 arrived at the end of last week ; I got it connected up at the weekend and took the analogue component outputs from my HVR M15AE into the component inputs on it .

There was a bit of faffing around with drivers ( the earlier Matrox V2.6 drivers support FCP 7 , which I still use , but are only supported to OSX Mountain Lion ) . When installing this , FCP 7 shows all the Matrox capture presets within the AV settings menu , but they don't seem to work .


The later V4.6 were designed for OSX Yosemite , but by that time only support FCP X . FCP X does not support direct capture , but the Matrox software comes with a Vetura capture utility . After my getting a bit confused with source video formats versus capture video formats ( you can present a source video in one format to the Matrox , and capture it in another , different , format with real time conversion ) .

After getting the settings sorted out , I was able to capture material from the HD-SDI output of my GY-HD251 into the Matrox .

I found that , amongst a wide range of supported formats , the Matrox supports 720p 50 , but not 720p 25 , so I can't play the tapes in my Sony deck which won't play 720p 50 .... back to looking for a JVC deck I think .

As an update to this thread , I just managed to pick up a BR-HD50E deck to ingest tapes recorded on my HD251E camera . I had been watching out for one for a while , but even just a year ago the going rate still seemed to be in the mid hundreds , but just lately I've noticed a few changing hands for £100 or so and managed to pick this one up for a bargain price . Amazing considering what they cost new not so very long ago .

While the unit looks very nice indeed , it arrived missing its power supply , so I ordered one from an eBay supplier and will have to wait for that now .

Since I still also have my Sony HVR M15E deck , I should now be able to ingest most DV/HDV footage likely to come my way .

At least now I can stop connecting the camera to my computer via Firewire , which has always been a worry .

I was getting on with my Firestore FS-4HD but while it does work , I have noticed issues with audio sync being quite badly off , only with the GY-HD251 ; it works perfectly with my Sony camera recording HDV1080 footage .Perhaps there is something different in the 'proper' DR-HD100 Firestore that was engineered to work with these cameras ... While the sound can be fixed on the timeline , it is a PITA .

Although the two different Firestores look identical , I don't know if it is only a difference in Firmware , or if there is an actual hardware difference .

I'll post back once I get the deck up and running .

Hey Derek - glad you found an HD50... I have 2 I picked up both with low hours... one is a spare :)
Yeah now IF you can find them they seem pretty cheap.
I don't use it a lot , but between my Sony HDV decks and the HD50 I think I have all formats covered.

One of these days I need to try my Firestore unit I picked up from Ebay last year on my HD200.... also since I posted on your thread last year I picked up a nice HD250 a few months ago...

I think these are still great cameras .

I've been a JVC user for a very long time now, and still have most of them - DV500, DV5000, 100 and 200 series and a 750. I've found that the firewire issue isn't a problem as long as you don't use the 6 pin cables I just go down to 4 and back up to 6 with an adaptor. This has kept me safe for years. The problems with the firewire was a niggle with the Focus Enhancements external drive I used for the 100/200 series. Sometimes, it just wouldn't pick up the camcorder Firewire signal. A lot of my stuff is archive work - so I need to blend SD with HD 1080, so 720 is a good compromise edit format for me. Upscaling and downscaling to it is pretty good, and better than taking SD up to 1080. In fact, the best subjective images for the theatre shows I record comes from the 110. The colours are very accurate to the LED lighting we now use. It's more sensitive than the 750, and it just does the job - I still use it, as the record section is still good - the 251 has a dead recorder but firewire still works. I keep meaning to drag out the 5001 - it had a very nice 17x fujinon that I have never tried on the 750 (which has the very nice Canon 14x) I wonder what that will look like. Have you tried any of the SD lenses to see how well they hold up?

Just to update this thread , although I do realise how old it is and that the last contribution was in 2018 !

I do still have my GY-HD 251 , it still has quite low hours and looks brand new . Over the years I mostly used my Sony HVR-V1e , which was so much smaller and handier , besides producing HDV 1080i rather than 720p .

Comparatively recently , I picked up a Sony PDW-F350 for a very reasonable price , having used one at work from new ; then at work we got a Sony PXW-FS9 , so i was given the low hours and mint PDW-F350 from there , which came with the Canon KH10 ex3.6IRSE lens , which is just superb and far better than the SD lens I had been using on my own PDW-F350 , but that lens came originally from my old DSR500 ...

Anyway , my GY-HD251 had been partnered with a Fujinon TH16x5.5 BRMU lens , which was one of the original ones supplied with it , and very nice it was too . However , I'd always preferred Canon video lenses and while one was always a more expensive option over the Fujinon lenses , they were always much more expensive - until I found one on eBay about a week ago for a very reasonable price .

Now I have the Canon KT14x4.4KRSJ lens ; the build quality feels a little bit nicer than the Fuji ; I haven't compared image quality , but the Canon is a little wider at the short end , and of course it works with my Canon zoom demand . I just bought a lens cap for it as that was missing , but otherwise it seems as new , and feels very nice in the operation of the various rings . I think it may be a tad heavier than the Fuji , but not much in it . I will possibly now sell the Fuji on .

While I don't so much use the JVC nowadays , it is a lot smaller than my two Sony PDW cameras , and I could happily live with it .

I've still got all my previous JVCs - starting with the 500, 5000, 100, 200 and 700 series and the 750s I have I really like. Mine had the fuji lenses and they were fine, but I have a Canon wide angle, and (because I bought the wrong one, looking for the wide angle) a Canon 'normal' lens. I agree - they are just a bit nicer, and I get the impression they are sharper, but to be fair, I can't prove it.