auxiliary deck or cheap cam for downloading footage?
 

I’m curious, what do most of you use for downloading dvx-100 footage in order to avoid wearing down the heads? Do you use an auxiliary deck or a cheap cam? And what brand do you use? Thanks for any advice you can provide.

I think most of us are split between a deck and a cheap miniDV camera.
I use a Canon ZR40 as a deck because it was about 1/3rd the price of a deck. Plus it has a built in LCD screen, and is portble, so it is alot more versatile than most decks. Plus it's a camera.

I use a JVC MiniDV/SVHS deck (several models available, mine cost $1000).

Makes great VHS & super VHS copies, cheap and works well.

I bought a Samsung SCH80 (I think) at B&H for $339. MiniDV w/Firewire. I plan on using it as a deck this fall when editing a project I'm shooting this summer. I can't see the advantage of a regular deck costing at least 2X as much, if all you're doing is transferring to a computer.

If that's all you are doing with it, I agree. But I needed much more flexibility (like getting VHS into my system via firewire and making quality VHS dubs). Plus the JVC has a nice remote for reviewing footage and hold up well to wear and tear of shuttling and recording.

<<<-- Originally posted by Stephen van Vuuren : If that's all you are doing with it, I agree. But I needed much more flexibility (like getting VHS into my system via firewire and making quality VHS dubs). Plus the JVC has a nice remote for reviewing footage and hold up well to wear and tear of shuttling and recording. -->>>

Stephen is right. If you want to do VHS dubs or anything more comlex, then you'd need a dedicated deck. If you're just transfering footage to your computer, use a cheap-o camera. Also, the one I got came with a remote control, so check which accessories come with the cheap camera.

I'm very satisfied with my Samsung MiniDV camera. It's tiny, cheap, and completely automatic (almost no picture adjustment is possible), but the images are surprisingly clean.

I use a Panasonic AG-DV1000 deck. Along with the JVC model Stephen has this deck can be purchased for around $1000 or less as well. My production monitor and monitoring speakers for audio is hooked up to it for use with Avid Xpress.

Analog Capture
 

I'm in the cheap cam camp.

Even though I could continue to use my GL2's passthrough feature, I just installed a Canopus ADVC-50 analog to digital video converter. This is an input-only device, but what I like is the 5-1/4" bay it includes that puts the connectors on the front of my video PC. This is just a whole lot more convenient than having two devices to get the analog stuff. That will be nice because one of my projects involves a lot of historical VHS and 8mm video tape.

The Canopus ADVC products have locked audio, eliminating the audio sync problem lots of folks have with the inexpensive analog capture solutions. The bay's jacks include 4-pin 1394, S-Video, and RCA.

Thanks guys for your invaluable info!