Hi all. We recently had our Sony DSR-80 DV Deck eat a tape and crap out on us, and we're looking at a $1300 repair bill. This deck is pretty old though, and I was wondering if there was a more up to date replacement we could buy at a decent price. We don't really use a lot of the higher functions of the DSR-80 (whatever those are) we mainly need it for playing back to and recording from a G5 Mac that we have set up with Final cut for editng. Oh and for filming we use a Canon XH A1. We also had the DSR-80 on a rack with other items that were all controlled by an AMX touch screen panel, so a deck that also has this remote operational capability would also be nice although not entirely necessary

So any reccomendations?, or would our best bet be to just throw 1,300 down on getting the old DSR-80 repaired?

Hmm, Canon HV 30 perhaps?


CS

Sony HVR-15 HDV/DVCam/DV deck might work, depending on what functions you need. A step up from the old DSR-11 DVCam deck.

HVRM35U - HDV, DVCAM, miniDV, Firewire, HD-SDI, LAN-C
HVR1500A - HDV, DVCAM, miniDV, Firewire, HD-SDI, RS-422

So any reccomendations?, or would our best bet be to just throw 1,300 down on getting the old DSR-80 repaired?

I am not sure what you mean when you said it "crapped out" on you. Some decks shut down if they do not unload properly. I have saved decks in the past by removing any old tape bits or debris that might be stuck in the tape path, giving them a good cleaning, and mechanically resetting the transport back to the unload position by hand. Every deck is different but you really don't want to force anything or try to overpower the tiny tape transport. But I would at least look into it before trashing it or spending $1300 on it either. In my experience 99% of tape jams are a result of FOD. Either build-up on the heads and tape transport or something foreign (sticky?) on the tape.

If you aren't going to fix it, do you want to sell the audio board out of it? My audio board is malfunctioning. Thanks mike@wildvisions.net

I'd go for that Sony M35. I believe it's the one that plays almost anything, including Canon's 24F. And it's about 1/3 what you paid for the 80 if you bought it new.

Is a good choice, but the M15AU and the M25AU both read 20f and 30f... I've tested it and it's worked for me.

You've played a tape on the M15 that was recorded by an XH or XL HD Canon camera shooting at 24F?

Played the tape on an m15Au. Must be the A version. Also works on the Z7U as well. Coincidentally, also got a pal tape to play on a NTSC V1U. That was really odd, but it worked.

That's interesting because other threads on here have said the 35 is the first one that plays Canon's 24F. Looks like we've been bombarded with disinformation on that issue for a long time. With a deck under $2K that will play 24F, well that would probably entice a lot of people to get one of the Canon HD cams who otherwise would not. When I was hooked up with a production house I would not have bought the Canon because there was no deck. Now that I have my own system, I can live without one, but for the price of the M15 I might get one anyway.

It has to be the "A" version. Not the first model.

THIS:
Sony | HVR-M15AU Desktop HDV VTR | HVR-M15AU | B&H Photo Video (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/568089-REG/Sony_HVR_M15AU_HVR_M15AU_Desktop_HDV_VTR.html)

NOT:
Sony | HVR-M15U Desktop HDV VTR | HVRM15U | B&H Photo Video (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/430959-REG/Sony_HVRM15U_HVR_M15U_Desktop_HDV_VTR.html)

Good Luck...