Slightly off topic but a good 1/3 of my money spent on a new camera is on a complementary VTR. With that said, has anyone who bought the hd100 also get the jvc br-hd50?

I really want reviews of the deck. Especially how it handles sony hdv tapes. right now it's the only large format hdv VTR out there.

I really want reviews of the deck. Especially how it handles sony hdv tapes.

AFAIK, it doesn't handle Sony HDV at all.

Confirmed -- it will not play Sony HDV at all.

It will play back DVCAM for standard-def, but it refuses to play Sony HDV in any way.

Disappointing, i thought it would at least capture from it- maybe not display but dump into the firewire interface. :(

But other than that, does it seem like a solid deck? Does anyone actually have one?

I actually had one on order, but cancelled it because of the Sony incompatability.

From what I can see...the Firestore may be a better alternative right now. At least you can take that to a Sony client and to a post session on it or copy all over to the editor hds.

From all that I can deduece?...it is a problem with Sony holding their cards close to their vests...not a problem with JVC oversight in design.

if you WANT to be able to edit ALL HDV formats and save HD100 video heads from hard work, follow these 3 steps:

1- Buy the GY-HD100 to do your shooting if JVCs 720p is your choice.
2- Also, Buy the JVC deck to handle easily JVC's HDV 720p + All MiniDV + all DVcam.
3- Finally, wait some months and buy the CHEAPEST Sony HDV mini handycam available, so you can download/upload any SONY 1080i HDV to and from your computer when you need to.

That way you can edit ANY HDV/DVCAM/MiniDV format available for the lowest cost...

Please correct me if I'm wrong!

L

The stupid thing is, not only will the JVC deck not play Sony HDV, but the Sony HDV deck won't play JVC HDV.

What type of standard allows the use of the same logo on two completely incompatible products in this way. They should both be able to at least play each others tapes, and as a deck, they really should be able to record in both formats...

I certainly wouldn't spend money on a deck with such limitations, although I can understand how someone who captures a lot could still get good use from one.

One interesting thing about the BR-HD50 deck. It accepts *full size* cassettes. I wonder how long it'll be before we see full-size HDV cassettes hit the market...

Agreed. I'll bet the JVC HD7000 will have large tape support, but I'd love to see a HD100 in a DV5100 body (adapted to 1/3") with large tape support.

How much extra do you think that would cost if they did it? There would also be much better euronomics for mounting hard drives than the painful way the HD100 does it, not to mention it would probably be better balanced.

I'm split between wanting a high res B/W viewfinder or the colour LCD VF with focus assist...

The stupid thing is, not only will the JVC deck not play Sony HDV, but the Sony HDV deck won't play JVC HDV.
Only partly true. The Sony deck has a partial playback provision for JVC HDV -- the Sony FX1 can play back JVC HD1 tapes to analog output. It can't play them to firewire (i.e., you can't use any Sony equipment to digitize any JVC tapes!) And I don't know whether the Sony can play back/transport ProHD 24P. But for analog viewing, the Sony can view JVC 30P tapes.

The JVC gear has no provision for recognizing Sony HDV at all. And Sony gear cannot clone or transport any JVC data over firewire. But the Sony stuff can at least be used to view JVC tapes over the analog component outputs.

And I don't know whether the Sony can play back/transport ProHD 24P.

That'd be a negatory on that, Bob.

Believe me, I tried.

Roger. Makes sense, actually, since even JVC's early deck says that it can't play 24P footage either...

seems strange that the Sony can read the JVC tape, decode the transport stream and output 720p yet it can't route the digital stream straight to the 1394 port, which I would have thought to be easier than analogue out.

I must admit I prefer the Sony deck with the LCD screen, however large tape support could be pretty handy too.

What about SD footage? Or is this across both HDV and SD formats?

I could be very wrong but I think both with do DV from any standard DV source. 576p/480p (which technically arn't DV I think) may be a little problematic, and I would also be careful if the Sony will play back any of the 24fps modes of the JVC.

Hopefully someone else has more on this.

Both play back miniDV. The JVC can also play back DVCAM.

The 480/60p and 576/50p modes are standard-definition resolution, but they aren't NTSC or PAL or DV. They're HDV modes, encoded in MPEG-2. As such they play on the JVC, but I don't know whether the Sony has any ability to play them back or not.

Does anyone have link to the intruction manual for this product?

Does anyone have link to the intruction manual for this product?

Hello Andrew...
Here is your link...
http://books.jvcservice.com/booklist.asp?Model=BR-HD50U/E
Hope this will help you..somehow!

I had used this deck...and it seems that it works fine until now - I have used MDvPRO tapes from JVC with both DV and HD footage!

I just don't see a reason to buy the deck. The Firestore solution is way cheaper and it can hold up to 80Gb in footage. How many tapes is that? No capturing, no moving parts. That's the way I'm going.

I had used this deck...and it seems that it works fine until now - I have used MDvPRO tapes from JVC with both DV and HD footage!

Is there any real difference between a HDV or ProHD tape and a normal mini DV? I thought it was just a re-branding to sell them for more. Wouldn't good old Fuji mini DV tape be good for the HD100?

Is there any real difference between a HDV or ProHD tape and a normal mini DV? I thought it was just a re-branding to sell them for more. Wouldn't good old Fuji mini DV tape be good for the HD100?

I don't know about any other brand of tape made for HDV, but the Sony tape, and presentations from BASF, demonstrate why the more expensive tape is better. Not only fewer dropout potential, but greater error correction due to +4dB better s/n ratio, which can mean a better picture, because the camera has fewer errors to correct for.

I just don't see a reason to buy the deck. The Firestore solution is way cheaper and it can hold up to 80Gb in footage. How many tapes is that? No capturing, no moving parts. That's the way I'm going.

Well I need a deck because I can't tell my clients and other cameramen to send me firestore drives to edit from. While that might be a good idea for my own personal capture (and a good way of counterweighting the HD100). I don't think deckless is a viable workflow option.

I don't know about any other brand of tape made for HDV, but the Sony tape, and presentations from BASF, demonstrate why the more expensive tape is better. Not only fewer dropout potential, but greater error correction due to +4dB better s/n ratio, which can mean a better picture, because the camera has fewer errors to correct for.

Really? And here I thought mini-DV was mini-DV.