Kieth you are absolutely right. I feel the same way... Why use your $5000 dollar camera as a deck? You are putting much wear and tear on your head. It is cheaper to buy another little camera or deck than it is to replace your head on your camera. The problem is that after spending $5000 on the camera another couple 100 on a case and then tripod, extra batteries etc... it is hard to cough up another $300 on a little camera or more for a deck. Also FYI the problem with FCP and Canon's seems to be across the board. Meaning, I went and bought one of the little ZR? models to use for capturing and discovered it woudn't work either. So like Keith said, go buy a little $200 Sony to use for capturing. They work just fine. Until Canon wants to address this problem they will continuue to drive people to use other brands.

Obviously you've never had a cheap camera or deck eat your priceless footage.

So why are the chances any less that your XL2 will not do the same thing?

Good point. The first time I lost a tape was with an XL1.

*sniffle*

I've captured several hundred hours of footage using the trusty ebay'ed TRV-17 and it's not showing any signs of giving up. In fact, the only problem I've had with munched tapes and worn heads was on my Panasonic MX-3000. I've only used that as a playback device for a total of maybe 3 hours during the 3 years I've owned it.

I know exactly what you mean about laying out any more $$ after plunking down some $6-7k (including mics, batteries, hard case, etc...) for my XL2, fortunately I worked my way up to the XL2 and already had this TRV17.

Now that I've upgraded to the XL2, I feel bad about editing the stuff with Premiere 6.0 on my old 2.6GHz P4 system... So I'm looking at probably another grand or more to get Premiere Pro and a dv raptor or edius or something.... Actually, I'm considering switching to FCP and a G5 for doing all the video work. Or perhaps I'll give Vegas 5 a twirl... decisions decisions

I'm sure the Xl2 deck is probably a bit better as far as parts than your average consumer camera but any deck can eat a tape. And I have had the same sony piece of junk camera for 8 years that I have not had a single problem with in that regard. When its your time it is your time and its usually the worst time possible.

Keith
I went from premiere on various systems for almost 8 years to FCPHD and don't have any regrets. I really like the way the program works and looks. I t just feels a bit more solid to me. That is just my opinion and I'm sure a bunch of premiere guys are about to jump all over me but that is my opinion.

First a little fcp snobbery. FCP rules. Second, you get Live Type and Sountrack for free when you buy FCP, almost reasons in and of themselves to switch to FCP. God I love Soundtrack. Beyond that I really hate dealing with Windows. That's my personal thing and if you use OS X for a few months it gets painful to go back to Microsoft products. Flame on if necessary.

Anyway, about using a cheap camera for a deck. I don't see any harm in it. But at the same time I think it's not entirely necessary. You have to ask yourself how long you expect to be shooting on the XL2 in the first place. And like it or not we're all going High Def in three years. That's about it. Maybe sooner, but no later than three years and nothing except family movies will be shot on SD. And you have to figure, that even if you ride your XL2 hard and use it as a deck, it's still going to last you three years. XL1's have lasted twice as long.

So I figure use the thing as a deck. And in three years give it to your dad so he can shoot some home movies.

Douglas

I rarely say "OMG"...but OMG!
I just popped up Soundtrack for the first time. What a great piece of software. It's a lot like Garage Band but it's totally on speed. I recommend FCP HD. You, sir, will NOT be let down!

I promised I would try and repost:
I was having a problem with my new LaCie D2 and the XL2 being connected via firewire at the same time. I separated the two by installing a PCI firewire card. This did the trick.
I guess the D2 and the XL2 was just a little '2' much for one bus...heh..

heh...