sony and canon compatibility?

hi all,

i'm a newbie here and have found similar problems browsing through the posts, but this one seems unique afaict. a mini-dv tape recorded on a sony dsr-30 does not play back well on any of three canon xl-1 cameras that i have tested. yet tapes recorded in any of the cameras will play back on the deck. is there an issue with the mini-dv "standard" across manufacturers? or is it likely a tape transport speed issue? we've recently had the drum assembly replaced in the xl-1 btw due to horizontal "banding". from what i have read this also seems to be a typical problem of many xl-1's. so, i can't see the transport speed being out on the canon.

any input is appreciated.

monty

[Chris Hurd]

From the way you describe it, my guess is that the Sony deck needs adjustment. Just a guess,

thanks for the reply.....

one question tho. if the sony deck needs adjustment, then why is it that tapes recorded in any of the canons as well as a dsr-300 (dv-cam) play back fine on the sony? is it possible then, that the record head is out of alignment? i'm not sure if this is likely as the sony deck has been serviced recently as well. might be worth another look. are there any similar groups as this for sony products?

monty

[Chris Hurd]

Well, I don't know of any similar groups, but a user group wouldn't be able to help you anyway... these cameras and decks *must* be serviced by authorized repair facilities only; there is nothing that you can do as an end-user.

One thing I am curious about, though: why would you need to play a DSR30 tape on an XL1?

gets a little complicated :)

a client has raw footage on a betacam sp, and wanted it dumped to mini-dv so he could transfer it to his powerbook via firewire from his xl-1 to edit using i-movie. since the xl-1 has no analog inputs, this seemed to be the best way to do it. we also tried dumping the betacam sp tape to dv-cam, and firewire it from the dsr-30 into the xl-1, but it didn't work either. that seems like a whole other issue there :P ended up getting the client to bring his powerbook in and went from dv-cam to his powerbook via firewire.

p.s.

xl-1 and dsr-30 were both serviced by authorized repair centers.
i was wondering about sony user group to see if anybody was having similar problems there with possible explanations.

thanks,

monty

[ja135321]

I think Canon is like Microsoft. They dont like to play well with others.

The Sony dsr-30 is a DVCAM deck and not a miniDV, the two formats are slighty different - the tape runs about 30% quicker for DVCAM - a 60min miniDV tape will last about 40 mins in a DVCAM camera or Deck.

You can record DVCAM onto a MiniDV tape, and a DVCAM deak will play back MiniDV - but a miniDV only deak (or XL-1) will not usally be able to playback a DVCAM formated tape.

That said 'most' sony miniDV camcorders will playback DVCAM, this is a bonus. But the miniDV camcorders of other manufacturers won't.

I have shot on a hired DSR-500 (dvcam), and I borrowed my freinds single chip sony miniDV camcorder to play the footage into my NLE - over firewire with no major problems. The DVCAM format would be a pain to work with if it wasen't for the fact that sony miniDV cameras are cheap and readily avalible.

[ja135321]

The above post is absolutely correct. I've checked it out a few times and it is absolutely true. Too bad, everyone has to learn it the hard way.