Does JVC's BR-HD50 Deck read Sony Handycam HDR-HC1 recored tape?
 

A customer of mine sent some HDV footage shot on the Sony Handycam HDR-HC1 for us to maybe use as b-roll, but all I get is timecode when playing back on our JVC BR-HD50 deck. The deck has on option for 1080i... is Sony doing something different with it's recording to tape for that camera? From what I have read the Canon H1 tapes will not work with our deck but that was something that Canon was doing that was different, yes?

Could not find anything via search related to this.

No. No JVC equipment will play any Sony HDV tapes, nor will it play any Canon tapes.

It's not anything Sony's doing different, it's that the JVC deck has no provision for the 1080 format at all.

The only thing the deck can do is cross-convert a 720p tape for a 1080i output. But it cannot read or play 1080i tapes at all.

Thank you Barry!

While I'm on the subject...

Does the Sony HVR-M10U play both flavors of HDV? Or... do you know of another deck that does? Although we use the JVC HD100 camera it would be great to be able to aquire footage shot with other HDV cameras.

The M10U only partially supports JVC footage. You cannot use any Sony product to digitize JVC footage. The two formats are basically incompatible.

The Sony products will play back 720/30p footage, but only to the analog outputs. So you could use a Sony product to preview a JVC 30p tape, but you could not use it to digitize because the Sony products will not output the JVC data on the firewire.

Don't know about 720/24p though -- the Sony may not play back the JVC 24p at all (which wouldn't be surprising, as JVC's older gear won't play back their 24p either!)

The Sony deck won't play Canon 1080/24F or 1080/30F footage either.

Basically, what you're asking for is what everyone wants, and what doesn't exist: a universal HDV deck. There is no such thing, as of yet, nor has any manufacturer hinted at any forthcoming.

I was afraid that might be the case. I can't bare the thought of buying another deck (or two) just for that.

Well, thanks again Barry!

Not true at all!

You can read and write 24p to the HD1/HD10 with no problem via FireWire.

Yes you can transport it over firewire, but you can't play it. It won't display. It can transport it but it can't play it back.

In a perfect world I might be able to get by with only 24p... but not in reality.

Regardless, thanks again both of you.

Steve, I bought your handbook last night for the HD100, good stuff!

I think it's amazing that the sony hc1, fx1, and z1 all can playback 720p hdv tapes, but that the jvc deck cannot playback anything 1080i. As far as bang for your buck goes, buy a sony deck, and use it with the JVC camera shooting in 720p. You can have the benefits of 720, with a much more flexible deck.

Except that the JVC deck can use a full size tapes and has an RS422 control, which is much more precise than FW, especially when you are dealing with HDV. So, as always, no one piece of equipment has it all...

No you can't, because the Sony deck is completely useless as far as editing JVC footage goes. The Sony deck lets you view JVC footage, but it doesn't let you digitize it.

Exactly. Those needing to capture 24p via 1394 need only pop in a tape and capture the tape to disk. Scene Dectect will auto separate the shots. Now one looks at their footage on the computer and does their logging. No stress on the tape. Play it once.

You can digitize JVC footage in the sony deck. I've done it myself.
Uncertain about the 24p. However with FCP there is no support for it anyway.
Makes no difference.

The the JVCV BR deck has anyone else noticed how much plastic they used. It just feels cheap, and not as rugged as other broadcast decks. Just my observation. If they could improve the cassette door on the deck I would feel more at ease with the limited warranty.

...other 'broadcast' decks start at at least $10k and go very quickly up. And, BTW, the Sony HVR-M10 is more expensive than the JVC HD50U and it is all plastic.