Hi folks,

One question: Doesn´t it matter what kind of deck/camcorder you use. If it is a DV unit, the import with Firewire/iLink will stay in the same quality as imported directly from the XL1s, for example?

Ivan

It's not the deck or cam you're playing the dv off of, it's the capture board you're recording (capturing) into.
The deck or cam should be sending straight digital info with no compression.

I use a Sony dsr-40. Love the various input and output connex- aka S video out, and flawless (knock on wood) machine control via Premiere and my DV500 (onboard capture card.) (the dv500 does change the input 'quality' into it's own codec. Tho they'll tell you it's lossless compression.)

ZR-40 as a deck?
 

Curious if anyone has used a ZR40 as a deck to save on the heads of their GL2. onecall.com has factory refurbished units for 350 bucks and they are a canon authorized dealer. I know they aren't a board sponsor but I don't think board sponsors are offering these units refurbished so hopefully I'm not breaking the rules. Just looking at options...

Max

Max,
I'm not a big fan of using small cams as decks for a variety of reasons, the most prominent of which are as follows.

1. Small, consumer cameras' transports are just not designed for heavy deck use, especially if it involves alot of cueing starts/stops.

2. If you ultimately end up buying a deck, you will have basically paid the price of the deck plus the price of one (or more) inexpensive camcorders for that deck.

On average, how many hours of footage do you capture in a week?

Some people have used the small cameras as decks with success. While tape handling is not very robust as would be the case with a real deck they are low cost, work for occasional editing, and give a limited backup camera capability as a bonus.

Is there a recommended robust deck that be can used to play back our little mini tapes? I ask this in follow up to the general discussion of whether you can get by with using a cheaper mini camera to serve as your deck.

Hello Barrie,
I really like the Panasonic AG-DV1000 deck for miniDV-only. I've used one for over 2 years and had no troubles. Firewire-equipped, great for captures, very robust, small and lightweight, under $1,000.

I've been using a Sony DHR-1000 for about 4 years now. Works well, and it does full size tape too, allowing projects up to 3 hours to be dumped to a single tape tape. It supports both FIREWIRE and LANC control.

cheapest deck ?
 

I've used my camera as a deck in the past but now that I'm getting a GL2 I'd prefer to find an inexpensive deck. I'm not a pro; at least I'm not currently making any money from this so I can only afford an inexpensive deck. Anyone done any research recently on inexpensive decks? I only need the most rudimentary functions. If there are no decks under $500 I'll probably get a refurb camera to use as a deck.

I've been looking for an affordable solution too. Cheap (less than $800.00 or so) VTR's do not exist. Probably because there is a fairly small market for such a soecialized piece of gear.
The average consumer/pro-sumer of a miniDV cam generally is not in the market for one, and the pro level user wants one that will work for pro level jobs (i.e. lots of hours of play time + with the features demanded by the industry).
So i'm just going to bite the bullet and get a JVC VS30U. It's about $820 from Pro-Tape or Zotz and it gives tha added bonus of being able to dub to S-VHS.

The other options are use the GL2 (if less than a couple hours of tape per week) or buy a basic consumer cam like the ZR40 (about $400)

Hope this helps,
c

I was thinking of buying a vs30U until I read some of the threads here and on dv.com. The vs30u has a bad rep for its firewire implementation. BUT, I don't own one and have never seen one. Your mileage may vary. You may want to do a bit more research before getting one.

Bud, the only miniDV deck you are going to get under $500 is a Canon ZR40 or similar camcorder. It's actually fairly ergonomic as a video deck. Sitting normally, you flip the LCD screen to sit flat against the camera, facing out, and have all the VCR buttons sitting right in front of you. The tape loads from the bottom which is so-so, but for the price, most people can live with it.

Plus it's a camcorder! Who couldn't use a second camera?

I use my ZR45 as a deck to save my GL2. But I essentially only import video from tape then edit and then usually export the finished product out to another tape (for archival). I don't use the cam for frequent or rapid tape repositioning, simplyt import a tape then export. IT work great for that and becomes a second bum around cam to use where I woudl not bring the GL2.

buydig.com has ZR40s for $409, ZR60s for $425.

I have a GL2 and am looking very hard at the ZR60 as a deck. Part of this is superstition, my thinking that my tapes will be safer if they are used only on Canon transports. And I do like the notion of having a backup cam.

But see the comments in the "ZR40 as Deck" thread in this forum.

Take a look at Panasonic Palmcorders- they're inexpensive and produce fairly nice video themselves. I use one and have had zero problems with it. And since many here use/recommend Panasonic Mini-DV tapes- we know their wont be issues with tape types......good luck.