Burning sensation around my Deck

i am trying to figure out what effect the deck has on capture.

simply put, i shoot with a dvx100b. i use 30 and 24p 75% of the time. i cant afford a deck right now and i have been using one of my dvx as both pass thru and capture device.

if i buy a consumer cam say a 300 buck cheepo like sony or jvc will it negatively effect my capture quality?

i would be taking the tape out of a cam that shoots 30/24p and then putting it into a cam that doesn't to capture via firewire.


The tittle of this post is not necessarily reflect the view point of this forum.

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

1) A shot of penicillin will cure the burning sensation in your di.... err, nevermind -- misread the title.

2) The heads will be of a lesser quality in a consumer camera, and will theoretically wear out faster, and give crappier performance. However, it's done quite frequently.

3) A consumer cam is a reasonable solution to monitoring DV -- you could also do something like the ADVC series.

<<<3) A consumer cam is a reasonable solution to monitoring DV -- you could also do something like the ADVC series.>>>

But it's good to know that almost all camcorders translate between analog and digital with the setup level wrong giving you bright digital or darker analog depending on direction. The ADVC series can be set up not to do that--to get the video levels accurate.

Koz

Koz, can you confirm #2 -- that cheap heads are all that stand between you and saving $1000 on a DV deck? i.e., except for longevity, do you get the same quality of importing?

<<<do you get the same quality of importing?>>>

I'm going with yes. One of the beauties of digital is that it's relatively divorced from the deck it's on. As long as the machine can move the tape and somehow suck the bits off and push them out the FireWire port, you should be good to go.

As above, it's done every day and the only shortcomings have to do with analog translation.

Koz

are you saying that the 350 dollar cam is analog and my g5 is digital and that i need something in between to make the convertion better?

i am also thinking that if the cam has worse heads that it would be converting a crappier image.

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

If you're sticking your DV tapes into it then the cheap camera isn't going to be analog. It'll be DV.

Koz was referring to analog conversion as it happens when you use the camcorder to feed a CRT monitor. If it isn't sending setup (7.5IRE blacks) and you're using North American NTSC then that signal is basically useless for recording. And the device may be mostly useless for capture from analog sources as well.

To the question at hand, I personally would recommend that you keep using your production camera for capture. It will treat the tape better, it will avoid compatibility issues, and it really shouldn't put too much additional strain on the camcorder*. Ands for analog passthrough it isn't using any moving parts anyway.

* To avoid that extra load on the deck mechanism I also recommend capturing whole tapes or at least large chunks, and then subclipping. Shot by shot capture does put a lot of wear and tear on.

I think this thread wins the prize for "most creative subject line" of the year!

mark

I'm not a promoter of using a production camera as a deck (unless that is specifically what that camera was purchased for). But I can tell you this. I have been using a consumer camera for quite a while now as a deck and I've had zero problems as far as capture is concerned. I've captured footage shot 24p with pulldown, 30p, and 60i shot on different cams (Canon XL2, Panasonic DVX, Sony Z1 [DV], JVC GY-HD100 [DV] among others). All captured off of my little consumer cam. Only downside is that the firewire port on my cam burned out (after about 3 years worth of use) and I had to get a new one. Plus side, I had the Extended Warranty and ended of getting a newer model (same brand camcorder) by just paying an extra $10.

I since purchased an HVX200 and trying to move into a tapless workflow, but still get use out of my little consumer cam "deck".

Not saying this is the best route to go, but hands on testimonial from someone who has done what you're asking and letting you know it can be an affordable/workable solution.

Steven Gladney

Sometimes the obvious is hidden in plain view.

i was thinking that even is i lost 2 - 5% quality in a lot of cases it would make a big of a difference. i just dont want my shoot cam to be on 8 hrs a day.

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

steve
what kind of consumer cam are you using?

i was thinking of staying in the panasonic family maybe the gs300 if i can find a good deal. i kinda want it to be a 3ccd cam.

what is your output?

i do a lot of web and dvd finals. i may have a few commercials go to broadcast every month but not as much as the other.

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

J., assuming we're still talking about capturing DV tapes there is NO loss of quality from using a different deck such as the Cheap One. It's a digital transfer of digital data.

The only potential loss of quality is from tape damage or momentary dropouts, which could happen in either machine but may be somewhat more likely in a Cheap One.

If you're talking about capture from analog sources, then yes - there are going to be better and worse devices, and attention needs to be paid to capabilities and settings.