There has to be something more affordable than a DSR-11. What is everyone else using? I'm a solo operator and I just don't think I can justify dropping nearly $2K on a glorified VCR.

As much as I hate doubling my VX2000 as a capture deck, and the crappy workflow that results, maybe it's the way to go. I just don't see much in the way of sub-$1k mini-DV decks.

I use a Sony GV-D900, can be bought on eBay for under a grand ( where I got mine ). Love it. The LCD gives me a great way to view my footage ( and/or show clients ) on location. Also use it as a pass through to my external monitor.

- Ray

www.undergroundplanet.com

If you want a deck then as said above the DSR-11 is the thing to go for. No problems loading the large tapes on mine, you just have to a)only push the middle and b)push 'em all the way into until you feel the deck grab them. If that doesn't cure it, get it fixed, it should work better than what you're saying.
One often overlooked feature of the DSR-11, it does PAL and NTSC, can come in very handy as I don't know of any other deck that does that.
We've got 4 of these in total, at least three of them get a regular caning being rented out and apart from the odd broken door they just keep working. I've yet to workout what value there is in most of the more expensive DVCAM decks from Sony either, well apart from the DSR 2000 which will track anything but it costs a fortune.

There are cheaper MiniDV only decks from Sony, I wouldn't touch them myself, they're really designed as field recorders, the flimsy buttons on them aren't too reliable.

Bob.

One option is to use a camcorder... optura 20 and gs70 are top loading tape mechanisms, analog-digital passthrough, and excellent b-roll cameras (best bang for the buck image quality in their price range). There are other cheaper options of course, including cameras with defective optics (you may see these on eBay?).

As far as 'real' decks go, JVC sells the cheapest ones. Many people report having to send their models in for service... I would research the particular model you are looking at, because I don't think it applies to all models.

Panasonic sells some decks that are a little cheaper than a DSR-11, read but don't record DVCAM, and handle 7.5IRE properly (they don't put 16 16 16 RGB/digital values at 0IRE). As well I believe they have audio meters and a headphone jack (so you don't need a mixer or whatever to provide metering).

I have a Panasonic AGDV1000 and I couldn't tell you what it's missing because it works perfectly for my purposes -- just a simple tape capture/preview device. Cost to me was $995 two or three years ago...

- jim

The DSR-11 fit some very specific needs for me and there is still nothing that does the job for less money.

I needed to capture from large shell DVCam tapes. We shoot on a Sony DSR500 and that's the cassette format. If the deck couldn't accept those tapes it wasn't a consideration.

One advantage of using a deck like this over a camera is that the tape transport is faster. You can find a point on the tape more quickly when you batch capture. It's not a huge deal unless you're very busy and time is money.

More expensive decks might provide component or even SDI input options but, personally, I don't consider DV25 to be a desireable mastering option. It's okay for aquisition but not much of a final medium because it will degrade text and graphics. So lack of these nicer inputs doesn't bother me.

Rob Mack

Jim,

The AGDV1000 looks like the right choice for me. Where'd you get yours?

Rob,
if you're recording/capturing DV or DVCAM then SDI doesn't help one little bit, in fact it makes things worse. The only reason Sony makes decks with those expensive I/O options is for places that need to feed switchers/routers that cannot handle 1384. Also quite a few Avid systems will only accept component video. It's a lossy way to handle DV.
Bob.

Yep.

I think you're looking at it from a DV-centric viewpoint, though. Rather, I'd say that higher end DV decks include SDI and component I/O so they can fit into non DV (or at least less homogenous) facilities. The important use is to get footage out from DV25 into systems that use SDI but not 1394.

RGB input would be nice on a DV deck, but SDI would be most useful for output.

Rob Mack

That model looks pretty good but I think they're going to get scarce. Seems that panasonic may have stopped producing them. All they list on their web site is the AGDV2500, which looks like a good alternative to the DSR11.

Rob Mack

I use a JVC SR-VS30E that has given excellent results. I bought mine from here:

http://www.videoguys.com.au/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=144

I understand only too well what you mean, we keep a DSR 45 for just that sort of thing. I wonder how much all that transcoding contributes to the bad rap DV25 gets in some circles.
Bob.

That model looks pretty good but I think they're going to get scarce. Seems that panasonic may have stopped producing them. All they list on their web site is the AGDV2500, which looks like a good alternative to the DSR11.
============
It was replaced with the AGDV2000 and then by the AGDV2500 which seems reasonably priced at $1549.95.
I would be very wary of buying a JVC deck or any other JVC product for that matter.

John

Well, my emplorers have a second business producing docs. They recently finished a doc called Ballet Russe (coming to au later this year). The film was shot on DV25 on a DSR500, aquired from tape over SDI, edited on Media100 and Media100-844, and then uprezed to HD with a Schnell & Wilcox converter. I saw an HD projection of it at Sundance and it really looked great.

Mind you, much of the film was stills and archival footage that had never seen a DV25 encode, and absolutely none of it ever went back down to DV25. The conversions from DV25 to 4:2:2 8bit and 10bit always looked fine.

You just need to be aware of what a particular transcode is going to do to you.

(time passes...) I just checked the deck at work. It's a DSR60 with SDI card. No 1394 on this deck, although it's a DV/DVCam deck.

Rob Mack

I've been quite happy with my DSR-11. Very solid, and very speedy when FFWD or RWD.

Jkrepner,

Can you use the DSR-11 to pass a signal from Vegas to an external monitor for preview? That would, of course, be a must-have feature for a Vegas editor.

Scott