What do you recommend I use to transfer my footage to my computer? I don't want to use my pd170. I fear wearing it out.

Any help?

Use your friend's PD170.

Haha! Good one Keith.

Paul, you may want to consider picking up an el-cheapo DV camera and use it solely as a miniDV deck. I know lots of us around here have that.

Alternatively you could either pick up a miniDV/DVCAM deck, but those can be 'spensive if all you're looking to do is have something to grab your footage from the tape.

DV cameras are getting so cheap these days, I wouldn't be surprised if pretty soon AOL starts shipping them in place of all those CDs and DVDs. OK maybe not that cheap, but you get my drift.

Cool. There is no loss in quality when transfering from an el-cheapo?

It's all digital Paul. If the camera can read the tape then there
will be no loss.

Paul, before you buy "el-cheapo", be sure that is made by Sony. I had troubles with DVCAM play from non-Sony cams. On the other side very cheap TRV14E (I am in Europe) played DVCAM tapes like a charm...

strange u shoudl mention that, many people have said the same thing.. then one day i had a client come in for a re-edit, source tape was on DVCam..
so i charged them for the conversion as i have an acquaintance who uses the format..

then, i thought, lets see what happens, so i bung the tape into 2 of my Pana Cams and it worked fine..

Tape formats 101:

The DV signal is the same as the DVCAM sginal. And the DVCPRO signal is also almost the same (ok, different in PAL).
It's all 25mbps 4:1:1 video (4:2:0 in PAL)
This is the DV signal - the same thing that runs over firewire from your camera/deck.

The difference is physical, each format as a different track width, DV beeing the thinest, and DVCPRO the widest. - This is what makes the professional formats more robust (wider track, more room for error..) As a result the angle of the track is also different in corolation.
The result of all this is a difference in tape speed, wider track uses more tape, and has a higher speed, this is why a 60min DV tape will only record 40mins of DVCAM ("...aaah!") DV is the universal format, preaty much anything will play it back, save some DVCPRO gear. As sony also makes DVCAM it makes sence that some (not all of their cameras also have the capability to play the faster speed and read the DVCAM tapes, even though then won't record them.
There is a mix mash of what gear will read what tape formats (let alone sizes..) and it varies from DECK TO DECK - so one sony cam might play back DVCAM and another won't. sometimes it's listed in the specks, sometimes not. Check online before getting gear and fidn out what the deck you want will play.

1st rule of thumb: the better formats play the worse ones - DVCAM almost always plays back DV.
2nd rule of thumb: the better, more expensive gear will play more formats.

- Mikko

Hi, and Mikko, it seems to me that you have hit it on the head with that infomation but l am still a little confused and that is due to my own ignorance. I have been using a cheaper panasonic camcorder that l had to transfer my DV footage. No probs what so ever. Now l am thinking l have been double handling everything when l shoot DVCAM. you see, l was under the impression that when using DVCAM mode for shooting, yes it plays back on my camcorder(cheap one) but l would use my camera(PD150) when l wanted to transfer in DVCAM mode and once transfered to MAC( notice how arrogant us MaC users are as we can't even bring ourselves to use PC or computer terms ...... :-)....) and editing is finshed, l would record back to camera in DVCAM mode as l was always under the impression that that was the way to go, hence the reson for buying a sony DVCAM deck like DSR-11 or better, once l can generate more money. So in finshing my closing statement, am l in fact doing it right when using and final product is in DVCAM. Or have l in fact completely come off the rails......regards Michael
P.S If only l had a friend with a PD-150/170 and use up his hours like Kieth mentioned.........