Is there such a thing as a sub-$1K deck that can handle the large-format DVCAM tapes?

"Low cost" and DVCAM are mutually exclusive terms. The lowest-priced full-size DVCAM deck I'm aware of is the Sony DSR20, but it's definitely more than $1K. Anybody else?

Dsr11 plays dvcam tapes, but it's about $1600

There should be a deck for under a thousand, but there isn't.

JVC's low cost DVCAM Decks playback but don't record DVCAM.
The DSR-11 is as bit scary because it doesn't have any front panel led's to let you know if the darn thing is playing, recording, or even moving tape!

Might be clever to use the outputs on the back of the deck as some kind of monitoring device by hooking them up to a small LCD monitor.

Well, to be fair, the DSR 11 does have "indicator" lights above the buttons that indicate wheter it's playing, recording, rewinding, in NTSC mode, DVCAM mode, has a cassette loaded, and a "caution" dew light... so you are not flying completely blind. And of course, you can hook up a monitor while you are capturing with it. I do.

When I saw one in operation at a friends house I remember seeing a tiny green light, but I wasn't aware there was a light for each different operation, thanks for correcting me.

Does the machine have a tally light for rewind or fast forward mode?

Now it's coming back to me!

My friend put a DV-CAM tape in his DSR-11 and I asked him if he was able to read the time-code via the front panel so that he could cue the tape up properly past the last master already recorded on the tape. He said that without a computer hooked up via firewire there was no way of knowing because there was no time-code or control track display on the DSR-11.

Does the DSR-11 have a video out portal that displays time-code?

There are tally lights for all the functions, as I said - Play, record, Fast Forward, Rewind, Pause, Record as well as PAL, NTSC, DVCAM, Cassette Loaded, Dew warning, and of course... power on.

The only way to read time code is through a monitor. There is no timecode readout or lcd display on the front of the deck.

Basically, if someone hands you a tape the only way you would know that it has a recording on it without an NLE program/computer is via the monitor out BNC connector.

Thanks for the info, everyone. I will be doing some editing of the 3-hr DVCAM tapes for a videographer, outputting to miniDV and DVD, so the JVC play-only deck is okay except it doesn't handle the large-format tapes. Renting a Sony deck for a day or two seems like the most economical option.

I saw a lower cost JVC deck for sale a few months ago, it looked like it would take the big tapes and play them back, but not record them, and I think it sold for around a thousand dollars.

Alessandro,
Do you recall the store or website where you saw it, or the model number? I did a search at the B&H website but did not find such a JVC deck. There are dual-decks that play miniDV/DVCAM and S-VHS/VHS.

I found this on the JVC site...

http://pro.jvc.com/prof/Attributes/specs.jsp?tree=&model_id=MDL101463&itempath=&feature_id=03

But this one lists for 2 grand!

I was in a rental store in Burbank and they had what I thought was a similar model (maybe it was the same model???) and they were blowing them out for I think around 1,100-1,300 dollars.

But I thought it was crazy that it wouldn't record in DVCAM, however, it appears that it will record a large DV-CAM tape in the "mini-dv" mode.

That means a three hour DV-CAM tape would record for over 4 and a 1/2 hours at mini-dv speed but won't record the DV-CAM standard of 3 hours.

It retails for about the same as a DSR11... $1600

If your interested, I'm selling my DSR-11 for $1,200 shipped.

check the classifieds for more info or e-mail me ericjames@expertmagic.com

Thanks,
Eric James

<<<-- Originally posted by Eric James : If your interested, I'm selling my DSR-11 for $1,200 shipped.

check the classifieds for more info or e-mail me ericjames@expertmagic.com

Thanks,
Eric James -->>>


Hello,

How Old?

How Many Hours?

Etc., Etc., Etc.?

Thanks !