jvc HR-DVS2U

[Gregory S. Ouellette]

is this thing any good for editing? should i get the walkman style dv900 instead? i am not going to buy a several thousand mini dv deck so what is my best option aside from a cheap used camera? and would i actually get better (higher quality) results with any kind of deck than a camera?

tried to search but it doesnt seem to be working so excuse if there is reference elsewhere. feel free to direct me if you know this site well. i dont.

regards,
greg

[J. Stephen McDonald]

Originally Posted by Gregory S. Ouellette

is this thing any good for editing? should i get the walkman style dv900 instead? i am not going to buy a several thousand mini dv deck so what is my best option aside from a cheap used camera? and would i actually get better (higher quality) results with any kind of deck than a camera?

regards,
greg

I have the JVC HR-DVS3U, which may be a later model?? It works very well with my computer for editing by FireWire. However, there seems no compatibility with it to do a synchro assemble edit with my Sony digital VCRs and camcorders. It only works with them by doing a manual edit. It doesn't display timecode frames, just hours/minutes/seconds, although it does record the frames on tape and a computer shows them from its connection with it.
After 18 months, I'm still glad I bought it, as it plays and re-records my Sony camcorder tapes perfectly. On JVC's product page, there is no FireWire port showing on the list of features for the HR-DVS2U, although I can't imagine they wouldn't have included it. The HR-DVS3U does have a FireWire port and is several hundred dollars less expensive than the 2U. It's a very large, solid and so far, dependable VCR and the S-VHS side is a good bonus. There is no other DV VCR that is priced as low.

Many people will tell you to just get a cheap DV camcorder to fill this need, but I like having a permanently connected VCR that runs directly on AC current. I have some JVC S-VHS VCRs that still run after 8 years of regular service and I can't imagine a low-end little DV camcorder holding up nearly that long. As long as any DV unit is working properly, you wouldn't see any difference in playback quality, with any other model.

[Steve House]

Originally Posted by Gregory S. Ouellette

i....what is my best option aside from a cheap used camera? and would i actually get better (higher quality) results with any kind of deck than a camera?

Just a thought about buying "a good used camera" instead of a deck. The things in a camera that wear out with use first are the video heads and transport mechanism, the critical items required for the very thing you're wanting to use the camera for - playing and recording tapes. Most likely the used camera is being sold because its performance is beginning to suffer when doing exactly the functions that you're buying it for.

[J. Stephen McDonald]

And I mean really old S-VHS tapes from 15-18 years ago, that have been carelessly stored in my hot & cold attic. I've been salvaging old master recordings of productions, by re-recording them on DV with this dual-deck VCR. Its time-base corrector and digital noise-reduction systems clean up the pictures very well. The color-shift that is the result of 3 or 4 analog editing generations, is almost completely removed as the signal is sent to the DV side. None of my other VCRs, even another one with a TBC, could do this very well. As a result, my hard work of the past has been saved and is now in passably good form on DV tape. I've been making DVD-R copies of these productions for friends, of footage I thought was lost.

Not that the HR-DVS3U is all that slick and easy to use in editing. I found that I had to roll the S-VHS player back 85 frames in Record/Pause, to hit the exact targeted point when dubbing to its DV recorder. It doesn't respond
properly to either FireWire or IR control commands from my Sony DV and Digital8 VTRs in an attempt to do synchro-editing. However, these two Sony decks don't work very well at synchro-editing between themselves, either, as they're supposed to do. I can do an IR-controled synchro-edit from the Digital8 GV-D200 to the DV GV-D1000, but it won't work with FireWire control. The DV deck can't control the Digital8 deck in any manner. The A/V signal is sent by FireWire, even when IR-controled. I had to experiment with every possible combination of IR control modes and codes, to get even this limited synchro-editing to work between the Sony decks. These mini-VTRs transmit on IR mode #3 and the player has to be set to #3 to respond to it. The back of the player has to face the front of the recorder. Nuts to Sony for promoting this feature and not delivering it. I should point out that the JVC HR-DVS3U does respond precisely to FireWire commands from my computer.

Another problem with the JVC HR-DVS3U, is one that I can't necessarily pin on it. When I try to send a direct S-VHS playback from it, that has been converted to the DV CoDec and transfered over FireWire to my Toshiba
HDD/DVD recorder, it refuses to record it. The HDD/DVD unit gets the signal and sends it through to a monitor, but gives a pop-up when I try to record, saying, "check the DV tape". So, I had to re-record the S-VHS tapes onto DV tape first, then the HDD/DVD would accept that FireWire playback. It's just as well, as now I have DV backup tapes of all these old productions. I made some of these on LP and they played back perfectly on this as well as on the Sony VTR.