VTR Choices, Sony versus JVC - What do you recommend?

[Steve House]

I'm considering a VTR deck for DV capture and final output to tape and the choices are boiling down to a decision between Sony and JVC at two different price ranges. In the lower range I'm looking at the JVC BR-DV3000U and the Sony DSR-11 while at the upper end I'm looking at the JVC-BR6000U and the Sony DSR-25. Would like to hear some user comments pro and con on each of these options. Primary role will be capture of miniDV camera original into the NLE - Vegas or Premiere Pro - with possibilty of an occasional need to record final prgram back to tape.

In a related issue, the Sonys will both record and playback DVCAM as well as DV while the JVC's playback both DV and DVCAM but only record to DV. In fact, it seems Sony is positioning their recorders as DVCAM units with an added ability to also work with DV, while JVC seems to position their's as primarily DV with DVCAM playback added. How crucial a factor should this be in the purchase decision? I'm thinking that the times when I'll be recording to the VTR, the resulting tapes would be intended for primarily for corporate clients and secondarily broadcast - seems that DVCAM would be a better accepted delivery format than miniDV and the ability to record in that format would be a strong plus. Comments?

[Glenn Chan]

1- The DSR11 and DSR25 don't translate digital to analog correctly (the 7.5IRE issue), so that's annoying if you need to do analog dubs. It doesn't do all that much over a camcorder.

I've heard reliability issues with the JVC, but maybe that has changed.

2-

I'm thinking that the times when I'll be recording to the VTR, the resulting tapes would be intended for primarily for corporate clients and secondarily broadcast - seems that DVCAM would be a better accepted delivery format than miniDV and the ability to record in that format would be a strong plus.

Corporate clients: I don't know how many companies have DVCAM decks. miniDV (and DVD) would be more useful, because they can take them anywhere.
Broadcast: Most broadcasters accept betaSP, and won't accept other formats (except for digital betacam). If starting out, I'd just rent the deck or get dubs done until you figure out whether or not you have the volume to justify buying a deck (i.e. DVCAM would likely be very low volume).