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DV Deck
What is a good digital video deck to use with Final Cut, and what would be a good price range to look at?
Any help would be great
Simon Carlson-Thies -
13 Replies
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By all accounts you want to buy either a Sony machine, or a Panasonic machine. The more you spend, the more you get… I’ve a DSR-11 Sony I’ve simply loved.
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer
Author: “Jerry Hofmann on Final Cut Pro 4” Click here
Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D
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I’ll second the nod on the DSR-11. Mine’s been a champ for two years now. Playback and record both DV and DVCAM. Great deck.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Creative Genius, Biscardi Creative Media
https://www.biscardicreative.comNow in Production, “The Rough Cut,” https://www.theroughcutmovie.com
“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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I have to agree with the previous posts the Sony DSR-11 is very good and the price as gone down over the years. I’ve seen it at 1800$ on the net. The only question I have is if you can capture HDV tapes with that deck without any resolution loss or if it reads them at all? I’ve never tried.
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It won’t read them… but for the low low additional couple of thousand dollars you can buy a machine that will playback and record HDV… it’s the only one out there right now from Sony. HVRM10U
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer
Author: “Jerry Hofmann on Final Cut Pro 4” Click here
Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D
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The bad news about the HVRM10U is that it’s just a camcorder mechanism. Indeed, you’d be far better off buying a Z1 as then you get an HDV deck and camera for less than the deck.
Graeme
– http://www.nattress.com – Film Effects and Standards Conversion for FCP
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I purchased the Panasonic AG-DV2500. It was a bit cheaper than the Sony. But it DOES NOT record in DVCAM. It will play back either DV or DVCAM, but only records in DV. If that is not a problem for you, it has been a reliable deck for me.
David
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We’ve got three DSR-11s, and they’re as reliable as can be.
That said, I have a DSR-25 on my Final Cut system, and I find the little preview screen is tremendously useful. It’s one of those things, you never knew how much you’d use it until you have it. Now I can’t live without it. (It’s got audio meters, which actually work in capture mode…a timecode display…that sort of useful stuff.)
Steve
FCTV -
I guess I’m the only one that simply can’t stand the DSR-11. You guys must all be drinking the same kool-aid. 😉
The shuttling mechanism is far to slow for my needs. It also has no TC or any display at all. It looks and feels cheap to me. Not very impressive to the clients either. As an editor, I really would like to see the TC as I am capturing. Spend more and you get more–speed that is. I guess I’m spoiled in using that DSR-1800 I had on my last job. That thing ROCKS.
That being said, the DSR-11 is pretty popular with low budget and corporate producers. I just know that there are better decks out there, you just have to spend more. An $8,000 UVW deck was a bargain not more than a few years ago, yet you would induce heart attacks to most newbie editors if they even dreamed they’d need a deck that expensive.
I like the DSR-45 as an entry level deck, because it has most everything I want: fast shuttling, component i/o, RS-422, digital read out, pre-settable TC, a 2 inch LCD monitor for viewing content, audio levels, tape information and user menu selection, time code insert and I/O, 4 channel audio control, 4-pin i.LINK IEEE 1394 DV I/O. All this for about $3400. Not too much, unless you’re really limited on the budget.
My next deck I’m hoping will be a Panasonic 1200A for DVCPro HD. Nice little deck that does SO much.
Kevin Monahan
Author – Motion Graphics and Effects in Final Cut Pro
fcpworld.com -
It all depends what you want from a deck. If you need a firewire feeder deck the DSR-11 is practically perfect, but if you need more, like nice big timecode display the DSR-25 is excellent. Move to the 45 and you loose a superb feature of both the 11 and 25, and that’s the PAL / NTSC switch. I use a DSR-25 and it’s great.
Graeme
– http://www.nattress.com – Film Effects and Standards Conversion for FCP
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[Kevin Monahan] “It also has no TC or any display at all.”
Sure, it displays via the NTSC monitor just fine.
[Kevin Monahan] “That being said, the DSR-11 is pretty popular with low budget and corporate producers. I just know that there are better decks out there, you just have to spend more.”
Just depends on what you need. I have the deck here because DVCAM is only a small part of my workflow so most of my money is invested in Beta, DigiBeta and High Def. So for my shop, the DSR-11 is a perfect deck for those times when I need a DV or DVCAM deck. The other machines are nice because of the “extras” but I don’t need any of that.
As for the client, I can’t remember the last time a client was impressed because we had such a such a machine in the shop. They never look at the TC displays so it doesn’t matter and the machines aren’t even in the same room as the client. So as for impressing a client, the suite and the editor is going to impress the client a lot more than tape deck.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Creative Genius, Biscardi Creative Media
https://www.biscardicreative.comNow in Production, “The Rough Cut,” https://www.theroughcutmovie.com
“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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