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HDV tape reader? Camera? or ?
I occassionally get tapes shot and brought to me by people using Sony HDV or HD tapes. I’d like to get something to read these mini dv tapes, is the best thing to buy a used cam corder or??? Can i assume that if I get a late model HDV based camera that it will read all and any previous DV or HD tapes shot on other models, assuming that the tapes are realitively aligned? Or is this a pipe dream and do I need to simply force people to give me hard drives with the raw footage on them?
Alf
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5 Replies
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DV is DV but HDV from a JVC camera is 720p where Sony and panasonic are 1080i.I would look for a used camera in good shape. You can shoot video with it later where a deck is only that.
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good point. thx
Alf
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I BELIEVE a Sony HDV camera will also play JVC 720p tapes….but I would check online to be sure. If so, I would then get a Sony that will handle both it’s native 1080i and the 720p of the JVC…good luck, I have had good luck so far with finding used cameras on ebay…look for low hrs and such.
Scott Francis
Mind’s Eye Audio/Video Productions -
HDV is a funny standard because the way that you write to tape is apparently not standard! 🙁 Early on there were a lot of incompatibilities between HDV camera manufactures not being able to read each others tapes. I don’t know if it still hold true but unlike DV, I don’t believe there is one deck that reads them all. I would not accept HDV on tape unless it’s from a camera that you own. Otherwise only accept it on hard drive.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
Thanks John. That’s my basic assumption, but wondered if it were worth buying a camera. It appears not, unless I was looking to shoot from it. I sent the customer back to their shooter to get it dumped to hard disk.
Alf
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