What deck plays this format?

Jon Rosenbloom · August 30, 2004

The title says it all: I shot a short film on this camera (loved the camera, btw) about a year ago and want to lay off some of the footage for my reel. I've been under the impression that I need a deck specifically made for the DVC-pro format, but now I'm told any deck that plays DV-cam tapes will do the job. What's the answer?

Phil Rhodes · August 30, 2004

Hi,

Depends if you shot it in 25 or 50 megabit mode.

If you shot it in 50, you will definitely need a D7 (DVCPRO-50) deck such as the common AJ-D960, and you probably won't be able to do a straightforward 1394 capture unless you have a specific solution which allows you to do that.

If you shot it in 25, your most reliable bet is still Panasonic gear. Some DVCAM VTRs will reportedly deal with DVCPRO, particularly in NTSC-land where the colour subsampling is the same as DVSD, but that will differ on a model to model basis. As far as I know the common DSR-11, DSR-20 and DSR-45 decks will not, I don't know about the DSR-1800. You will find that these decks are more common in NLE suites and dubbing houses than the Panasonic gear - you are actually more likely to find a DVCPRO-HD deck which will deal with everything down to miniDV and end up using that. However, you should be able to find a capture solution which will enable you to do firewire - since the early days of the RT2000, Matrox gear has supported the minor modifications to DVSD that are intrinsic to DVCPRO.

As an aside, I've never quite understood Panasonic's strategy with their DVCPRO range. The DSR-570 is in my opinion a somewhat better camera than the AJ-D600, and yet cheaper, and then you get clobbered with the price of AJ-series playback VTRs. Yes, I know Sony are aiming at both ENG and corporate/industrial with DVCAM, and Panasonic are going for ENG and EFP, but - splutter - why? They're technically near-identical, what's the point of differentiation supposed to be? The only reason I own a Panasonic camera is that it's one which records straight DV, which anyone can read.

Phil

Jon Rosenbloom · August 30, 2004

Phil,

Thanks for the info. I shot it at 50. Got any suggestions for a cheap way to lay-off 10 minutes of reel-worthy footage? (The Avid room I'm using doesn't have a dvc-pro deck.) My DP career is still at the point where I pay for all my transfers, and the costs tend to pile up very fast.

Thanks again,

JWR

Phil Rhodes · August 30, 2004

Hi,

Well, then, you're going to be paying for a transfer!

Phil

September 15, 2004

you can rent the ajhd-1200a it has dv out--it is kind of hard to get unless you live on either coast

Jon Allen · September 15, 2004

Is there no way to capture directly from the camera?

October 20, 2004

Is there no way to capture directly from the camera?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

if you have the sdi board option you can capture directly from the camera

arnieitz · October 21, 2004

Until I purchased a DVCPRO50 deck I used an AJA D10C2 converter. It attached to my SDI camera output and gave me component out. That AJA model doesn't have audio but other models do. From the component output you can attach to any deck or editing system that has component in. It worked very nicely into my AVID system but of course I like using a DVCPRO50 deck and not over using my camera as a deck.