MiniDV tape drive for computer?

[Eric Wolf]

Hey Everyone,

I have a Canon HV-30 that uses MiniDV format. I was wondering, does anyone know if a dedicated MiniDV tape drive exists for computers? Right now, I do the transferring using the camera, but, I'd like to get away from that if possible.

Thanks!

-Eric

[John Erwin]

I doubt you'll find anything. I've seen pro-grade equipment from Sony for studio purposes but that stuff costs thousands. About the only consumer product anywhere close was the JVC HR-DVS3U, which I think is now discontinued. It had a VHS drive on one side and a MiniDV drive on the other with PC connectivity. They didn't seem to get very good reviews from what I saw. I suppose you could try e-bay for used if you're interested.

[Jayson Prentice]

I did a bit of searching... Essentially while this may be a product that is made, it sounds like it will be a spendy piece of equipment for you (likely in thousands of dollars). I found a few computer back of drives that you can save from your computer to a miniDV tape, even those are in the >$1500 range.

My best guess is that the firewire way is still the easiest and cheapest way to go unless you can drop a few thousand into this dedicated drive.

[Dan Robinson]

An expensive pro deck is the only thing available to do this, and there are only a few models available. The cheapest alternative is to buy another MiniDV camcorder to use as a dedicated capture deck. You could probably find an older one for $200 or less - as long as it has firewire out, it doesn't matter what other features the camera lacks.

[Bill Doms]

The cheapest alternative is to buy another MiniDV camcorder to use as a dedicated capture deck.

Bingo...we have used a cheap mini dv cam with a firewire for a few years. We also have a Sony GV-D300 which works really good using the iLink with our VX2100 or the PD170.

[Eric Wolf]

Thanks for the responses. I thought maybe I was out of luck, but there's always something out there that I haven't heard of, so I thought it couldn't hurt to try my luck.

[Brandon Headley]

Well since your using an HV-30 you may want an HD deck. Here is a link to a few that B&H has. The bottom 2 products are not HD. That is really your only option as far as a mini-dv deck.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=search&A=search&Q=&ci=0&sb=ps&sq=desc&sortDrop=Relevance&ac=&bsi=&bhs=t&shs=hd+mini-dv&ci=2129&basicSubmit=Submit+Query

[Eric Wolf]

Yikes! For that, I could buy a couple of HD camcorders with Hard Drive's in them :D

[Dan Robinson]

I didn't realize the HV30 is an HDV camera - a cheap SD minidv cam unfortunately won't work for capturing HDV. You'll need another Canon HDV camera or deck.

If it was me, I wouldn't worry about extra wear on the heads during capturing. I never have with my own equipment. A deck (or second camera) is something to get if you're capturing 20 tapes a week like a production house would. I think the cost of getting another capture device is going to outweigh any premature wear. Getting new heads installed by the Canon repair service once they wear out is probably going to be less than any second device you'll find. You're going to have to really put that camera to work to wear it out.

If you really want to use a deck to bulk-capture a bunch of tapes, you can always rent one from a production rental house. Unfortunately, that's not going to be cheap either - probably 100-200 bucks or more a day.

[Brandon Headley]

Yea. I have an hv20 and I don't have a deck if I shoot in HD but in SD I use a deck. Of course I do some weddings and other side jobs. I do all of the weather in HD and then capture it using the hv20.