[klr10]

Can anyone advise me on a mini DV deck to buy? I am looking at the PANASONIC NVDV2000EC which is about a grand. Seems a hell of a lot of money - would I be better off buying a cheap camcorder or are there budget decks out there? I don't need any fancy functions, just the ability to control via the firewire interface. (I don't want to wear the heads on my XL1.)

[MarkE19]

At under a grand you have to go either second hand or for a camcorder.
Sony did do a DV deck for about £6-700, but that has been discontinued and now only have the deck including screen and I believe that costs around £1k. I have not seen any of these decks come up s/h in a long time.

Mark.

[klr10]

Thanks Mark, I've also seen these 'Super VHS' (a contradiction in terms) / Mini DV Hybrid decks - are they any good or would I do better with a cheap camera?

I have one of those S-VHS/MiniDV decks: JVC SR-VS30E and I must tell you that I am pretty happy with it. Works fine hooked to my Mac G4 for importing footage and to my Sony camcorder (PD150) for dubbing DV tapes.
I can't tell you how much it will cost there but HERE is around 1200 Euro....
.... Or buy a cheap/used DV videocamera. The VCR section is almost the same even in lower end ones.... good luck!

[MarkE19]

I have also been looking at the combined DV/S-VHS decks, but at the price I still think it better & cheaper to go for a cheap DV cam & separate S-VHS deck.
So that is what I have done!

Mark.

[klr10]

Might be able to justify it by buying the other 'arf a cheap camcorder. Starting to get looks whenever I open a new box...

[MarkE19]

Perhaps its time to trade the other 'arf in for a newer model

Mark.

[klr10]

LOL - better the devil you know....