DV dilemma : fix old camera or buy a new one?

SureshNL

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I have a 5 years-old Sony PC1E mini DV camcorder which I have sent back to Sony for repair. Main problem is that firewire in/out no longer works. Sony's estimated repair bill is upto EUR 370.

This is quite steep, as I see the local internet price on new entry-level mini DV kit e.g. Sony DCR-HC14 is under EUR 500.

Ideally, my next camcorder would be an upgrade to either a dvd burning, hard disk or solid state storage one, but these would be useless for my current need to edit some mini dv tapes... It's not a good time financially for an upgrade to top end camcorder kit as a baby is on the way and we have to splash the cash for a new family car as well in the next couple of months. (Have also bought a new laptop, 5mp digital camera, jamo home theatre and philips 32" pixel plus in the last 6 months too! :D)


So, it probably makes sense to buy a new entry or mid-level mini dv camera, but I am worried that tapes from the old camera won't "track" properly on the new one. Is this a valid concern, or does digital video mean no tracking worries when playing tape recorded on one machine on another one?

What would you do? Please help!

Suresh
 
buy a new mid-level mini dv camera, it's not woth getting the old one repaired, it is possible to have tracking errors but these are relatively few and far between with modern cameras.
 
Agree with the above, get a new camcorder. At least you will have a guarentee on the whole camcorder that should give some peace of mind that you'll have no other repairs to pay for.

Mark.
 
Update:

Thanks for the advice guys, but I finally decided to get it repaired as a new dv camcorder + batteries + bag etc. comes in at more than EUR 600 and leaves me with tape recording technology that is no improvment on my 1999 model. I'll wait a few more years to trade up to a solid state storage version!!
 

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