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MiniDV playback deck vs. using camera

calebwhite2001

calebwhite2001

I've done a little research and asked a few editors, but I'm still unclear about the advantages/disadvantages to using a playback deck vs. using a camera to load the footage to my NLE.

If I'm using Avid, or Premiere, Vegas, etc, to control the camera or deck as it loads, what quality gains or losses would I incur if I were to use a cheap hand-held miniDV camera vs. an expensive playback deck? If both sources are feeding via firewire, is there going to be a loss in quality?

For all intensive purposes, I'm shooting my footage on a dvx100a @ 24A (fps) in squeeze mode (if that makes a difference, I'd appreciate knowing that as well!).

Thanks to everyone in advance for your support and response!
 
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the only difference...

...is the wear-and-tear it puts on the tape heads in your camera. and since you probably want to leave those good for recording, it would be good to get a deck if you're going to transfer a lot. but if its just occasionally i think you're fine.
 
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Basically, in terms of picture quality there is NO DIFFERENCE at all. The purpose in most cases of a deck is to avoid the playback wear & tear, plus just usage of an expensive camera for digitizing. If you have a $5,000-$60,000 camera, you want to use up it's hours on shooting, not equally divided between shooting and playback.

The other advantages of real decks comes in with the various standards of control, like serial 422 controls in conjunction with other decks. For 95% of the kids out there, these are not selling points, but for a studio with 7-50 different types of decks in a loading/deck room, it means something to the engineers that have to deal with it.

At home I had always used a cheap camcorder as a deck (I had a Canon GL1, then a ZR40 as a deck), but now I even have a JVC BR-DV3000U deck for Mini DV and DVCAM, but a Canon HV20 camera as an HDV deck because it can digitize most flavors of 1920x1080 HDV from Canon and Sony cameras.
 
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Awesome... and thanks!

That was pretty much the same vibe I've been getting in the places I've poked around. And it's good to know you guys back it up as well, which is what I was hoping for.

Thanks for all the responses, and thanks sonnyboo especially (I stumbled upon your website when I started my first film last Spring and it was a huge help... probably got me here today, at least in part)!

So thanks, again!
 
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