What is the cheapest MiniDV player that has firewire connectivity?

[GGD]

gabester wrote:
Why is it that MiniDV deck players are so much more expensive than camcorders? It doesn't make sense - it should cost LESS to build something without any kind of optical/capture features. What are they putting into these decks that make them so superior?

First, they sell in much lower volumes than consumer camcorders. They are made for the professional market, and designed for heavy use of the tape transport mechanism.

Best bet is to find a used broken camera where the optics don't work, but the tape mechanism does. Or buy a cheap new camcorder for under $200. All you're going to be doing is copying the digital data that is already on the tape to the computer over Firewire, so the quality of the camera really doesn't matter as long as it can read the tapes.