What is the cheapest MiniDV player that has firewire connectivity?

[mikebw]

Let's say you have several miniDV tapes that you want to import and don't have access to a DV camera for playback- what would be the most affordable stand-alone device to import the tapes into iMovie / FCP ? It would have to have firewire.

[Markintosh]

Great question. i would like to know too.

[DavidS]

I'd look on Craigslist for a used one.

[blusubaru]

The cheapest MiniDV player is a MiniDV camcorder. Stand-alone decks that I've used can cost up to $2k. You can get a decent, refurbished MiniDV cam during most sales for less than $200. I got a Canon refurbed zr500 a year ago for $180 shipped. Fry's has a sale on these refurbs somewhat regularly.

[iaJim]

I have a Canon minidv camcorder that doesn't work as a camera, but still works to import the video. If you could find one of those on eBay, that would be pretty cheap.

[Gareth]

Ditto on the camcorder. Cheapest deck is probably the Sony GV-D300 at $500+.

[gabester]

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?

It's kind of like when Apple was selling refurbed CORE DUO (not Core 2 Duo) 1.83Ghz Mac Minis for $699 when you could get the Core 2 Duo model at 2Ghz with more RAM and bigger HD for the extra $100, or get a Core 2 Duo 1.83Ghz without superdrive but otherwise superior for $599 (or less, refurbished)... The case on those must have been made with crack or something.
g=

[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.

[mikebw]

OK thanks. That is pretty much what I figured, but wanted to check if anyone else had a suggestion.

[Mac-A-Matic]

One word of caution re: Canon MiniDV cameras.

I've used two over the years. The first one I purchased in 1999 and used it for about five years before the tape mechanism started to act up. Then I bought a new one Feb 2007 and it crapped out this summer.

There's something known that's wonky about Canon MiniDV mechanisms - problem is, they share the same mechanism from the El Cheapo model all the way up to the XL series.

I too need a new camera for loading video to the computer. I'm thinking about going with Sony because they have better mechanisms - though I do love the image quality of the Canon.