Like filmy, I have a SR-VS30U. It costs about $150 more than the HR model you are looking at, but it might be worth the extra cha-ching. The SR can read DV-CAM tapes and has excellent timecode support. I highly recommend the SR for any DV editor working with Vegas. The picture quality is fantastic, and whats even cooler is you can use the deck as a "capture" card, as you can not only stream VHS and S-VHS tape signals in real-time out the IEEE 1394 port to Vegas capture, but you can also hook up any other analog audio/video source and the SR will stream it thru the IEEE 1394 port in real-time to Vegas capture. When editing in Vegas, you can also use the SR to provide external monitor NTSC preview, as it will monitor output on the IEEE 1394 port in real-time. This deck is a great all-in-one solution for the average desktop editor.
-nate

Where are you finding them for <$500? And will this deck work with HDV when it comes into play?

I found my SR-VS30U for abut $750 at www.abesofmaine.com. I did see HR models at other online retial stores for about $600. I would guess to find an HR cheaper than that it must be an open box or refurbished model.

I don't believe either the SR or the HR will work with HDV. That will probably be a totally different deck. =(

-nate

I'm glad to hear others have had good experience with the deck, but mine has been extremely bad. It's not a matter if Vegas compatibility, because deck control works fine. That aspect is actually better and more responsive than the control of my XL1s cameras.

The issue I have with my SR-VS30 is it drops frames while reading from the miniDV deck, several times a minute. This happens when just playing video, or while capturing. I tried cleaning the heads, and several brands of miniDV tape. Nothing worked. I thought it could be a dirty power supply, so I got a UPS. No luck. I later moved to new house, and still have the same problem.

I sent the deck back to JVC for inspection while it was still under warrantee (though I had to pay $50 shipping) and they sent it back with a letter saying it was working fine. They couldn't find anything wrong with it.

I've vowed never to buy another JVC deck again, which is unfortunate because they are clearly the most inexpensive. I'm now thinking of buying a comparable Sony deck.

Luxo,
if you've got a XL1 that could be the cause of the problem with the deck. Unlikely but worth looking into. Try playing a tape from another camera or ones recorded in the JVC deck and see if you still get dropped frames. XL1s do seem notorious for ease of getting the guides out of alignment.

Luxo,
I'd be curious to see you do the test farss suggested. If you do it, please post your results in the forum... that's total bum rap to hear the problems you're experiencing. Its been such a dandy little machine for me.
-nate

Thanks for the advice fellas. I've tried tapes recorded on two XL1s cameras, and one XL1, and they all exhibited the same problem. I do have some tapes recorded with a Sony deck, and I'll pop those in a see what happens. Hell I could do that right now. Let's see...

Well damn. I just played 15 minutes of footage from this tape I received from a client that I believe was dubbed using a Sony DV deck. It looked good, except for a small glitch about 12 minutes in that I coudln't duplicate. Overall though, it wasn't anything like the issue I have with the tapes I shoot with the Canon cameras.

I hope this is good news for you guys. :-) My problem has not been solved, but thanks for helping me narrow the cause down to an incompatibility.

If you learn more, post more.

Maybe you should send the Cannon cameras back to the manufacture if they are still under warranty. Tell them with repeatability it seems tapes recorded in them exhibit the problem.

Also, you can go to Best Buy or Circuit City, bring a DV tape, and record on a whole bunch of different cameras. I've done this before when shopping around. Then take the tape home and see if you have problems or not. Make sure to speak into the microphone what camera you're using when recording!

It could be a combination of the JVC and Cannon equipment, e.g., it could be that the Cannon tapes are not perfectly recorded and that the JVC is not robustly doing good playback. If you put the Cannon tapes in other DV players and don't have the same problem, it could point again back to JVC deck as well as the Cannon.

-nate

The deck I bought was refurbished by JVC. I knew that, but neglected to mention it - sorry.

Sticker on the back says "v 3" which I assume as version three. I wonder if that is the same as non-refurbs, or if they did some kind of circuit or software update.

I'm surprised that the firewire port is on the front panel, while all the other connections are on the back.

Deck control seems fine, and it's definitely more responsive than my Panasonic camcorder.

I dumped two 1-hour tapes to disk (Enable Scene Detection - ON, Stop Capture on Dropped Frames - OFF) and didn't get any dropped frames reported until the end of tape #1.

Tape #2 reported 70 dropped frames, but Vegas Capture created just three AVI's, and two of them were ~1 second of black. I expect the dropped frames are from a "pause" action during the original recording. I'll take a closer look at the AVI's when I start to edit.

I have confirmed that the drop-out glitches are on the tapes. They are in the same spot whenever I play through that section of the tape.

FYI: Video pass-through (Preview on External Monitor) works great.

Printing to DV tape worked flawlessly too.

Have you tried changing the DIGITAL TBC/NR or the DIGITAL R3 settings? I was seeing
some dropouts on tapes recorded on my Sony camcorder, and changing these settings
seemed to help. I did not get a lot of time to test it because I bought one of the
refurbs (from Ecost.com, by the way) and it was bad out of the box. There was
no output from the antenna jack to the TV (cable would pass through, but no VCR output),
and the audio level on the DV deck was too high. So I didn't get to play much before
taking it to JVC for service.

Mine came from Ecost too. Haven't tried coax connections yet, but even if they were bad, I don't plan on using them anyway (although it wouldn't hurt).

> and the audio level on the DV deck was too high.

Can you describe that? How did you test that?

Those options are in the VHS menu, not the DV menu. Do you think they have an affect? I'll change them and give it a try next time I have footage to capture.

Unfortunately it was overdriving my receiver so badly that it was clipping. Quiet parts
of the tape were okay. The same tape played on my camcorder into the same receiver input was fine.

If you note there are other options in the "VHS" menu that seem to be generic options, like
whether the front input is S or composite video, and whether it displays a blue background when there is nothing on the tape. I did not have a lot of time to try it before I took it in for service, but I did not notice any dropouts when I played the same tape a second time with the TBC/NR turned off. When I get it back I'll see.