Can a standard DV camera allow you to import HD video from another DV camera?

[IraeDeorum]

So my work has a Canon HV30 and the firewire port seems to be broken. Now instead of fixing the firewire port is it possible to buy a cheap(ish) camcorder that uses DV tape and transfer footage from the higher end, high def footage recorded with the HV30 over the firewire of the cheap(er) camcorder? The tape is standard DV (not the HD version) so would this work? Any help you can provide would be very appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[faustfire]

No, a standard SD DV camera will not capture HDV.

 

[iShater]

No, a standard SD DV camera will not capture HDV.

The OP is not askinga bout capturing video, just transferring video data from tape.

I'm not sure, but I would imagine that iMovie would get confused, as the encoding of the data is different, even thought the media is the same. The non-HD camera might be able to read the tape.

Let us know what you find out please.

 

[LethalWolfe]

An SD only camera will not be able to playback HD tapes.


Lethal

 

[knello]

I know what you're thinking -- the camera should be able to dump the raw mpeg2 data over firewire without having to process it or decode it, and then you can let the computer decode it into useable footage. I've tried it, and it doesn't work because the miniDV camera won't recognize a signal on the tape at all.

Depending on the camera, one of two things will happen:

1. For consumer cameras, the miniDV camera will not be able to find a stable timecode, so the tape will not play anything.
2. For prosumer cameras, it will tolerate the broken timecode signal, and display this really cool pink & green blocky digital static.

 

[Demosthenes X]

I highly doubt it will work. Even an HD camera won't play back HD if the camera is set to playback SD, so a camera without any capacity for HD at all wouldn't stand a chance.

Think about investing in a capture deck. They're not cheap, but the ports and heads are far better quality than a camera, and they're designed for just this sort of use.

 

[CaptainChunk]

It won't work, because the camera would technically have to playback the tape during FW capture. The heads and circuitry on an SD DV camera simply wouldn't recognize HDV-formatted tapes.