If you’re considering purchasing a used Prosumer/ semi-pro Mini-DV camcorder there’s one suggestion we feel compelled to make: Don’t use the camera for playback or to transfer footage to your PC.
At first thought you might be asking yourself, “why am I paying this much for a camera and not using it for data transfer?”. Well that’s a good question.
The heads in your camera will not last forever. They are mechanical parts and have a set life-span. This is why many cameras have drum meters that tell you how many hours the camera has spent recording and playing back footage. Over time tape mechanisms will fail and heads will get coated in tape residue or just wear out naturally. For this reason, it’s best to ensure that you use your camera for recording only and use another device for footage transfer and playback.
Alright, so now you’re wondering if you have to get an expensive editing deck to transfer footage… Well the answer to that is no. The Mini-DV format is digital which means that you’re essentially only transferring a bunch of 1’s and 0’s. So when it comes to playback and data transfer a $20 camcorder is going to get the job done just as well as your $1000+ Panasonic DVX. The only difference is that at the end of the day if the $20 camcorder fails you can replace it with another $20 camcorder. If the heads on the DVX fail what will you replace that with?
And that’s why we strongly suggest not using your pro/ semi-pro Mini-DV Camcorder for data transfer!