On Fri, 06 Jul 2001 14:09:41 GMT, "John E. Taylor" wrote:

>I have just ordered my first DV camcorder. With Hi-8, I have a deck that
>provides record/play to offload the Hi-8 camcorder. Assuming it would be
>best (reducing wear & tear) to have an additional DV record/play unit, what
>would be a good option? Since I wouldn't be using the optics, can I
>purchase a "cheap" second DV camcorder and get the same quality that the
>more expensive DV decks provide? In either case, will I get the same "530
>lines" quailty advertised from my primary DV camcorder in the DV copies?

Unless you will be doing a LOT of playback with the deck, it
makes more sense to me to spend their rather high cost on
a second camera for back-up and two-camera shoots. If that
is not useful to you, skip the second-camera/deck, and save
the money for the camera replacement purchase...;-) Unless
you are doing a lot of jog-shuttle playback, and tape
load/unload cycles, a single camera will serve well as a
deck in addition to its shooting duties for average use...