M
Mac
Originally posted to the Windows Media Encoder NG - now tidied up a little -
I thought folks here might find this interesting.
-------------------------
I have an old JVC GR-DVX7 that a year ago stopped recording to DV tape with
any decent quality (write head errors - blue blockiness on right side of
recorded picture). I did look into getting it serviced, but it was going to
cost about as much as new camera, so I shelved it.
Recently I have figured out how to re-employ it as a high quality webcam
with WME [and a tethered WMM capture device] with the ability to use all
it's built-in features (eg sepia mode etc etc etc). With WME/WMM I can also
encode direct to disk (rather than DV tape) - so it is perfect for doing HQ
home* video stuff.
*Home = Living room within a few metres of the PC over firewire, although in
theory I could hook it up to my laptop (once configured) and go anywhere
with it, [albeit a bit bulky].
Firstly, this is how I trick it -
1. It's on A/C power so it doesn't auto-power-off to save theoretical
tape-damage. A common trick I've learned..
2. There is no DV tape in it - (initially I had weird problems with it
refusing to work in camera mode but found it worked for video feed in Still
mode. Another common trick?
3. After each PC reboot or camera power-down I simply need to pull out the
firewire cable from the PC (not the camera) and then reinsert to get a new
connection. It is set to launch WME with each such reconnect [but this could
also be set to WMM]. Then it works fine...
Except I can't seem to get the [perfect] level of brightness I would like. I
have
hooked up extra lighting, tried various camera settings (Auto-Gain, White
Balance etc), but it still looks just a little dull (any suggestions on this
welcomed).
Here is the user manual link
http://www.jvc.co.uk/files/instruction_manual/gr-dvx7 engelsk.pdf
So, if you have an older DV cam that is broken with DV tape write problems -
don't bin it. Reuse it with WME & WMM ;-)
I thought folks here might find this interesting.
-------------------------
I have an old JVC GR-DVX7 that a year ago stopped recording to DV tape with
any decent quality (write head errors - blue blockiness on right side of
recorded picture). I did look into getting it serviced, but it was going to
cost about as much as new camera, so I shelved it.
Recently I have figured out how to re-employ it as a high quality webcam
with WME [and a tethered WMM capture device] with the ability to use all
it's built-in features (eg sepia mode etc etc etc). With WME/WMM I can also
encode direct to disk (rather than DV tape) - so it is perfect for doing HQ
home* video stuff.
*Home = Living room within a few metres of the PC over firewire, although in
theory I could hook it up to my laptop (once configured) and go anywhere
with it, [albeit a bit bulky].
Firstly, this is how I trick it -
1. It's on A/C power so it doesn't auto-power-off to save theoretical
tape-damage. A common trick I've learned..
2. There is no DV tape in it - (initially I had weird problems with it
refusing to work in camera mode but found it worked for video feed in Still
mode. Another common trick?
3. After each PC reboot or camera power-down I simply need to pull out the
firewire cable from the PC (not the camera) and then reinsert to get a new
connection. It is set to launch WME with each such reconnect [but this could
also be set to WMM]. Then it works fine...
Except I can't seem to get the [perfect] level of brightness I would like. I
have
hooked up extra lighting, tried various camera settings (Auto-Gain, White
Balance etc), but it still looks just a little dull (any suggestions on this
welcomed).
Here is the user manual link
http://www.jvc.co.uk/files/instruction_manual/gr-dvx7 engelsk.pdf
So, if you have an older DV cam that is broken with DV tape write problems -
don't bin it. Reuse it with WME & WMM ;-)