MiniDV Player suggestions?

Also, not looking for expensive!

Define "expensive".

Solid decks start at ~$1200 US and go up from there. If that's out of your budget, seriously consider purchasing a throwaway cam. When it wears out, get another. If you capture full tapes and use start/stop detect to subclip or Squarebox's Live Capture Plus, it may be all you need.

x

just to add on what X said;
http://www.shopping.com/xPP-vcrs-minidvdeck

as looking to spend under $200 for a player. Seems like there SHOULD be something out there for this???

No, there isn't. At $200 you will be hard pressed to even purchase DV cam new. Time to recognize you have gotten yourself into an expensive hobby.

Also, what did you mean by "subclip"?

Not only is video expensive, it is complex. This is a good opertunity to open up one of those 40 pounds of manuals (or use the Help item from the FCP menu bar) and do some research.

There's still time to bail out. Otherwise, be prepared to drop serious coin on the equipment to do it right and a serious investment of time to understand. Video isn't cheap or easy- Steve Jobs lies. lol.

Cheers,

x

Was looking to spend under $200 for a player. Seems like there SHOULD be something out there for this???

For under $200.00 I doubt you could even buy an old used broken DV VTR for parts. Maybe you're thinking about VHS VCRs.

-DH

I know what you're thinking, you see cheap dv cameras for $300 and think; 'why don't they just put the tape transport in a case with no lens and sell it as a deck for $150?'.

Well the transport in a cheap dv camera is rubbish, and it's still the most expensive bit to produce. If you ditched the lens and mic they'd probably still have to sell it for $290 to keep the same profit margin. Secondly, how many dads editing the holiday video are interested in having a separate deck to capture their footage? The market for a deck like this is the professionals, who expect reliability and expect to pay for it. You have to hit $3000 before you get to a camera that can be called professional.