VX1000 General Discussion (gear/set-ups, filming/editing, tips/advice, etc.)

[Allez_Jambon]

WARNING: TOTAL BEGINNER QUESTION

My Vx1000 has been repaired after not using it since 2010. A friend who repaired the camera tested the batteries and they hold a decent charge but apparently my charger isn't working. Can't figure that one out.

I've been using the search function on this thread and the VX1000 subreddit and can't tell what's needed, seeing both 550 and 750. Both batteries look long and wide enough but the 750 looks taller. Kastar, Duracell, and maybe Wasabi may be decent aftermarket brands. I also see people saying you need to cut grooves into batteries so they'll fit. Huh?

Skipping all the fuss of guesswork, can somebody link me a charger and battery kit please. Also, IDK if it's better to use a wall charger or USB charger. I have 5 batteries currently so maybe a multi charger would be nice.

Thanks.

[somethingmustbreaknow]

yeah you definitely need the grooves in your batteries, otherwise they won't fit.
i bought some replicas on ebay way back, seller said they fit vx1000, but did not have the grooves so they did not fit.
then i found some seller on aliexpress that sold the perfect replicas with the grooves for very cheap. but refinding it today did not work. sorry. but if your batteries still work, go buy a new charger and try your luck.


you probably already have seen this.

[gx42Film]

If you can't find the larger batteries with the grooves, a lot of the 550 batteries will work. I've used the smallrig/neewer ones. They are shorter so the groove isn't necessary it fits. They just don't last super long

[Allez_Jambon]

Thank you @somethingmustbreaknow and @gx42Film. Gnars to you both. That video helped me understand my question.

I also heard back from my friend. He said that he gets like 3 hours of battery life of the little 550s so that's fine. I'll be getting this:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DB5VR3KQ?ref=cm_sw_r_cso_cp_apin_dp_7ZBYE2SWZY1D7K9G8TZ0_1&ref_=cm_sw_r_cso_cp_apin_dp_7ZBYE2SWZY1D7K9G8TZ0_1&social_share=cm_sw_r_cso_cp_apin_dp_7ZBYE2SWZY1D7K9G8TZ0_1

So for others in the future searching for help, NP-F550 batteries work fine despite not appearing like the original VX1000 batteries. NP-F750 batteries will also perform longer but need to be modified by removing the housing without the groove to fit and a paperclip is needed to be superglued to the left side of the battery facing you for the VX to hold it in place in the camera. Another youtube comment reads that they used a dead VX1000 battery housing, substituting the paperclip need.

Also, I saw somewhere somebody added electrical tape to the end of the battery to act like a pull tab to take them out of the camera. I thought that was a pretty good idea worth remembering.

You can buy a sticker for them here:

https://www.stickeremporium.shop/product/550-battery-puller

[Flipsidegrollie]

Hi vx and MiniDV Friends -- Just wanted to share this resource for capturing tapes. I've been less than happy capturing with iMovie lately due to the scene detection and some audio issues. Given that support for DV capture is no longer present in so many modern operating systems and programs I was hunting down a viable alternative and I stumbled upon DVRescue. Excuse me if it's already been posted here but this is a game changer for me. Simple interface and allows for capturing tapes to .DV files. I haven't explored everything it can do but for now I'm getting really good and EASY captures without having to pull my hair out.

https://mediaarea.net/DVRescue

Edit: here's the GitHub for more detailed info: https://mipops.github.io/dvrescue/

[kant]

Hi,
I'm wondering if anyone has purchased from or just generally knows if centuryoptics.com is a legit website. I've been having trouble finding anything about it online, like reviews, and the website itself seems a little vague as far as any "about" information goes, like a business address or phone number. Just looking for a little clarity before purchasing from the site.
Thanks!

[zapruder]

Hi,
I'm wondering if anyone has purchased from or just generally knows if centuryoptics.com is a legit website. I've been having trouble finding anything about it online, like reviews, and the website itself seems a little vague as far as any "about" information goes, like a business address or phone number. Just looking for a little clarity before purchasing from the site.
Thanks!

buymk1.com now redirects to this domain so it's probably legit

[braundv]

Hi,
I'm wondering if anyone has purchased from or just generally knows if centuryoptics.com is a legit website. I've been having trouble finding anything about it online, like reviews, and the website itself seems a little vague as far as any "about" information goes, like a business address or phone number. Just looking for a little clarity before purchasing from the site.
Thanks!

Yes. Just a few weeks ago BUYMK1 (authorized dealer who spearheaded the mk1 rebirth) and Schneider Optics (company who acquired Century Optics in 2000) created the new CenturyOptics.com website. Probably because their brand recognition is stronger as "century optics" in the skateboarding community.

[globe fusion]

apologies if this has been brought up, what is the recommended export settings (thru premiere pro) for vx1000 footy onto youtube? what do you guys think about the whole upscaling to 60fps (chris thiessen etc.)?

[linty]

apologies if this has been brought up, what is the recommended export settings (thru premiere pro) for vx1000 footy onto youtube? what do you guys think about the whole upscaling to 60fps (chris thiessen etc.)?

Youtube's 480p compression is quite bad by today's standards and limits you to 25/30 fps. I'd recommend upscaling to at least 1080p, some say 2 or 4K yield even better results.

Premiere's export should be able to get everything correct pixel, framerate and aspect ratio wise even if you stick to original DV resolution/settings when creating a new sequence/timeline. It makes editing a bit more fluid if you're using an older computer BUT if your sequence includes any titles (or AE ramped slo-mos), they will get upscaled with the footage and will be of lesser quality.

I find creating a sequence/timeline with the desired export settings/resolution more intuitive and haven't noticed it lessening the export quality. For 1080p it should be 30 or 60 fps (assuming you're working with DV NTSC), aspect ratio 1440 x 1080, square pixels and no fields/progressive scan.

Adobe Premiere should interpret your DV footage in it's original aspect ratio by default (if not, check modify->interpret footage in the project panel) even when working on a progressive/square pixel sequence. I prefer (uniformally) upscaling the footage to 190 to get rid of the black bars on the sides and top of the image, something that TV/CRT overscan used to do automatically back in the day. Makes no difference whether you do the upscaling in Video -> motion or add a transform effect to the clip. Some people seem to want keep them and stretch the image but that flickering top bar is an eyesore, especially if you go with 50/60 fps.

I've been happy with the results when exporting VX sequences with VBR (1 pass should be enough), 20-25 Mbps target bitrate and 'use maximum render quality' selected.

[andyandyandy]

Pretty sure the heads in my VX are completely toast. Instead of paying for the repair i'm leaning towards going tapeless and picking up the MRC1. If anyone can answer the following it would be much appreciated:

• Will MRC1's from Japan work with English VX's? Looking at this one: https://www.ebay.ca/itm/306874260552
• I remember seeing a site a while ago which sold mounts for these which would make it easy to attach to the VX, as well as short firewires. Hoping someone knows the site i'm talking about
• Is this the best recorder people are using? Any alternatives which provide the same or better quality?

[linty]

Pretty sure the heads in my VX are completely toast. Instead of paying for the repair i'm leaning towards going tapeless and picking up the MRC1. If anyone can answer the following it would be much appreciated:

• Will MRC1's from Japan work with English VX's? Looking at this one: https://www.ebay.ca/itm/306874260552
• I remember seeing a site a while ago which sold mounts for these which would make it easy to attach to the VX, as well as short firewires. Hoping someone knows the site i'm talking about
• Is this the best recorder people are using? Any alternatives which provide the same or better quality?

Yes, MRC1 is compatible with both NTSC and PAL. So is HVR-DR60 (which is lighter but stores the footage on an internal hdd).

I'd avoid getting a mount that attaches the recorder to the back of the VX. It will leave you less distance between the ground and the camera when shooting fisheye. Sometimes you need all the room you can get to get a good composition.

Can't help you with the website you mentioned but get a firewire cable with an l-shaped connector.

[tzhangdox]

Anyone know the best way to fix off center vig on an mk1? Its not too crazy but theres barely any vig on the top right and the bottom left vig is a bit bigger.

[bataaard]

the only way i managed to fix off centered vig is to dismantle the vap unit, and play with the pressure of a few screws.
it doesn't work if the vig is completely off centered, and is too much struggle for the little difference it makes in my opinion.

[andyandyandy]

My VX footage looks fine in the viewfinder when filming, however when i capture the footage there is lots of static on the image. Anyone know if this would work properly with an MRC1 still? I don't want to invest in the MRC1 and then the recorded clips still have the issue of my captured footage. I'm not entirely sure if the issue is related to the heads or not.

[somethingmustbreaknow]

not an expert and i haven't touched my VX in many years. but i had a similar problem back then. it was the video heads, which were dirty. once i got them cleaned professionally, on other occasions i did it myself with cleaning tapes and/or cleaning alcohol for this purpose. the static fields in the footage disappeared. i would assume if you bypass the video-to-tape with the mrc1, then without cleaning no artifacts should be visible.

but let's hear the experts on this @bataaard @suckmadeck @CHONGO  @pedro_mayn

[thanksgiving]

Pretty sure the heads in my VX are completely toast. Instead of paying for the repair i'm leaning towards going tapeless and picking up the MRC1. If anyone can answer the following it would be much appreciated:

• Will MRC1's from Japan work with English VX's? Looking at this one: https://www.ebay.ca/itm/306874260552
• I remember seeing a site a while ago which sold mounts for these which would make it easy to attach to the VX, as well as short firewires. Hoping someone knows the site i'm talking about
• Is this the best recorder people are using? Any alternatives which provide the same or better quality?

just wanted to say, the mrc1 needs a second piece called the cradle which are a bit harder to find. there's a seller on eBay(usa) with some for $210usd. no idea about Japanese compatibility but im sure you'd be fine. these things are pretty annoying/clunky to use in the first place and id probably find an English one if I were you.

it was designed for a specific Sony camera that had a mount built into the back, so when using it with a different camera u need that seperate piece to power it and give it ports and etc... unfortunately it is the best option and the only one id use for tapeless personally. the power plays and all those just dont cut it.

[thanksgiving]

anyone know about this shit with apple discontinuing firewire support and the adapters they made no longer working with new macOS models? time to hit marketplace and buy an old MacBook unless Theres a workaround...

[andyandyandy]

Expand Quote

Pretty sure the heads in my VX are completely toast. Instead of paying for the repair i'm leaning towards going tapeless and picking up the MRC1. If anyone can answer the following it would be much appreciated:

• Will MRC1's from Japan work with English VX's? Looking at this one: https://www.ebay.ca/itm/306874260552
• I remember seeing a site a while ago which sold mounts for these which would make it easy to attach to the VX, as well as short firewires. Hoping someone knows the site i'm talking about
• Is this the best recorder people are using? Any alternatives which provide the same or better quality?

[close]

just wanted to say, the mrc1 needs a second piece called the cradle which are a bit harder to find. there's a seller on eBay(usa) with some for $210usd. no idea about Japanese compatibility but im sure you'd be fine. these things are pretty annoying/clunky to use in the first place and id probably find an English one if I were you.

it was designed for a specific Sony camera that had a mount built into the back, so when using it with a different camera u need that seperate piece to power it and give it ports and etc... unfortunately it is the best option and the only one id use for tapeless personally. the power plays and all those just dont cut it.

Thanks for the heads up, I was close to buying one without the cradle. Yeah the quality of the powerplay isn't gonna cut it for me either, can immediatelly tell the difference in quality.

[CHONGO]

not an expert and i haven't touched my VX in many years. but i had a similar problem back then. it was the video heads, which were dirty. once i got them cleaned professionally, on other occasions i did it myself with cleaning tapes and/or cleaning alcohol for this purpose. the static fields in the footage disappeared. i would assume if you bypass the video-to-tape with the mrc1, then without cleaning no artifacts should be visible.

but let's hear the experts on this @bataaard @suckmadeck @CHONGO  @pedro_mayn

Shouldn't have any problem at all since your technically not using the tape deck, sorry just seen this @.

[globe fusion]

does running tapeless affect the quality of the exported clip? seems like some of my clips have ghosting but if it isn't the export, it's either the camera or the tapeless recorder.

[Flipsidegrollie]

if you're recording thru the firewire output it should not lose any quality; thru the analog out like with a Powerplay you lose a bit.

[globe fusion]

if you're recording thru the firewire output it should not lose any quality; thru the analog out like with a Powerplay you lose a bit.

yeah its the datavideo dn60, thru the fire wire

someone pointed out and can't unsee it but some of the clips have ghosting, has never happened with footage on tape so but maybe it is the export

[Flipsidegrollie]

hmm does your tape deck still work? You could do a side by side with captured tape footy and footy from the recorder... You could also go down the rabbit hole of fixing it through vapoursynth / hybrid deinterlacing before you put it into your editing software