Vamp's Random Tech Stuff: JVC SR-DVM600 DVD/HDD/DV recorder


SR-DVM600 (top)	SR-DVM600 remote (right)

The SR-DVM600 is what we use to capture MiniDV tapes. As I've mentioned in the previous post, we use s-video to capture because the built in MiniDV deck is broken and the DV in/out port doesn't seem to work.

It has a built in hard drive and allows basic cut/join editing. The "flexible bitrate" feature allows the recording bitrate to be set to arbitrary values (the choices are presented in minutes of recording time. for example, FR150 means that the bitrate will yield 150 minutes of recording time on a single layer DVD.) However, it records mostly in CBR* and doesn't always allow bitrate fluctuations within the video. The recorder only records on -R/-RW discs. It can only read but not write +R/+RW discs.

It can dub between any 2 of the 3 functions (for example DV->DVD) but it can't dub from commercial DVDs or DVDs recorded on other recorders. It is also possible to use a function when another function is in use. (for example, watching a DVD while recording analog source to HDD). The HDD can play videos that have not finished recording (like the DVR from your cable provider).

There's a BNC composite output without OSD for professional applications like broadcasting. There are 2 sets of composite and s-video outputs. One of them is for HDD/DVD only and the other one can output HDD/DVD/DV

*The recorder only lowers the bitrate when the target bitrate cannot be achieved even with minimum compression, but it raises the bitrate above the target after (and only after) the bitrate drop when the video is complex enough to consume higher bitrates. This way, it can work like VBR when the video is fairly simple and the average bitrate will never exceed the target.. The downside is that if the entire video is complex enough the consume bitrates higher than the target bitrate the recorder will work in strict CBR at the target bitrate.