JVC GY HD200 into fcpx

I have an opportunity to purchase a JVC GY HD200 for dirt cheap. I like the camera, except that it's tape based. but have not seen that it is supported by FCPX. Does anyone know if this is still the case?

Any FW camera with TC on the tape should capture just fine. Just remember that FCP X has absolute minimal tape capture support. I just helped a university capture old DVCPRO-HD and Mini-DV tapes. Mini-DV from an old Canon XL1. Worked just fine. We did find one tape that FCP X cut up in super odd places. Tracing the tape's history, we found it was shot on a camera that had never had the date and time set in it. Most tape based FW cameras must have the date and time manually set before they record the time-of-day timecode, which is what FCP uses to cut up tape captures into separate QT clips.

I have looked at the supported camera list and for some reason the GY HD200 isn't listed. It goes from 100/110 to 250/251 but skips the 200. I'm concerned that the camera may be too old to be excited about anyway. Thoughts?

I don't believe you'll have any problem importing from tape with that camera, but having said that, is tape really the way you want to go? If you have ever used any cameras that record to a type of solid state media, the sheer speed of the import workflow is worth a lot to have.

And, likely you'll be able to capture higher quality images because of the speed of newer technology recording mediums. I personally never cared for HDV anyway. Depending on what you consider to be "dirt cheap" this may or may not suffice for B-roll acquisition for your needs.

1st, that camera better be dirt cheap, too. LOL

But if you can go visit the person selling it, take your laptop, test it out.

Thanks everybody for the good and fun input. I have decided to let the "dirt cheap" camera stay with someone else. I've never been too fond of HDV either and I know the resale value on such a tape based camera will just continue to spiral downward. I decided to say no.

Thanks again and

Merry Christmas

Yep, the person to purchase that camera will be the last person to own it. It was a nice cam in its day, but today, its obsolete. You won't ever re-sell it, you'd have to give it away when you were done with it.