Pablo Verdad

I have about 30 mini dv tapes that were recorded 10-15 years ago on a Sony DCR - TRV900E camera. I would like to transfer their content on to computer. The camera now does not eject (I was quoted $800 to repair it) - so I cannot use it to do the transfer via firewire as I used to. The starting price for companies that do such transfers seems to be round $12 to $15 per tape. But I see there are lots of old mini dv tape camcorders for sale on the internet for $100 to $200. Therefore it would be cheaper for me to buy such a camera & transfer the tapes via firewire. My question is: Would transferring a video via a cheaper camera than the one it was originally filmed on, affect the final picture quality? Thanks - Pablo Verdad