How do I save an analog 8mm tape > DV with trimmed blanks spots as original format?

[Trevor Harrison]

My mother bought a GV-D200 for me, so that I could digitize our 8mm analog tapes, so that I could digitize and edit my videographer youth back in the 90's. I tried using FCE but it didn't work, so I used iMovie 08 and I have imported all the tapes as one file per tape (which is what I wanted to do to preserve the "RAW Tape" so to speak).

Though I babysitted the digitizing/importing (and had to force quit iMovie 08 to stop that damn thumbnail indexing), all tapes have a few seconds of blank tape at the beginning and seconds to minutes at the end of the tape that was imported. I want to cut off the blank parts and then save the file in the original format as the digital master of the tape (so I will never have to re-import these tapes again and can box them up for indefinite storage without degradation).

How can I do this. I have acquired FCE and will buy FCE5 when it comes out in January (or FCS3, that's for another thread). Since QTPro and iMovie can't do the frame by frame cutting (yes I am picky), How do I save out the trimmed clip so that there is zero quality loss while keeping as the original DV file?

Thanks for the help.

[Trevor Harrison]

I should mention that I am brand new to video editing. I know the basics of editing from a course I took in 97', but codecs, I don't know that well. All I know, is my footage is DV 32hz (? what is the difference in 32hz, 48hz, etc?), and a data rate of 57.55mbps.

Once I've manually cut of each tape into start/stop clips, catalogued and organized them, edited, added graphics etc. How much will have I learned about video editing?

[Trevor Harrison]

Update: Can't remember where I read it, but it seems importing all those tapes using iMovie 08 was a bad idea and I can do it using FCE by using NTSC DV Converter and changing my GV-D200 from 32khz audio to 48khz audio. Now I have to re-import everything #$#%#%#$#

[Rick L. Allen]

Trevor, since you are in Vancouver you should check with your local arts community and enlist some professional help with your problem. QTPro, FCE and iMovie will all do frame by frame editing (it's just easier in FCE and iMovie). Your problem isn't hardware it's information so you need some local help. There is no need to recapture or to buy FCP. If you are struggling with iMovie then FCP won't be any easier. Again get some local help or take a class or get a training DVD.

[Trevor Harrison]

Why do I need Professional help? I don't follow. I am re-importing using FCE in DV Converter mode (and some tapes had audio out of alignment at the beginning so I had to redo them again). about 18 tapes to go. I've ask for FCE for Christmas, if not then, I will buy it by end of the month to be legit. re-importing has also allowed me to get the exact time of each tape, so I can set a timer on my iPhone and be alerted to when the tape is nearly done.

The only real problem I've been having, is I do other things while importing on my Mac Pro, since FCE doesn't like my DP 1.25GHZ (R9000 R9800 has a dead fan and haven't replaced it yet. I also have just retired it from active duty, since I am no longer in living in two places for now). So using it to import is not possible it seems.

I'ved turn off DNR and TBC on the GV-D200. One thing I noticed while re-importing is a tape of the skytrain has a second here and there missing, yet when I re-imported in FCE it was fixed. On the flip side, one tape lost about 30 minutes of footage (that is there) in FCE and FCE didn't stop the import due to dropped frames. Strange.

[Trevor Harrison]

Here's a link to a sample of the imported video and the stuttering.

Stuttering video