DVCAM (raw) to BluRay
 

Hi all,
Just boxing up all my video gear to move house. - Didn't relise I had so many DVCAM tapes in plastic tubs stashed around the house.

My aim now is invest in somekind of kit to transfer the raw data from the DVCAM & DV tapes to BluRay. Without adding anykind of additional compression or using a 3rd party codec like a Avid codec.

I hope to reduce the storage space required and re-use the tapes. Plus at some point in the future re-edit the footage. I have no expirence of BluRay yet. But I like the idea of a 50gig discs. So, any help is welcome.

XDCAM is a pro alternative to BD. You can wrap the raw DV video without recompressing it into the MXF container and then store it on a 25 or 50GB XDCAM disc.

Wouldn't you need an XDCAM recorder for that? And how do you get the DVCAM footage transcoded without loading it into a computer as some sort of compressed file? It seems to me this is a long way to go simply to reuse tapes, when the DVCAM tapes are your original. If you're going to edit the stuff, I'd just capture it in whatever NLE you're going to edit with, then file the tapes away safely and buy new ones for any upcoming shoot.

Capturing the RAW DV AVI never recompresses the footage, it only wraps the data in a AVI container. Same with XDCAM, so all you do is re-wrap the raw data from AVI to MXF and then burn onto XDCAM via a XDCAM computer drive (a PDW-U1 for example)

As defeatist as this may sound .... 50gig is a lot of data to lose at once (due to a disc going bad, etc). I'd still keep the original tapes stored somewhere safe.

Andrew

OK. first thanks to everyone for posting a responce.

I like the idea of re-wraping the avi files. Ok - this may sound like a stupid question, but how do you capture .avi file without compression? I'm a Avid user, so deal only with Quicktimes. Is it a job for Adobe Premeire or would Windows Movie Maker do the job of capturing.

I know, I should keep the tapes, but there are so many of them, we just need the space. so, re-using them for projects that I do for free, sound a good idea and would keep the Mrs happy. (I help promote some minority sports, by producing promo films). I always by fresh tape stock for paid work.

At some point Bluray discs will be cheap as chips, so having 2 or 3 back up of the same thing will be the norm.

There should be an option in Avid to capture in .mxf instead of .avi or .mov.

Capturing to MXF will make the file compatible to burn to XDCAM without recompression.

Doh! Yes there is - That's the best news today. Thanks for your help.