Mini DV tapes from camcorder to computer

[Bill Kubiak]

I have around 450GB remaining memory on my HP and about 7.5 GB remaining on my iMac.

All my tapes are MiniDV and are approx 30 min in length

As far as what I want to do is just cut out all the mistakes and shorten long sequences, I get bored watching some of them, that I thought were very good when I shot them, I can probably cut every 30 min tape down to 10 minutes of decent watchable footage

This adapter you mentioned, exactly which one is it that will allow to record directly on my mac from my camcorder?

I am probably over thinking all of this, and I do have a lot of memory on my HP

[Edward Carlson]

Here's the adapter you need: https://www.amazon.com/Apple-Thunder.../dp/B00SQ2CJUS

Here's the cable you need: https://www.amazon.com/Male-Clear-Fi...SFZMKJQV74F5NB

If you only have 7.5GB of storage space left on your iMac, it's time to invest in an external hard drive.

[Brian Dollemore]

Your first decision is Mac/PC. I can only offer help with PC and I'm a recent convert to HD, hence still handling MiniDV tapes now and then.

AVI's are big files. As Boyd says, a standard tape holds an hour's worth - around 13GB - commonly a few minutes more, though there are/were LP's that I never used (I've never met half-hour tapes, but why not?). They download ('capture') in realtime, i.e. about an hour each. Label each tape for identification. WinDV (as above) detects scene change and automatically identifies each clip with the tape number (or whatever you wish) plus an origination date/timestamp. Other progs use different systems, some don't even separate the clips.

Once in the PC, they are handled separately. Reviewed with Windows Media Player (or whatever), each can be deleted out-of-hand or retained for later use. To trim the clip down to remove the boring bits I'm currently using Pavtube Media Magician ? Manage/backup/lossless join/convert/edit camcorder AVCHD MTS/M2TS/MXF and upload to YouTube. (currently showing at $23, I think, but there's a free trial version).

If you've done it before, it will come back to you. Good luck!

[Boyd Ostroff]

Originally Posted by Bill Kubiak

This adapter you mentioned, exactly which one is it that will allow to record directly on my mac from my camcorder?

I posted links for the adapters earlier in this thread, and Edward's are also good. However, you really haven't given us enough information to ensure that these recommendations are correct.

Exactly which iMac do you have? Does it have a thunderbolt port? And there are different kinds of firewire cables and ports too. Before buying anything, confirm that you are getting the right connectors. Google Images should be able to help with this.

I agree with Brian - you need to decide what platform to use (Mac or PC) before proceeding. You can add an external drive to the Mac if needed, but then you need to determine if your Mac supports USB 3.0 because 2.0 will be too slow. And not all USB 3.0 drives are created equal, you want a fast one. Generally speaking, these will be the larger desktop drives that have their own power adapters.

[Bill Kubiak]

I think I will go with the PC setup, for several reasons,
I have much more memory available there
I have the firewire plug on the back of the computer and the correct cable and I am pretty sure I have tried to use it once before
I guess I need to decide which of the two editing programs to use, I am looking for easy to use

[Andrew Smith]

This one is easy to use and will get the job done for your HDV footage.

HDVSplit 0.77 beta - Download

Andrew

[Bill Kubiak]

Andrew, help me to understand, this program you suggest to download is just to assist me in getting my video from my camera to my computer and it is not an editing program. Is that correct??

[Andrew Smith]

Yes, it's small and only gets the data off the tape and on to your computer. You can then edit in your software of choice.

Andrew

[Bill Kubiak]

easier said then done, I went to that site and tried to download and something called HowtoSimplified came up when I clicked the download button it just went back to my search page again tried again and got in and got sent from place to [lace and then they want me to agree to all sorts of things and update drivers and they want my full name and email address, so no way for that one.

Oh by the way I tried to load one tape with the Corel video studio using their movie wizard, I clicked on the capture button and started the tape, it played on the computer screen, these tapes are 1 hour long.

When it was done I could not find it anywhere

this is why I am here seeking help, 10 years ago there was a very simple program for windows called ULead Video Studio, but now nothing supports it, is always some issue when I try to make a movie or download my tapes into the computer

[Andrew Smith]

I downloaded a copy and have attached the zip file to this post.

Hope this helps.

Andrew

[Steve Game]

Alternatively, why not download a trial of Vegas Pro or even Vegas Movie Studio, - now both available from Magix. Capturing DV (or HDV) is very easy with the Vegas programs,
I'm not sure but in the latter days of Sony ownership, I think the trial versions imprinted renders with a notice that they were trials, but the captured footage is left clean. The trial is for 30 days so probably long enough to organise the capture exercise.

[Derek Heeps]

Originally Posted by Boyd Ostroff

I posted links for the adapters earlier in this thread, and Edward's are also good. However, you really haven't given us enough information to ensure that these recommendations are correct.

Exactly which iMac do you have? Does it have a thunderbolt port? And there are different kinds of firewire cables and ports too. Before buying anything, confirm that you are getting the right connectors. Google Images should be able to help with this.

I agree with Brian - you need to decide what platform to use (Mac or PC) before proceeding. You can add an external drive to the Mac if needed, but then you need to determine if your Mac supports USB 3.0 because 2.0 will be too slow. And not all USB 3.0 drives are created equal, you want a fast one. Generally speaking, these will be the larger desktop drives that have their own power adapters.

Actually , USB 2.0 works just fine : I use it all the time with my older MaBookPro , which only has USB 2.0 , to capture HDV / DV / DVCAM footage onto an external G Technologies 1Tb external drive . My camcorders connect to the MBP via FireWire 400 but the external drive is set as the scratch disk .

In fact , for standard DV footage , USB 1.0 works just fine - back in the days when I shot on my DCR VX-1000 , I used to edit either on my PowerBook G4 or PowerMac G5 using USB 1.0 external drives as scratch disks .

Capturing/editing is done in FCP7 , although I do have an earlier version of iMovie for very simple jobs , and if just dumping to DVD , Roxio Toast will ingest and burn in one operation .

[Boyd Ostroff]

Very interesting Derek. I had problems with USB 2.0 and know that others did too on the Mac (although evidently it worked fine on Windows). Perhaps it is related to what other USB peripherals were in use?

I believe standard definition DV is 25 MB/sec and the USB 2.0 drives I've tested clock in the 30 to 35 MB/sec range. Firewire 400 supported 50 MB/sec, that is what I always used "back in the day", and the slower drives could still be problematic.

I don't use USB 2.0 today, my inexpensive USB 3.0 drives have speeds around 180MB/sec. If nothing else, it makes copying and backing up a lot faster!

[Seth Bloombaum]

Originally Posted by Boyd Ostroff

...I believe standard definition DV is 25 MB/sec...

Nope. DV is 25Mbps - meaning 25 megabits per second. The other numbers are correct, at MBps, megabytes per second. Bits to bytes, divide by 8... The USB2 bus speed was always fast enough by a factor of 10 or more for DV capture, but the drives themselves varied widely. Some drives really didn't like the sustained load of video capture.

How Macs v. PCs fared back in the day? It really depended on what external drive was being used, and USB2 overlapped significantly with ancient ATA drive tech. It was when the later SATA tech completely displaced ATA drives that faster speeds became the norm. Which may have been a slower change in the Apple ecosystem.

If I recall... It was another eon by internet time.

[Boyd Ostroff]

Originally Posted by Seth Bloombaum

Nope. DV is 25Mbps - meaning 25 megabits per second

Haha, my bad. Have been away from this stuff for too long!