How can I copy MiniDV to my PC ?

[mee]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Hi !

I've got some questions and hope that there is someone who might give
me a helping hand.

My old MiniDV JVC digital camera broke down and now I'm worried that I
can not play all my tapes on the new MiniDV cameras. I was told
hawever that there should not be a problem. Is this correct ? Can I
play all my JVC recorded miniDV tapes on all new miniDV cameras such
as sony,canon,...?

To avoid that this happens to me once again I plan to copy all my
tapes to PC and than to DVD.
Is there anything I should be aware of before buying a miniDV camera
that has a FireWire output ?
What format do the cameras convert the tapes to ?
Is the software that comes with the cameras to copy the "files" to PC
of any use or is there any other software (shareware/freeware) that
you would recommend ?

Thanks for all your comments and answers.

Mee

 

[nbk]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Mee wrote:
> Hi !
>
> I've got some questions and hope that there is someone who might give
> me a helping hand.
>
> My old MiniDV JVC digital camera broke down and now I'm worried that I
> can not play all my tapes on the new MiniDV cameras. I was told
> hawever that there should not be a problem. Is this correct ? Can I
> play all my JVC recorded miniDV tapes on all new miniDV cameras such
> as sony,canon,...?
>
> To avoid that this happens to me once again I plan to copy all my
> tapes to PC and than to DVD.
> Is there anything I should be aware of before buying a miniDV camera
> that has a FireWire output ?
> What format do the cameras convert the tapes to ?
> Is the software that comes with the cameras to copy the "files" to PC
> of any use or is there any other software (shareware/freeware) that
> you would recommend ?
>
> Thanks for all your comments and answers.
>
> Mee
Do u have an IEEE 1394 (FireWire) card?
NBK

 

[Rich]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

"Mee" <mee_lee_chu@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:7831aee2.0407220711.4d980e09@posting.google.com...
> Hi !
>
> I've got some questions and hope that there is someone who might give
> me a helping hand.
>
> My old MiniDV JVC digital camera broke down and now I'm worried that I
> can not play all my tapes on the new MiniDV cameras. I was told
> hawever that there should not be a problem. Is this correct ? Can I
> play all my JVC recorded miniDV tapes on all new miniDV cameras such
> as sony,canon,...?

I have not encountered problems interchanging MiniDV tapes from three
different camcorders (Canon and two Sony).

> To avoid that this happens to me once again I plan to copy all my
> tapes to PC and than to DVD.

You can do that, but there will be a loss of quality if you create a
"standard DVD" designed to be played back on a standalone DVD player. This
DVD video might become more difficult to edit at a later time. Quality of
the DVD video can vary greatly depending on the authoring software used. It
is my understanding that you can use DVD discs to save your video. With the
AVI files being about 13 Gb per hour it will take about 3 DVD disks to store
one hour of AVI video.

> Is there anything I should be aware of before buying a miniDV camera
> that has a FireWire output ?

I think all MiniDV cameras have FireWire outputs, just different features.
Some have what is called "pass-through" some will not allow copying your
video back to tape.

> What format do the cameras convert the tapes to ?

The MiniDV cameras record to tape in a format called .AVI which has a
certain amount of standardization but there can be some differences which is
not really a problem generally.

> Is the software that comes with the cameras to copy the "files" to PC
> of any use or is there any other software (shareware/freeware) that
> you would recommend ?

The actual process of copying from MiniDV camcorder to PC via FireWire is
pretty straightforward and a variety of software can be used, some of it is
free such as WinDV, which I use.

Rich


>
> Thanks for all your comments and answers.
>
> Mee

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

On 22 Jul 2004 08:11:39 -0700, mee_lee_chu@hotmail.com (Mee) wrote:

>Hi !
>
>I've got some questions and hope that there is someone who might give
>me a helping hand.
>
>My old MiniDV JVC digital camera broke down and now I'm worried that I
>can not play all my tapes on the new MiniDV cameras. I was told
>hawever that there should not be a problem. Is this correct ? Can I
>play all my JVC recorded miniDV tapes on all new miniDV cameras such
>as sony,canon,...?
>
>To avoid that this happens to me once again I plan to copy all my
>tapes to PC and than to DVD.
>Is there anything I should be aware of before buying a miniDV camera
>that has a FireWire output ?
>What format do the cameras convert the tapes to ?
>Is the software that comes with the cameras to copy the "files" to PC
>of any use or is there any other software (shareware/freeware) that
>you would recommend ?
>
DV tapes should be inter-changeable it is a standard-format. If it
doesn't work adjustments will help.

DV output via firewire is in a standard format. No need to check any
specs.

Most software has the option to save in dv-avi (type 1 or type 2,
which are convertible from one to the other. Is sometimes necessary as
this, well-hidden spec, determines often if a certain program can use
the file.)

MovieMaker (update to version 2) which comes with Microsoft's
WindowsXP will do the job. Many other programs outthere. Check the
obvious download sites.

Hope the above gives you some idea. Thank's for asking.

 

[mee]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Thanks to you all.
Now I've got a better picture but it looks like I need some more GB.

Mee