transfer miniDV to dvd

[OutHouse]

dunno if this is the right area or if i should post in the gadgets gear... if in the wrong spot please move.

what is the best way to transfer and edit video shot on a sony camcorder with minidv tape to DVD? I looked at a service at the camera store but that gets expensive quick. so any suggestions?

 

[gar655]

Time (a lot), a fast computer (real fast or really, really fast, software Premiere Elements on Windows and iMovie/iDVD on Mac.

You have to import (in real time) each tape. They take up a lot of space about 13GBs per hour IIRC.

Then you have to convert them to MPEG2, then burn them to a DVD in the proper DVD form, hence the need for software.

You may want to edit them first. This entails another "bunch" of time unless all you do is cut out the extraneous footage. If you do any affects or adjustments the rendering can take a very long time depending on your computer specs.

So, if you have a lot of tapes and an average computer you can figure on doing about 2 1 hour tapes per day. Of course I may be way off since I haven't done any DVI to MPEG2 conversions for years. Maybe the new quadcores will rip it up. You can only hope.

Gene

 

[DBissett]

I'm starting on the exact same project as the OP and hope to learn here too. Captured first tape today using AVS software and it didn't go well....the audio screwed up halfway through and I've emailed AVS for answers since I don't have a clue about it. Found out what gar655 said...it took about 1 gig/5 min of tape. I didn't know about the conversion though. But the right work flow is to capture, then edit, then convert, then burn? Right?

 

[Akhen]

I'm starting on the exact same project as the OP and hope to learn here too. Captured first tape today using AVS software and it didn't go well....the audio screwed up halfway through and I've emailed AVS for answers since I don't have a clue about it. Found out what gar655 said...it took about 1 gig/5 min of tape. I didn't know about the conversion though. But the right work flow is to capture, then edit, then convert, then burn? Right?

Pretty much.

 

[Jtorrespr1]

use windows movie maker if you have a MS operating system.
Its free and works well. plus I feel for a beginner is extremely easy to edit/cut.
(if my wife can do it) I know a caveman could.

 

[OutHouse]

use windows movie maker if you have a MS operating system.
Its free and works well. plus I feel for a beginner is extremely easy to edit/cut.
(if my wife can do it) I know a caveman could.

humm i forgot about windows movie maker.

 

[DBissett]

I transfered my videos to hdd with Windows Live Photo Gallery and cranked up Movie Maker to dive into editing. But I'm stuck. On the left side of the screen theres a small frame where I can watch/advance the video. In the storyboard area there is row after row of a single frame taken from 10 seconds into the video. Is this what I should see there? I've tried experimenting with some instructions from Help but what I'm seeing in the storyboard just makes no sense. Can somebody clue me in? Thanks.

 

[NutBucket]

Or you could be lazy and get a set-top DVD recorder that has a firewire input.

 

[zetachi]

I just sent off 2v Mini-DV and VHS c tapes here

Will post back when they return and let you know how it went.

 

[John P]

As suggested xfer to computer via firewire with software of your choice. I use Pinnacle Studio but it can be finicky (wait until it's cheap after rebate from Fry's). Then you can edit, burn to DVD, and/or archive to mpeg-4 or whatever smaller file format you want to store them in.

 

[Homerboy]

This is an ongoing project with myself to be honest.
Windows Movie Maker is nice, but what I hate is that it auto-chops the transfer to HDD into seperate .avi segments. I'd rather work with 1 LARGE .avi. But that's just me. The software itself is pretty damned nice for free, and pretty idiot proof too.

I can also recommend Cyberlink Director too for an relatively inexepensive, easy and full featured product.

I will say that when you are transferring from DV tape to HDD, leave it as a raw .avi. Do not allow your PC to compress to mpg2 etc on the fly. It will inevitably skip some frames, compress the quality shittily etc. Just capture to HDD in raw .avi, edit as needed/wanted then build your DVD (in addition to movie maker, MS DVD Maker works just fine for dragging and dropping videos, building menu etc etc)

 

[DBissett]

WMM transferred my 60 min tapes as single files. Try this....In Windows Live Photo Gallery go to File>Options>Import, change "Settings for" to video cameras, then in the middle of the page uncheck "Import videos as multiple files". Maybe then you'll just import single files. I'm stuck basically by how much time this takes. I've got video segments scattered across different files that I'd like to put together and haven't figured out how to do that yet. It doesn't appear to be an easy task. Cyberlink seems to rank pretty high in the reviews, but after hunting around I found a video editor by Sony that appeared to have fewer dissatisfied customers, and more positive comments. Whatever you use this seems to be a tedious project.