Newbie questions on transferring videos from mini DV tape to comp.. Pls help

[David]

Okie, here are some newbie questions. Hope the more experienced could help me out. :embrass:

I would like to transfer my travel videos that I captured using my Canon camcorder. I read the manual and noted that the "DV cable" mentioned was not supplied when I bought the camcorder. May I know where I can buy it?

I'm surprised there are no instructions at all on how to do the transfer. Where can I read more about this? Do I just connect the cable between my videocam and comp, play the mini DV tape and the comp will auto convert it to an mpeg format?

Secondly, I heard that to go easy on the videocam, there is a standalone machine that is recommended to play/rewind the DV tapes while converting them? Where can I buy such an equipment and roughly how much does it cost?

Thank you very much guys!

 

[chanxj]

Okie, here are some newbie questions. Hope the more experienced could help me out. :embrass:

I would like to transfer my travel videos that I captured using my Canon camcorder. I read the manual and noted that the "DV cable" mentioned was not supplied when I bought the camcorder. May I know where I can buy it?

I'm surprised there are no instructions at all on how to do the transfer. Where can I read more about this? Do I just connect the cable between my videocam and comp, play the mini DV tape and the comp will auto convert it to an mpeg format?

Secondly, I heard that to go easy on the videocam, there is a standalone machine that is recommended to play/rewind the DV tapes while converting them? Where can I buy such an equipment and roughly how much does it cost?

Thank you very much guys!

The dv cable is availible in many shops in simlim and funan and big electrical stores. note that you would need a firewire port on ur pc or laptop for the transfer. Futher more to for the computer to record the video and output to vcd or dvd, u would need a software such as ulead video studio or pinnacle studio.

There are standalone machines availible to play/rewind/record dv tapes but they are expensive. To what i know sony has a consumer version which costs 1.8k(has built in lcd screen) that is the cheapest i know of but of course there may be other sets availible that are not to my knowledge.

 

[tommon]

Well depending on what you want with the software? If you really want to just covert your DV tapes into a DVD or VCD or any other PC readable format then I suggest you just get service providers to do just that (it's cheaper). If you want to edit then that's a whole different ball game. All the equipmnet and softwares are not cheap, like CHAN mentioned, $1.8k or much more and about $500 for PC software / hardware. Unless you use them often or else it would be a ticking time bomb as equipment can go obsolete within months.

 

[David]

Thanks guys. For software think I will use DV Premiere Elements. Not sure how good it is. I definitely have to do a lot of editing.

Oh wow... The standalone machine costs so much. Then I'd forget about it.

For the DV cable, is it connected to the firewire? Or can I also connect it to a USB? Acording to my manual, it says the video cam has to be connected to the IEEE 1394 terminal of the computer. But my comp doesn't have such a terminal.

 

[jOhO]

Thanks guys. For software think I will use DV Premiere Elements. Not sure how good it is. I definitely have to do a lot of editing.

Oh wow... The standalone machine costs so much. Then I'd forget about it.

For the DV cable, is it connected to the firewire? Or can I also connect it to a USB? Acording to my manual, it says the video cam has to be connected to the IEEE 1394 terminal of the computer. But my comp doesn't have such a terminal.

that's the firewire "technical name".

if u dun have then u can get a PC card from lacie, i think around 100+. for laptop they have also, pcmcia, or the new dunno wat slot issit...

 

[David]

that's the firewire "technical name".

if u dun have then u can get a PC card from lacie, i think around 100+. for laptop they have also, pcmcia, or the new dunno wat slot issit...

Opps.. o ic . Hee thanks.

 

[xxccxx]

that's the firewire "technical name".

if u dun have then u can get a PC card from lacie, i think around 100+. for laptop they have also, pcmcia, or the new dunno wat slot issit...

Can also use USB2.0, which all computers should have by now. Because I believe there is a port for it on the cam (at least there's one for my miniDV cam).

Question is will the quality of the transferred video be much worse than firewire?

 

[jaegersing]

Can also use USB2.0, which all computers should have by now. Because I believe there is a port for it on the cam (at least there's one for my miniDV cam).

Question is will the quality of the transferred video be much worse than firewire?

Suggest you check the camera manual first, because not all cameras with USB can capture video this way. Sometimes the USB is for accessing the memory card so you can copy still pictures to the PC or print direct to a USB printer. Some cameras can also be used as webcams, with the video data transferred via USB. If video capture is available thru USB, most likely it will need a special program that comes with the camera, unless there is a capture plugin provided for video editing programs like Premiere or Vegas.

One big advantage of firewire (IEEE1394) for video capture is that you can control the playback via firewire from a PC. Even if you can capture video via USB, you would not have deck control so would need to start and stop the camera manually every time you want to capture a clip. Also, for batch capture you would need firewire deck control.

 

[kelster]

If you really want to just covert your DV tapes into a DVD or VCD or any other PC readable format then I suggest you just get service providers to do just that (it's cheaper).

Sorry David for tagging onto your thread...but..since this question is posted here...I might as well ask here for all that might need such a service...heh...

anyone got any service providers to recommend to help convert miniDV tapes to DVDs?...no need to edit...just convert...cos me thinking of editing myself...thnx!!...

 

[jaegersing]

Sorry David for tagging onto your thread...but..since this question is posted here...I might as well ask here for all that might need such a service...heh...

anyone got any service providers to recommend to help convert miniDV tapes to DVDs?...no need to edit...just convert...cos me thinking of editing myself...thnx!!...

Hi Kelster. Hope you don't mind if I answer first. I think David's point was that if you are not planning to edit, there is quite an effort (and possibly cost) to get the software you need and then learn how to do the conversion. It's easier to get someone else to do it for you.

But, if you already have what is needed for editing, then it is probably faster to make the DVDs yourself. Once you have edited your video, it would be slower to render it and write it back onto DV tape, (to pass to the service provider) compared with rendering as DVD format MPEG files and making a DVD.

Just a thought.

 

[lwm]

If you just want to convert the video from miniDV to DVD with some simple editing, then the easiest way is to download to a standalone DVD recorder. The camcorder can be connected to the DVDR either through firewire, or analog connection (S-video, audio). DVDR allows you to delete/add/move chapters, etc. But if you need more complex editing like adding background music, fade in/out, etc, then you need a PC to do it.

 

[xxccxx]

One big advantage of firewire (IEEE1394) for video capture is that you can control the playback via firewire from a PC. Even if you can capture video via USB, you would not have deck control so would need to start and stop the camera manually every time you want to capture a clip. Also, for batch capture you would need firewire deck control.

If I did not remember wrongly, my camera allows me to control the playback from the computer when transferring using USB2.0.

May I know what is a batch capture?:embrass:

 

[jaegersing]

If I did not remember wrongly, my camera allows me to control the playback from the computer when transferring using USB2.0.

May I know what is a batch capture?:embrass:

So far I haven't come across deck control via USB, but if your camera can do it then I learn something new. May I know what camera you have?

In batch capture, you would scan through your tape and log the In and Out points of all the clips that you want to capture. Then you activate batch capture and the program will rewind, start, record, stop and fast forward the camera as necessary to capture all the clips you logged. The advantage is that you don't need to fill your hard disk with unwanted video, you can select just the bits you actually want to use.

Again, if your camera can be controlled via USb then there is no reason that it can't do batch capture also.

 

[xxccxx]

So far I haven't come across deck control via USB, but if your camera can do it then I learn something new. May I know what camera you have?

In batch capture, you would scan through your tape and log the In and Out points of all the clips that you want to capture. Then you activate batch capture and the program will rewind, start, record, stop and fast forward the camera as necessary to capture all the clips you logged. The advantage is that you don't need to fill your hard disk with unwanted video, you can select just the bits you actually want to use.

Again, if your camera can be controlled via USb then there is no reason that it can't do batch capture also.

Wow!!! :bigeyes: Eyeopener leh... :thumbsup:

I'm newbie also, so just bought an entry level Sony DCR-HC26e. Maybe I'm wrong about the deck control, because I have not really taken any serious footage yet.:embrass:

May I know what is a cheap and good software to do this kinda batch capture and allows simple editting also? I am not intending to shoot Lord of the Rings Part 4 :sweat: , so I only need something simple for me to do some cutting, etc. Please advise. Thanks!

 

[jaegersing]

Wow!!! :bigeyes: Eyeopener leh... :thumbsup:

I'm newbie also, so just bought an entry level Sony DCR-HC26e. Maybe I'm wrong about the deck control, because I have not really taken any serious footage yet.:embrass:

May I know what is a cheap and good software to do this kinda batch capture and allows simple editing also? I am not intending to shoot Lord of the Rings Part 4 :sweat: , so I only need something simple for me to do some cutting, etc. Please advise. Thanks!

I looked at the DCR-H26e manual, but it didn't really mention deck control, so no way for me to tell. Since you have the actual camera, you should be able to install the Quick Start Guide and try it out.

What the manual did say about USB video transfer is that there is a slider to adjust the quality. This means that it is compressing the video during the capture, so I would stay clear of this and get a firewire cable if I were you.

Cheap and good? Depends how you define cheap. I use Sony Vegas, and like it very much, so maybe the Vegas Movie Studio would be a good entry level program for you. The features are at the link below (it mentions batch capture) and you can also download a demo version to try it out for free.

Have to tell you though, that batch capture may not be that important for someone starting out. Hard disk space is pretty cheap nowadays, and it can sometimes be faster and easier to capture a whole big chunk of the tape in one pass, with auto scene detection. This gives you many small clips on your hard disk (one clip per shot) and you can quickly delete away any clips you decide you don't need. This method is much gentler on the camera tape mechanism compared with shuttling backwards and forwards which can happen during batch capture.


http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/products/showproduct.asp?PID=977&FeatureID=8315#all

 

[kelster]

Hi Kelster. Hope you don't mind if I answer first. I think David's point was that if you are not planning to edit, there is quite an effort (and possibly cost) to get the software you need and then learn how to do the conversion. It's easier to get someone else to do it for you.

But, if you already have what is needed for editing, then it is probably faster to make the DVDs yourself. Once you have edited your video, it would be slower to render it and write it back onto DV tape, (to pass to the service provider) compared with rendering as DVD format MPEG files and making a DVD.

Just a thought.

thnx jaegersing...I currently do not have a DV reader (ie a Vid Cam) to read the DV tapes i have on hand...so asking if anyone know anybody to convert this to say a DVD for me at a reasonable cost of cause...

 

[jaegersing]

thnx jaegersing...I currently do not have a DV reader (ie a Vid Cam) to read the DV tapes i have on hand...so asking if anyone know anybody to convert this to say a DVD for me at a reasonable cost of cause...

Hi Kelster. You mentioned that your are thinking of doing the editing yourself, so I thought you would have a camera for capturing. Sorry about the misunderstanding.

If you are planning to edit from the DVD files that the service provider gives you, I would recommend against it (unless you really have no choice). It can be done, but it tends to choke up your PC when you edit MPEG2 files. This means a slow response from the computer. Also, you will get a quality drop compared with editing the original DV files (from the tapes).

 

[kelster]

Hi Kelster. You mentioned that your are thinking of doing the editing yourself, so I thought you would have a camera for capturing. Sorry about the misunderstanding.

If you are planning to edit from the DVD files that the service provider gives you, I would recommend against it (unless you really have no choice). It can be done, but it tends to choke up your PC when you edit MPEG2 files. This means a slow response from the computer. Also, you will get a quality drop compared with editing the original DV files (from the tapes).

thnx for the headsup...think will try to get my hands on a camera to play the tapes out direct...

 

[xxccxx]

Thanks to all for all the valuable advice! :thumbsup: