User User name Password  
   
Wednesday 8.1.2025 / 02:03
Search AfterDawn Forums:        In English   Suomeksi   På svenska
afterdawn.com > forums > digital video > digital camcorders > mini dv video capture
Show topics
 
Forums
Forums
mini dv video capture
  Jump to:
 
Posted Message
campbuds
Junior Member
_
18. September 2007 @ 18:15 _ Link to this message    Send private message to this user   
ok, when I was shopping for a camcorder most everyone here recommended a minidv for picture quality.

Well what is the point if when you capture the video to your PC the quality drops off anyway? I am a little frustrated by this. Help please?
Advertisement
_
__
campbuds
Junior Member
_
18. September 2007 @ 18:23 _ Link to this message    Send private message to this user   
oh an di did some more reading... how do i capture to AVI with windows movie maker or nero?
AfterDawn Addict
_
18. September 2007 @ 18:28 _ Link to this message    Send private message to this user   
Originally posted by campbuds:
oh an di did some more reading... how do i capture to AVI with windows movie maker or nero?
.AVI files are uncompressed files, and the loss you get, when you capture to your computer, is minimal.

To capture as an .AVI file, to your computer, you need to do it via a firewire connection between your video camera and your computer.

And don't buy a cheap firewire cable. Buy cheap, buy twice.

Life is good!
GrandpaBruce - Vietnam Vet - 1970 - 1971
Computer: Intel Core i7-920 Nehalim;Asus P6T Deluxe V2

This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 18. September 2007 @ 18:29

Member
_
18. September 2007 @ 18:28 _ Link to this message    Send private message to this user   
Hook up the camera to the pc.
Load up WMM.
Select import video. Capture from video camera.
Drag scenes to bottom and be sure to save as AVI not WMV.
campbuds
Junior Member
_
19. September 2007 @ 04:08 _ Link to this message    Send private message to this user   
so as long as I do what you guys are saying I should have some nice video to use to put to DVD?

What about some system requirements? What size HD should I be using? How much memory? How about processor speed? Is there anything I missed?
AfterDawn Addict
_
19. September 2007 @ 05:01 _ Link to this message    Send private message to this user   
Originally posted by campbuds:
so as long as I do what you guys are saying I should have some nice video to use to put to DVD?

What about some system requirements? What size HD should I be using? How much memory? How about processor speed? Is there anything I missed?
You should get the largest hard drive that you can afford, since .avi files are huge.

As for system requirements, check the minimum requirements of the software that you will use to edit the .avi files, and get a system that FAR exceeds those minimum requirements.

A good video card is a must.

Life is good!
GrandpaBruce - Vietnam Vet - 1970 - 1971
Computer: Intel Core i7-920 Nehalim;Asus P6T Deluxe V2
campbuds
Junior Member
_
19. September 2007 @ 06:48 _ Link to this message    Send private message to this user   
Ok... here is what I am currently using.

AMD Athlon 2600+ (running at 1.9)
1gig pc2700
Asus A7N8x motherboard
128ddr geforce video card
40gig hard drive.

does this sound good?

These videos are for personal use. I am not doing any high end things. Just home videos. I am not going to store them on my hard drive either. I will be transferring them to DVD
Junior Member
_
19. September 2007 @ 07:42 _ Link to this message    Send private message to this user   
A 40GB HDD will not be enough if you want to rip from a mini DV camera. Using WMM I currently get avi files that are about 13GB an hour, then you would need space to save it once the project is finished as well...

I currently have about 400GB of unedited avi's at the moment, just trying to find time to convert them all to DVD.

Intel Core 2 Duo E4500/2.20GHz @ 3.04GHz
4GB DDR2 800MHz / PC2-6400 RAM
4TB Total HDD
NVidia GeForce 7600GS 512MB Graphics Card
Antec Nine Hundred Case / OCZ StealthXStream 600W PSU
campbuds
Junior Member
_
19. September 2007 @ 08:44 _ Link to this message    Send private message to this user   
If I do one video at a time and I am working with ones that are like 15 mins long at most will that make it easier?

Also I have a 2nd 40gig hd with nothing on it I could dedicate to this. Would that work for me?

Also what about my other specs?

PS. Thanks for all the advice / help
Senior Member
_
19. September 2007 @ 13:43 _ Link to this message    Send private message to this user   
Originally posted by GrandpaBW:
.AVI files are uncompressed files, and the loss you get, when you capture to your computer, is minimal.
I need to correct these statements. AVI itself is actually not a format but just a definition of the container that can contain all kinds of video and audio, either compressed or uncompressed. Video on miniDV is alos not uncompressed. It is compressed using the DV-codec which has a compression ratio of around 1:5. And if you use a Firewire connection and tranfer to DV-AVI the qulity loss will not be minimal, but zero because it is actually a bit for bit transfer.

Originally posted by campbuds:
If I do one video at a time and I am working with ones that are like 15 mins long at most will that make it easier?

Also I have a 2nd 40gig hd with nothing on it I could dedicate to this. Would that work for me?

Also what about my other specs?
You can do it with a 40Gb hard drive: it can contain around 3 hours of DV-AVI video, but once you're getting a bit deeper into video editing you will soon find yourself being busy with managing storage capacity in stead of editing video. I recommend to get at least an 80GB hard drive or larger. They aren't that expensive anymore and it will save you a lot of frustration. Having a separate hard drive for your videos is also a very good idea, because you will have less chance of dropped frames during transfer and having your videofiles on another disk as your video editing software will improve your working speed.

About your other specs: they look OK to me.

The site for digital video enthusiasts.
DigitalVideoClub ( http://www.digitalvideoclub.com )

This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 19. September 2007 @ 13:44

Advertisement
_
__
 
_
AfterDawn Addict
_
19. September 2007 @ 16:05 _ Link to this message    Send private message to this user   
Originally posted by campbuds:
Ok... here is what I am currently using.

AMD Athlon 2600+ (running at 1.9)
1gig pc2700
Asus A7N8x motherboard
128ddr geforce video card
40gig hard drive.

does this sound good?

These videos are for personal use. I am not doing any high end things. Just home videos. I am not going to store them on my hard drive either. I will be transferring them to DVD
Encoding, with your processor, may be slow, but it should work.

Life is good!
GrandpaBruce - Vietnam Vet - 1970 - 1971
Computer: Intel Core i7-920 Nehalim;Asus P6T Deluxe V2
afterdawn.com > forums > digital video > digital camcorders > mini dv video capture
 

Digital video: AfterDawn.com | AfterDawn Forums
Music: MP3Lizard.com
Gaming: Blasteroids.com | Blasteroids Forums | Compare game prices
Software: Software downloads
Blogs: User profile pages
RSS feeds: AfterDawn.com News | Software updates | AfterDawn Forums
International: AfterDawn in Finnish | AfterDawn in Swedish | AfterDawn in Norwegian | download.fi
Navigate: Search | Site map
About us: About AfterDawn Ltd | Advertise on our sites | Rules, Restrictions, Legal disclaimer & Privacy policy
Contact us: Send feedback | Contact our media sales team
 
  © 1999-2025 by AfterDawn Ltd.

  IDG TechNetwork