Transfering Mini DV format to computer

[Scott Bushey]

Is anyone aware of a program I can use to transfer Mini DV format from my Sony HandyCam to my computer so I can burn discs?

 

[Semper Fidelis]

What kind of input does your camera require: firewire or USB 2?

Two programs that are easy to use are Pinnacle Studio and Sony Movie Studio. Pinnacle is probably the easier of the two.

 

[Scott Bushey]

Rich,
I realized that the camera came w/ "Image Mixer" for Sony. I got it to run and the camera to transfer. The transfers have no sound and the prog will not burn CD's even though it looks like it is processing. ???

 

[Scott Bushey]

Getting there! I now have sound and video. I am still unable to burn discs........

 

[Scott Bushey]

Rich,
I have d/loaded the trial version of the Sony Video Capture 6.0; to burn dvd's you need the full version. The full version is $90.00; would it be a better investment if I buy a dvd player that can burn dvd's?

 

[Arch2k]

Scott, do the mini dv's play on your computer?

If so, and you have a dvd burner for your computer (seperate bay), you might try burning a dvd on the fly, i.e. place the mini dv in the top dvd bay, place a blank dvd in the bottom bay, and using Nero or Sonic Record Now (or similar burning software) use the "create exact duplicate" or similar function, and hit "burn."

I'm not familiar with the mini dvs, but I can dub dvd's very quickly that way using this method.

 

[Scott Bushey]

Jeff,
The recordings are the small frmatted tapes; they are not discs.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Originally posted by Scott Bushey
Rich,
I have d/loaded the trial version of the Sony Video Capture 6.0; to burn dvd's you need the full version. The full version is $90.00; would it be a better investment if I buy a dvd player that can burn dvd's?

Scott,

That won't solve your problem. The process of making a movie on DVD from MiniDV works like this:

1. The movie is captured in the AVI format on a tape. One hour of video on a miniDV tape is about 13.5 GB in the AVI format. (by the way, NEVER, capture in slow play to get 90 min out of a tape).

2. The tape is rewound and the miniDV camera is connected to the computer. Using the "capture" process, the computer program transfers the 13.5 GB of information from the tape on to the hard drive. The hard drive, at the end of the process, will contain one huge AVI file with your movie on it.

3. Software like Pinnacle studio or Sony Movie studio then puts that file into an editor window. You can then edit how you want the big file broken up into scenes, titles, and the like. It basically sets up instructions on how the movie will appear on DVD.

4. The next process is called rendering. Remember the size of 1 hour of video is 13.5 GB. A DVD only hold 4.7 GB. How do they get 3 hours of video on some discs (42 GB in AVI)? They render it. That is, frame by frame, the computer must convert the uncompressed AVI to compressed MPEG-2 (the format that DVD's use). It also breaks the movie into all the files that will be burned onto a DVD. DVD movies actually consist of a bunch of files inside a directory named VIDEO_TS. That directory has files that contain the menu of the DVD and the video files themselves. A successful rendering should create this directory.

Rendering is a very lengthy process. On my relatively powerful computer it takes about 3 hours to render 1 hour of video. If it's not taking you a long time to render then something is not right.

5. The last step is burning. This is simple. The program just copies the contents of the VIDEO_TS directory to your disk. It takes 5-10 minutes depending on the speed of your burner.

That's everything laid out. It's hard to specifically help because I can't see what screens the computer is presenting. As I stated previously, Pinnacle Studio is better suited for novices because it's kind of a 1-2-3 process in that program. You might want to go to Best Buy and pick up a copy of that program.