camcorder to pc

[elsomo]

alright i searched to forum but i couldnt find anythin specific to m camcorder.
i have a panasonic mini-dv and its model # is PV-DC252D
it has an sd mem card function for still photos.
so with it i got a usb cord but with this cord i can only trnasfer media on the sd card.
if i want to transfer video shot on the mini-dv film how woudl i do this? woul i need other software with other cables to do this? or oculd i use the a/v out and plug that into a tv tuner?

i feel like the answer is near but i cant seem to grasp it. im not a comp newb just a camcorder newb.

thanks

 

[MScrip]

You transfer video from a MiniDV camcorder to a PC using a Firewire cable.

I bought a $30 Firewire PCI card for my computer, and I use Pinnacle Studio to capture, edit and burn DVDs. It's really fun!

Go pick up a Firewire card and some editing software, and let the fun begin!

 

[elsomo]

dude quick reply... i was just browsing and i cam back and bam!

thanks man

 

[351Cleveland]

How long does it take to transfer from miniDV to PC via the firewire hookup? Is is a "dubbing" process, or more of a file transfer?

I am a little bit skeptical of digital camcorders with tapes, but I have heard this is the way to go. I just remember dubbing VHS movies... I dont want to do that with modern camcorders!

 

[deadseasquirrel]

Originally posted by: 351Cleveland
How long does it take to transfer from miniDV to PC via the firewire hookup? Is is a "dubbing" process, or more of a file transfer?

It depends on the software (and of course the speed of your computer). I use Ulead Video Studio and it has the option to capture as DV (pretty much 1:1... i.e. 1 sec of video will capture every second), as well as converting on-the-fly to mpeg2. This will take longer, of course, since it's encoding as it captures. You'll see the capture frames freeze as the computer slows down to encode.

I haven't used my new A64 to do this, but on my old AthlonXP, it took around 2 hrs to do 30-40mins of tape. I would suggest bringing it over as DV or uncompressed AVI (if you have the HDD space) and making the alterations you want, THEN encode to mpeg2.

 

[351Cleveland]

So transferring to computer is pretty much a dubbing ptocess... you have to play it to transfer it. man that sucks.

 

[MScrip]

Originally posted by: 351Cleveland
So transferring to computer is pretty much a dubbing ptocess... you have to play it to transfer it. man that sucks.

Yep... it will take 1 hour to capture 1 hour of tape. But that's how it's done.

Why are you skeptical of digital camcorders with tapes? All digital camcorder use tapes... except for very recently, when DVD camcorders started to emerge.

All professionals use tapes... they will be around for a very long time.

DVD camcorders let you watch your video immediately on a DVD player after you shoot it, after you finalize the disk. But, your capturing and editing options are limited with a PC.

Tapes are still the best way to go if you wanna capture and edit your video on a PC.

 

[kini62]

Avoid the DVD camcorders if you have any interest in editing the video. The current video editing apps, won't work with the MPEG files as they come from the DVD camcorder. You have to rip them to your hard drive, then demux and convert them to a format they can work with. A real pain. Tape is the way to go. I agree it is slow getting the tapes in, because it's done in real time. And of coures even the compressed DV footage takes about 13GB per hour of tape. You need about double to triple that space to work with the tape in an editing program and to convert it to MPEG2 for putting on a DVD.

Good luck with it.