Convert mini dv's to DVD, recommendations?

[lindsroc]

Does anyone have a recommendation of a website or store that converts mini dv's to DVD? Any experience as well as price info would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[networktek]

We had some one do it in toronto and it cost us 400 to do 8 min dv tapes

 

[lindsroc]

$400??!?!?! wow. I was going to buy a cable for the camcorder, and hook it to the computer and download them that way--- but the camcorder is shot. All the images appear pixelated.

 

[chartle]

Maybe buy an old mini DV camcorder from eBay and then use firewire to download the video.

I tried going to a place like overstock.com to try to find a new one but I didn't find any tape based cameras.

 

[ThurlFan]

Tape is not a dead or low-end format for camcorders. Here's a modest new offering from Canon found at B&H for example.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/597358-REG/Canon_3543B001_ZR960_MiniDV_Camcorder.html

And here's a pricey full HD camera

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/255811-REG/Canon_7920A001_GL2_Mini_DV_3CCD.html

The main reason tape is still used by many is because it stores the video in uncompressed true digital format, which allows you to edit your video with minimal loss of picture quality.

 

[My2Girls66]

Ritz or any other camera shop probably does it. My dad had some old movie reels converted to DVD but I don't remember what it cost him. Not cheap, though.
I use a firewire (that I bought really cheap from Amazon) from camcorder to a $99 dvd recorder on my t.v. Its super easy but as far as editting, I pause the recorder to cut bad parts out but other than that they go onto the dvd as is. Luckily DH used to videotape for a living so I usually don't have much to edit except when I am the one behind the filming and film the ground while walking for 5 minutes

Without use of the camcorder, though
Maybe borrow one or like someone mentioned, buy a cheap one.

 

[My2Girls66]

I wonder, though. Is it the camcorder that is showing a good tape pixelated? Or is the actual recording pixelated? If it a good tape and the problem is with the playback on the camcorder....it might show up on the computer or tv looking just fine. Just a thought.
I transfered some mini dv tapes for my dad last year and parts of one of the actual tapes were pixelated. We don't know if there was a problem with the tapes he used or if the camcorder caused it but the latest tapes I did for him were fine.

 

[lindsroc]

We got the firewire and tried uploading them to the computer ,hoping they would be fine on playback on the computer. No such luck. They come out pixelated on there as well, and I THINK it is from the malfunction of the camcorder.

 

[LordAthens]

In that case, try a new camcorder. Are all of the tapes like that? What networktek said about having someone else do it isn't a bad idea. $400 for 8 tapes breaks down to $50 per tape, which isn't that bad considering the time that goes into it. Figure capture per tape is 60-90min alone, then an additional few hours to possibly a day (depending on the speed of your machine) to compress it to MPEG2, then burn the DVD.

If you choose to do it yourself, not to spam myself, but I have 2 MiniDV cams for sale. Both Sony's, both complete and working. Let me know if you're interested in one of them.

Good luck

 

[Anewman]

Can you find a MiniDV tape head cleaner...

Why dvd?

Just buy an external(or two) and put all your video there, you can then edit and burn DVDs or Blu Rays(when they come down in price) as needed.

And your PS3 and other devices might be able to play the files direct from the external hard drive.

 

[LordAthens]

Can you find a MiniDV tape head cleaner...

Why dvd?

Probably because it's the most universal video media format available?

Just buy an external(or two) and put all your video there, you can then edit and burn DVDs or Blu Rays(when they come down in price) as needed.

And your PS3 and other devices might be able to play the files direct from the external hard drive.

That doesn't make a lot of sense. Buy an external drive (or two) compared to simply editing now and burning them to DVD? Granted, you can fit quite a bit of footage on even an old 250gb drive (~19 hours), but quality blank DVD's cost less than 50 cents per disc. "File" format on disk certainly makes it a lot harder to give to grandma and grandpa, etc. And as far as putting them on BD, why? You won't gain anything by putting it on a BD, as it's still going to be standard definition footage, burned to BD as MPEG2. You've effectively limited the number of players that can play the disc, however.

PS3's won't play AVI in DV format, due to numerous reasons. It still has to be reencoded to MPEG2, Xvid/Divx, H264, etc.

I'm not trying to be harsh about it, but there is no good reason not to simply just burn them to DVD. Even someone like myself who has HTPC's (running XBMC) connected to every TV in his house, I still burn it to a DVD for an archival copy. Yes, all of my home video's are readily accessibly (as is my entire DVD and BD collection) on 8TB worth of disc on any of the TV's, but again, I still have an archival copy. I've already had bitrot take hold of some things and I won't let it happen again.