VHS-C and MiniDV capturing?
 

Hi. I'm new here at the forum and trying to learn from all the great threads here.

I have read a lot about this topic here and I would like to confirm if I have learned it correctly:

1. For "extracting"a video from a miniDV tape, I would just have to connect a camera with a firewire cable to a computer, right? Well, I still have some questions:
- Should I connect the camera with firewire or capture the video through RCA (Camera + ATI card)? I believe that with firewire the quality will be better, right?
- I don't have a miniDV camera anymore. Which model would you suggest? Or would you suggest an adaptor to use a VCR?
- If I use a miniDV camera, can I use a modern mac computer or should I have to use WindowsXP to do it?

2. About VHS-C, which adaptor would you recommend buying? What should I look for when I buy one?

Thank you!

The composite (yellow wire, often confused with RCA audio) connection loses quality.

For consumer camcorders, the lens/CCD/CMOS often didn't actually resolve true 720x480 details, and you're perfectly fine capturing it lossless over s-video. The native DV files are smaller, so the only downside of this method is space.

But transferring the file over Firewire is preferred by most users -- with the main caveat being the ability to use Firewire. It can be a PITA to add a Firewire card, and laptops almost never have the ports.

MiniDV works fine on Mac, as Mac SD was a DV workflow. Not capture/converting, mostly to "make movies" (and that includes transferring the source DV files from DV tapes).

There is no adapter to use a MiniDV tape in a VHS VCR. There were pro combo decks that accepted DV, mostly JVC, and those were terrible for DV (noting the S-VHS VCR with line TBC was excellent).

For VHS-C, only use the metal adapters from JVC/Panasonic, like the C-P6U or C-P7U.
This should be comparable: https://www.amazon.com/VHS-C-Video-C...language=en_US

So I would need a Minidv camera to transfer over firewire, right? Which model would uou recommend?

I've always liked the Canon ZR and Elura series, and mostly use the Elura for playback.

I don't know if Lordsmurf will second this, but I've had excellent results with a MiniDV Sony Video Walkman, model GV-D1000. The GV-D800 has been equally good with 8mm/Hi8, but I prefer analog capture over FireWire with DV compression for the latter model.

From the look on that link, those are the cheaper generic adapters, which are not as nice and sturdily made as the C-P6/7U (or rebranded versions), or the Panasonic VW-TCA7*.

We got a few of those, one of the customer pictures have the exact same logo as some of them even. They work ok, but you have to make sure when you insert a cassette that the guides that hold the tape out are fully in place, they can sometimes fail to go all the way up by themselves.

Agree the the various Sony Video Walkmen work well for both MiniDV and for Video8/Hi8/D8 tapes. There are several variants (e.g., with and without build-in monitors and for MiniDV and 8mm-size tapes). The down side is on today's market they tend to be more scarce and much more costly than used camcorders.

I've also used Canon MiniDV camcorders with success. A note: tapes recorded at LP speed can be problematic if played in a different machine than the one that made the recording.

Although IEEE1394 (aka Firewire and iLink) was supposed to be hot swapable, I wouldn't count on it. I have read numerous reports of firewire ports being fried attempting a hot swap. Safer to make all connections with systems powered down.

Which software would be the best to capture a miniDV tape using a Mac? Would it be any of those: Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro or Corel VideoStudio?

Would it be better to use a PC with WinDV?
Windows 10 or XP?

Which file format should I use, so it is with the highest quality, lossless, and with the possibility to edit it later?

MiniDV is already digital and losses were taken when it was recorded. You can't get them back; all you can do is to not introduce additional losses in processing. So what you want to do is make an exact digital copy of the MiniDV tape to edit.

I've used Corel VideoStudio and I know that it will copy MiniDV tapes as long as you have the proper hardware interface (usually FireWire) on your computer. I've only used it on PCs; I've never owned a Mac. WinDV will work on a PC as well; the advantage of VideoStudio is that you can edit and then output it (to MP4 or DVD) from the same program and the same interface. I would imagine that the other software you mentioned would work as well, but I absolutely refuse to buy productivity software with proprietary file formats on a subscription basis. If I don't own my own files, then I don't own my own work. So long, Adobe.