Import DV video from camcorder tape to a single DV file?

I just saw where LifeFlix is giving away free copies of their MiniDV Importer on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/lifeflix

Hi John

I wondered how you are getting on with your project as I have excactly the same task ahead...

Are you successfully using QT Pro? I am looking for a solution as I considered using FCP X (which I already use for editing) but I would have the same issue as you did with iMovie.

Any thoughts or words of encouragement gratefully received!

Thanks very much

Liz

Hi Liz,

Another alternative is to use iMovie HD 6 depending on your platform which will accomplish the same thing--both have the same underlying QT engine, so it's a matter of GUI preference. However, with Mavericks and Yosemite, I suspect that QT PRO may be the better purchase choice for longevity and support.

Deinterlacing is important in one's workflow; but, I suspect you know that if you are using FCP. I happen transcode and prefer using a Decomb filter as opposed to deinterlacing to maintain highest quality. It works out really well when transcoding for MP4/H264 delivery. That said, when necessary, I'll deinterlace.

Hey John,

Thanks for the update and glad to hear that your project is going well. But those file sizes...!

I wanted to output each tape as a DVD but that just wouldn't be possible with a file that big. When I did my test on FCP I ended up, for a film of about an hour, sharing to DVD (file size 1.11GB) and saving a M4V of 3.74GB - quite a difference.

Think I may have to stick with FCP to get the result I need.

Thanks for the update though and good luck with it.

Liz

Hi Johnny,

Thanks for that. I'd rather stick with an interface I know - do you think there would be a benefit to using iMovie over FCP? I didn't deinterlace in previous tests I've done and the quality is fine, my main concern is time it takes to import the media to the FCP timeline which is what I was hoping to avoid since I don't need to edit at this stage.

All thoughts gratefully receieved!

Thanks again

Liz

Hi Liz, I mentioned iMovie 6 HD only as alternative choice to QT Pro for a continuous DV file conversion. FCP is a more feature rich NLE than iMovie. If you don't need to edit, and for a continuous file, just save the original conversions with either QT Pro or iMovie HD.

Hi JohnNY123, Hope your DV conversions are going as well--I've learned tons. I've run into the "famed" 12-bit audio issue on a few older mini-DV tapes. Of course, the export becomes out of synch on those longer captures.

After some research, it appears the best way to convert 12-bit to 16-bit audio is to capture the project and export it back to DV tape. Seems like a lot of time/effort per tape. Yet, another alternative is to import the original using FCE--kind tough if one doesn't have FCE. And, there are other methods, too, such as export the extracted audio clip and converting it and reimporting the converted clip--hmmm?

Wondering if you/anyone has determined the best, fool-proof way to convert a full-length video recorded in 12-bit to 16-bit DV to maintain synch? This may deserve another/new thread--but, given some of the experience in this forum--just wanted to pulse you and others first, to see what really works best....

Thanks,

JohnnyO

Just want to test this workflow with the experts on the forum as I begin to convert my DV collection. For background, I use a JVC SR-DVM600 deck with Firewire output connected to an iMac with Mavericks and a Firewire 400 (JVC Deck) to 800 (iMac) conversion cable.

1. QUICKTIME - Capture the original video in Quicktime v10 to save as an archival version.

- Open Quicktime 10 (in my case 10.3)

- Select New Movie Recording

- Select the Camera = 1394 DV

- Select the Quality as Maximum - This will store the DV content as Apple PreRes 4444

- Select play on the deck and record in Quicktime

> The output is a very large MOV file (25GB+) that looks exactly like the original

2. iMovie - Capture the video in iMovie major steps summarized below:

- Import from the Camera/deck and iMovie will pull in a series of clips separated based on timecodes

- Create a new movie for each set of clips, or place all the clips into a single movie

- Change the Movie Properties from CROP which appears to be the default to FIT so that the top and bottom of the 480p video are not cropped

- The biggest hurdle has been that a single tape has multiple dates of video footage. Based on another Apple recommendation, I use a Title from the Content Library to add date/time stamps. Search for "date" when in the Titles section and drag to the clip where you want to display the timestamp.

- I share the movie to a file which provides a compressed version of the video in MP4 format with the timestamps displayed.

3. Copy Clips - Copy the iMovie clips to the archive since the clips have the original date/time stamps built into the file name

- Select the clip and Reveal in Finder from the Menu

- From the Original Media folder, copy all of the MOV files which are in DV/DVCPRO format 720x480 to the archive folder

- Then I send the project to the trash in iMovie and prepare for the next DV cassette

So that gets me the originals, original clips with timestamps and a compressed version for presentation.

QUESTION 1 - Any concerns with that workflow

QUESTION 2 - When sharing the iMovie file and creating the MP4, I have been saving as 720p. Should I have iMovie scale the video to 720p or leave as 480p and let the TV scale the image? How well does iMovie scale?

QUESTION 3 - Is there a better way to get the date/time stamps from the DV video? Adding the titles to individual clips is time consuming.

Thanks!