How to rip Mini DV tapes?

Whew I'm glad I don't have to do that anymore, it's a real pain.

I used a Mini Tape to DVR adapter in a DVR player, plugged the DVR player into a DVD Recorder and burned the Tapes onto DVDs, then imported the movie from the DVDs into iMovie.

If you do not have the old camcorder, then you'll need a Mini tape adapter and a DVR player

see > Amazon.com: Maxell Cassette VHS-C Adapter (290060): Electronics

or optionally a very expensive second hand Mini DV Tape player.

see > Mini DV Player | eBay

The problem with trying to capture the videos straight from tape (via camcorder or DVR player) to the computer, is that you need some type of (RCA to USB) video capture device and software to convert the movies before you can import them into iMovie.

see > Roxio Easy VHS to DVD for Mac - VHS to DVD Conversion Mac Software

and/or > XLR8 - Mac Video Capture that WORKS!

Many Mini-DV cameras had FireWire (iLink) ports on them, so you could go straight from the camera to a Mac via Firewire, although depending upon the ages of the hardware, the camera would probably have a 4 pin connector, and the Mac may have a 6 or a 9 pin connector. It may require the purchase/use of specific cables or adapters.

When it came to using an RCA or S-Video connection, I really like my old Pinnacle Movie Box DV. It would convert analog to digital or digital to analog using a simple Firewire connection to the computer. Using either method, the firewire input to the Mac would feed nicely into iMovie for the capture.

GeekBoy.from.Illinois wrote:

Many Mini-DV cameras had FireWire (iLink) ports on them, so you could go straight from the camera to a Mac via Firewire, although depending upon the ages of the hardware, the camera would probably have a 4 pin connector, and the Mac may have a 6 or a 9 pin connector. It may require the purchase/use of specific cables or adapters.

True, there are all sorts of 4 to 6 and 4 to 9 pin FireWire cables and 6 to 9 pin adapters out on the market.

I had also thought of that and that it actually might be the cheapest way to go, if he does not already have a DVD Recorder. Problem is, that I would feel real bad for steering someone towards an old camcorder, that did not work or do what they wanted.

Then again, you might save yourself a lot of time and frustration. If there is a local Camera Center like The Camera Center Inc here in Modesto that can do video transfer from tape to DVD or Flash Drive.

fnazeeri wrote:

Does this method end up preserving the "digital" version of the original or is it some sort of "screen scrape"? It's worth a little effort and money on my end to try and preserve the quality of the video.

Yes

Yes it is worth it to convert and digitally save those memories.

2. I have Adobe premier, do you know if I can pull in the video and avoid the Roxio/XLR8 software?

Don't know, I never have used any Adobe software.

I mostly went with burning them on to DVD first for two reasons.

1. It gave me a full DVD copy of what was on the tapes to save without a lot of work.

2. At the time, I too was looking for the cheapest way with what equipment I already had. (a VCR player and DVD recorder)