I have a bunch of mini-DV tapes that I will have a professional firm convert into digital files and transfer to an external hard drive. The question is, what format should I choose? The guys same AVI files were the best, but I may not be able to open them on my Mac or use them in iMovie. Would .mpeg 4 work? Or would .mov be best? Thanks!
iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5)
Mini DV already has a format known as DV Stream and they are already "digital" so no conversion is needed.
All you need is a DV camera and the proper cables to get them into any version of iMovie.
I forgot to mention that my video camera no longer works which is why I was going to have them professionally converted/transferred to an external hard drive. Let me know if you have any tips. Thanks!
For probably less than 10 percent you'll spend for "professional" conversion of your tapes you could buy a used, functional DV camera and the needed cables and do the work yourself.
Digital format for mini-dv tape conversion
