miniDV, FCP X and AppleTV

Quality is not a factor in this operation. The images will never be any better than the original DV. Period. Well, there are some enhancements you can perform but that's not part of the question.

FCPX will capture from a DV deck but you need timecode. MiniDV does not have timecode, I think. DVCAM does.

You want this to be really easy? Get a copy of FCP7, an older Mac, a Sony 11 DV deck, and use "Firewire controllable device" on the ingest settings. Slick.

There are plenty of threads related to DV in FCPX forums, just search. You can also spend a few hours in the iMove forum for DV discussions. iMovie is free and offers all the utility you need for this job.

If you are preserving precious family archives, be sure you print out several copies to DVD using iDVD or DVD Studio Pro (another reason to use Final Cut Suite) and maybe even back out to DV.

Just to say that there is a 30 day trial version of FCP X that is full featured and which you can use to test how well this capture works from your camera or deck. Tape capture is not one of FCP X's strong suits, but many users do OK. (I've had good results, but also some problems.) Try it and let us know how you fare.

Russ

David,

Mini DV does have timecode and will capture direct to FCP X.

Al

I have just recently converted my some media that were iso files so that I could store them on a hard drive connected to my Airport Extreme router and view the media files on my AppleTV via iTunes. I used HandBrake to convert the iso files and used the AppleTV preset in HandBrake to convert to a compatible AppleTV media file.