Convert from MiniDV to PC

[Tigerjon]

We have a Sony MiniDV camcorder about 8 years old. We have about a dozen tapes we need to turn into files we can watch on our computer and also place on discs to view on a DVD player. The computer we wish to do this on is a Windows 7 machine. I downloaded the drivers for our camera and ripped one tape. After the tape finishes importing, I am left with several .avi files consisting of about 1.5 minutes of recording each. Does anyone know if it is possible change the settings to allow for a single file per tape or is there a third party software that will allow for this? I'm guessing this is not the best program for me to do this anyway, because ultimately I'd like to have MP4 files I can play in iTunes or on my iPhone4. I'm going to try to import to a DVD, so we'll see how that goes though. Suggestions for a third party software I can get (or if I may already have something on my machine that will work I don't even know about) would be outstanding. Thanks a bunch for any help.

[zoobie]

Settings for what?
You didn't say what you used to transfer
See if windows moviemaker in on your comp
...or try windv

[v491138]

I am making some assumptions here and I was quite a good speller once. Let's hope I'm not now,
OK, firewire input perhaps. Fast data transfer leaving no time for the system to do anything but capture raw AVI video.
That tends to make for very large files. You did not speccify how large those short video segments were. Could they have been as large as 2GB? You likely have to look for a setting for file splitting. It is an issue I've encounter long time back. It was what was nice about my Hauppau (sp?) capture ccard. Hardware compressiob.. I'd first look into the file size/spitting issue in your application and then possibly into capture USB dongle that does hardware MPEG or other compression.

[edDV]

We have a Sony MiniDV camcorder about 8 years old. We have about a dozen tapes we need to turn into files we can watch on our computer and also place on discs to view on a DVD player. The computer we wish to do this on is a Windows 7 machine. I downloaded the drivers for our camera and ripped one tape. After the tape finishes importing, I am left with several .avi files consisting of about 1.5 minutes of recording each. Does anyone know if it is possible change the settings to allow for a single file per tape or is there a third party software that will allow for this? I'm guessing this is not the best program for me to do this anyway, because ultimately I'd like to have MP4 files I can play in iTunes or on my iPhone4. I'm going to try to import to a DVD, so we'll see how that goes though. Suggestions for a third party software I can get (or if I may already have something on my machine that will work I don't even know about) would be outstanding. Thanks a bunch for any help.

Firewire input is needed. Use WinDV (free) to move the data from the tapes to the hard drive. If done correctly the data on hard disk will be identical to data on tape (~13GB/Hr). After that you can do many things including encoding for DVD or mp4. Don't try to encode while capturing. It only results in tears and wasted time.

[v491138]

Do remember that I've done this only with VCR and my capture card that did hardware MPEG compression. Worked beautifully.
You've given me good piece of info in the 13GB/Hr data. Of course I thought I made it clear that via software all you could do was capture the raw video data. For me a LONG time back, that meant LARGE AVI files at a data rate tha my machine then could not handle unless the frame size was tiny. You might say I was way ahead of the hardware in what I wanted to do. The hardware compression card did the job and I transferred a fair number of VHS tapes to DVD as well as capture movies from cable.
So from what you've said, those AVI files are somwhere around 500MB in size and I've no idea on what he might do but what has already been said. Perhaps capture with another program, as has been suggested, is THE answer, but I'd checkout DVD Styler.
I've seen good things about Ashampoo and so I've now got 10 (I really don't usually buy as opposed to finding freeware instead) only to discover that Styler would appear to be the better DVD creater. Ashampoo has many more features, but nothing that I can't do with what I already had in terms of freeware and finding out that Styler is as good or better was a surprise.
I don't know anything about the other apps mentioned in this regard, so anyone with experience with them and Styler, please give your input. Thanks

[edDV]

Do remember that I've done this only with VCR and my capture card that did hardware MPEG compression. Worked beautifully.
You've given me good piece of info in the 13GB/Hr data. Of course I thought I made it clear that via software all you could do was capture the raw video data. For me a LONG time back, that meant LARGE AVI files at a data rate tha my machine then could not handle unless the frame size was tiny. You might say I was way ahead of the hardware in what I wanted to do. The hardware compression card did the job and I transferred a fair number of VHS tapes to DVD as well as capture movies from cable.
So from what you've said, those AVI files are somwhere around 500MB in size and I've no idea on what he might do but what has already been said. Perhaps capture with another program, as has been suggested, is THE answer, but I'd checkout DVD Styler.
I've seen good things about Ashampoo and so I've now got 10 (I really don't usually buy as opposed to finding freeware instead) only to discover that Styler would appear to be the better DVD creater. Ashampoo has many more features, but nothing that I can't do with what I already had in terms of freeware and finding out that Styler is as good or better was a surprise.
I don't know anything about the other apps mentioned in this regard, so anyone with experience with them and Styler, please give your input. Thanks

Any software encode on the fly will degrade quality and is not advised. True a DVD recorder has a hardware MPeg2 encoder so can keep up in realtime. Even so, the quality is lower than that which results from the two step PC process.

Tigerjon's listed P4 CPU isn't a candidate for one pass but should work fine for separate realtime capture then non-realtime encode.

[Tigerjon]

I appreciate the response and help from everyone. One thing I failed to mention in my original post is that I am an moron when it comes to this stuff. I do have Windows Live Moviemaker. I used Windows Live Photo Gallary to transfer (just because it was the only option that I am given when I turn the camera). Each small clip I am left with is between 200 and 300 MB. I did find out that it will convert the entire tape to a DVD, so I am covered there. It sounds like WinDV might be the way to go, but once I download it, is it pretty user friendly (especially for a video dumbass)? Thanks again.

[Tigerjon]

I went to the WinDV link to take a look at it. Does this program allow for capture to .avi only? I want a program (if there is such an animal) that will allow me to capture to .mpeg. Thanks.

[v491138]

Your only option (made very clear here by others) is capture to AVI and then process to the mpeg or mp4, etc.
The only way you could get mpeg capture would be with a device that does hardware mpeg.
Folks here seem to think that even that is not viable without loss of quality from the start.
I disagree, but that isn't relevant. Your best option is to accept the AVI output and proceed from there.
Otherwise you need "more" hardware which you really do not need but for that desire to start with mpeg files.
I can't spell it, but Hauppauge would be where to look for the hardware mpeg, if you must have it.
I got it as part of a TV tuner card that also did direct video capture. I (and others) found the results to be VERY good.
Point is, you really don't need it. You can get to mpeg without unnecessary loss without the extra hardware.

[Tigerjon]

Well, I have downloaded the 20-day trial version of 4U AVI MPEG Converter. I'll give it a shot and see how it works. It looks like anything out there that will do this will cost me something to have longterm.

[v491138]

You might try MediaCoder. Free anything to anything media coder.
I suspect it will meet your needs.
I've cut my WAV files in half with llossless conversion to WMA9.
Video as nice too. Worth a try before you get hooked on that pay to play program.
I'm not knocking it, just that you should try free first if you have the time.

[edDV]

Well, I have downloaded the 20-day trial version of 4U AVI MPEG Converter. I'll give it a shot and see how it works. It looks like anything out there that will do this will cost me something to have longterm.

Your CPU isn't up to the task of realtime conversion.

Windows Movie maker can cap DV to DV-AVI if you specify DV-AVI in export.

Am I reading you that you aren't concerned with picture quality? If you are, you will use the two step process. I always archive my DV tapes as full 13GB/hr DV format.

[Tigerjon]

I tried 4U AVI MPEG converter and while it does make a duplicate mpeg file of each .avi file, I cannot figure out how to take all of the .avi files from a single mini DV tape and string them all together to make on mpeg file (maybe it can't do this). Does anyone know if MediaCoder can? Yes, quality is important enough to me that I do not mind performing two steps. Tell me more.

BTW, obviously I am using Win Live Photo Gallery to make a DVD of each tape, but once I have an mpeg made, how do I turn that into a DVD?

Everyone, I really do appreciate the help on this. Thanks!

[edDV]

1 Cap to DV-AVI. Edit if necessary.

2a Encode to MPeg2
2b Encode to other

[Tigerjon]

Okay, this is getting extremely frustrating. I have downloaded AVI Joiner so I can string all of the desired .avi files together so I can convert to one mpeg per tape. Now, when I attempt to add the .avi files to AVI Joiner, I get an error message reading:

Unable to add file C:\Users\Jon\Videos\2004-12-25 01.45.39 Home Movies #4: Access violation at address 00460633 in module at 'avijoiner.exe'. Read of address 0000010. Do you want to continue add other files?

What in the world does this mean?

Thanks.

[v491138]

Simple check. This app is compatible with your OS, right?
Another possibility involves possibly having to run the app as admin.
And that friends is my two ccents worth.
Forgive me if it is too simple.

[Tigerjon]

Simple check. This app is compatible with your OS, right?
Another possibility involves possibly having to run the app as admin.
And that friends is my two ccents worth.
Forgive me if it is too simple.

Good observation...the version I originally downloaded was not compatible with 7. So, I downloaded All Free Video Joiner. Now I have a single mp4...so, I'm headed in the right direction. I have alos started converting the mp4 I have to DVD, so things are looking up. However, when I dragged and dropped the mp4 into iTunes, it would only play the audio. Do I need to convert the avi files to m4v instead of mp4? Thanks.

[v491138]

Probably, but Macs are not my domain..
Just for the heck of it, try changing the extension from mp4 to m4v.
I seem to recall do it the otherway round and it worked.
Can't hurt
There is another freeware - AnyVideoConverter. It is supposed to do conversions between any two video formats.
Just don't forget the codecs. I use K-Lite Full. Seems compatible here. (Vista 32 and 7 64)
Have fun. You are makibg good headway.

[edDV]

Okay, this is getting extremely frustrating.

Why is that? You have your answer but have better ideas. You are an inventor. Go for it. Show us your better ideas.

[Tigerjon]

Probably, but Macs are not my domain..
Just for the heck of it, try changing the extension from mp4 to m4v.
I seem to recall do it the otherway round and it worked.
Can't hurt
There is another freeware - AnyVideoConverter. It is supposed to do conversions between any two video formats.
Just don't forget the codecs. I use K-Lite Full. Seems compatible here. (Vista 32 and 7 64)
Have fun. You are makibg good headway.

When I pull up the properties for the file, I don't see how I can change the extension to m4v, but I can change the program to open the file (changed to iTunes). This didn't make a difference; still no video, but good audio. Might have been a problem w/the conversion (but the video plays fine in WMP). Another thing that has not worked well that I discovered late last night is when I turned the mp4 into a dvd, the audio was not in sync w/the video. Is this what the codecs fix? Again, I am not good at this stuff and don't know a lot of the terminology any better. It sounds like I may be getting on some nerves of some others around here and for that I apologize. Again, I'm trying to get this stuff archived out of fear of losing or damage to the original tapes and then I'd be screwed. I'm just trying to learn. The main things I wan to accomplish are:

1. Capture each tape to DVD (easy for most of my tapes, but I have a few that the scenes are out of sequence, therefore, I need to convert the tape to avi files in order to change the sequence before I make a DVD. How in the hell this happened, I'm not sure, but my guess is that my lovely wife [God bless her] has no business playing around with any kind of electronics equipment).

2. Create a file of each tape that can be viewed in iTunes/iPhone4.

3. Create a file of each tape that can be turned into a dvd without an audio/video sequence problem.

Hopefully the last two items can be accomplished eventually w/the same file.

If there is anyone willing (and has the patience) to walk me through this by way of e-mail, that would be great so as to let this thread die if it needs to. Thanks again to everyone's help.

[v491138]

Changing the ectension is simply a matter of renaming it to that extension.
It isn't something you would normally do, but it might be a bit like changing VRO to MPG, as was noted in another thread.
Can't help with iTunes, but if you get an AVI that is what you want, I'd suggest DVD Styler to make your DVD.
Might be a small learning process, but I'm sure you'll do it.

[_Al_]

- winDV , capture it to PC to one long DV avi file (or capture into clips by scenes)...that is going to be your archive
-get Vegas Movie Studio trial (1months), set DV project,
-import clips, take away unwanted parts, move clips around , make some titles to it ...
-export to whatever you want, you have one month to do it
-if you want to make DVD just export mpeg2, template DVD,you get mpg file
-get VOBEDIT ,open that mpg file, demux, get mpa audio stream, demux, get mpeg video stream
-create empty VIDEO_TS folder
-get IFOEDIT , DVD Author, Author new DVD, import those streams m2v a then mpa, set destination that VIDEO_TS folder
-get imgburn and burn that VIDEO_TS to DVD

[v491138]

OK, forgive my ignorance, but what about apps such as DVD Styler or Ashampoo Burning Studio?
Do they not take MPG directly to DVD files? And might not either what I've suggested and your instructions result in a DVD filesset larger than single layer can hold requiring a shrink process which then likely requires some of your instrutions in order to minimize loss of quality?
I'd appreciate knowing more than I do now and clearly you can help me.
Thanks.