consolidating raw footage

[coeng73]

I have about 20+ tapes with a lot of free space scattered on the tapes, so I'm looking to consolidate them and free up some tapes.

What is the simplest, most reliable, yet FREE application that I can use to capture from one tape on my computer and send back out to another tape.

I have Premiere and Pinnacle but with these applications you first need to capture the files, then load the AVIs into a project file, and export to tape. I'm looking for something simpler.
I just want to move raw AVIs from one tape to another without loss of frames and the overhead of a project file.

My backup plan is to borrow a camcorder from a friend and record from one to the other on-the-fly without the need to send it to my computer.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Des]

I would use your plan 'B' and maybe add a timebase corrector in between. This way you avoid the conversion time and hassle and still get th end result you want.

--dES

[coeng73]

I would use your plan 'B' and maybe add a timebase corrector in between. This way you avoid the conversion time and hassle and still get th end result you want.

--dES

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but what is a timebase corrector and why would I need one?

[Des]

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but what is a timebase corrector and why would I need one?

Hi,

My explanation here will probably be over-simplistic but you can do a search of the forums as well as a google search on time base correctors (or TBC):
Basically it helps to clean up jittering on the play back of a video so you get a cleaner record of it. It syncronizes the signals and frames that get muddled during mechanical playback.
In my experianece it does make a difference.

I use the AVT-8710 from AV Tool box which is a popular model on these forums, the other poplular one is Datavideo TBC-1000. These units run from $250 and up, occassionally you can find a TBC on EBay.

Hope that helps some.

--dES

[coeng73]

Would I need a TBC to go from one Sony miniDV camcorder to another Sony miniDV camcorder?

What would happen if I didn't? Not looking to spend money if I won't notice any difference.

I recently transferred all of my D8 tapes to miniDV by going camcorder to camcorder.
The source camcorder was my old Sony DCRTRV-315 D8, the destination camcorder was my new Sony miniDV camcorder. Everything seemed to transfer over perfectly. I copied over about 30+ tapes in this fashion. Did not using a TBC degrade the quality in any way?

[JohnnyMalaria]

Would I need a TBC to go from one Sony miniDV camcorder to another Sony miniDV camcorder?

No. Copying via the iLINK (Firewire) is just a digital transfer. The concept of time base correction is meaningless.

I second (or third!) the proposal to go from one miniDV camcorder to another. You will get the job done in half the time (literally) and won't have to worry about the frustrations of capturing to the PC.

[Des]

If you're going digital to digital like you did then no youn wouldn't need to use a TBC.

Sounds like you've got it going well.

--dES

[coeng73]

If you're going digital to digital like you did then no youn wouldn't need to use a TBC.

Sounds like you've got it going well.

--dES

No. Copying via the iLINK (Firewire) is just a digital transfer. The concept of time base correction is meaningless.

I second (or third!) the proposal to go from one miniDV camcorder to another. You will get the job done in half the time (literally) and won't have to worry about the frustrations of capturing to the PC.

That's what I was thinking as well. I guess you only need a TBC if your source and/or destination is analog.

Thanks for confirming that as well as recommending plan B. That's what I'm gonna do.