Mini dv video capture via standalone dvd recorder

[nosemuff]

I am currently transferring my minidv tapes to my computer via firewire card and Adobe Premiere Elements. I have heard that you can copy directly to dvd on a standalone dvd recorder. I realize that this is a direct copy (no editing), but is the quality as good? If so, could I copy to a standalone dvd recorder and then use the dvd to import to Adobe if I want to edit? What standalone dvd recorder would give me good quality for something like this? Thanks for any help you can give!!

[edDV]

I am currently transferring my minidv tapes to my computer via firewire card and Adobe Premiere Elements. I have heard that you can copy directly to dvd on a standalone dvd recorder. I realize that this is a direct copy (no editing), but is the quality as good? If so, could I copy to a standalone dvd recorder and then use the dvd to import to Adobe if I want to edit? What standalone dvd recorder would give me good quality for something like this? Thanks for any help you can give!!

If you transfer to the computer over IEEE-1394 then you are editing the same data that is on the tape (i.e. full 25 Mb/s quality DV format source video). From there you edit and then encode for DVD.

If you transfer to a standalone DVD recorder, the DVD recorder real time encodes the DV to MPeg2. In one hour mode the MPeg2 bitrate will be ~ 9Mb/s or about a third the bitrate. Quality drop could be greater than to 1/3 depending on the chipset in the DVD recorder. Shaky hand held video will show greatest loss. If a tripod was used, the results will be much better.

Now after demuxing the DVD VOB, you have a lower quality MPeg2 source file to edit in Elements. Better to capture DV via IEEE-1394 if you want to edit from a full quality source.

[nosemuff]

Thank you for the reply!! So, I guess I'm using the best quality method already. How would I make a backup minidv copy of my tapes? After importing to Elements, can I write it back out to a minidv tape at the same quality as the original tape or has the video been degraded by that point?

[edDV]

Thank you for the reply!! So, I guess I'm using the best quality method already. How would I make a backup minidv copy of my tapes? After importing to Elements, can I write it back out to a minidv tape at the same quality as the original tape or has the video been degraded by that point?

You can either keep the original tape as the archive or record clips you want to save back to tape from the PC.

I find I can eliminate ~15-25% of the raw shots as unusable. Typically, I'll save the clips I want to keep back to tape as the raw archive. There is no loss doing this. Then I separately save the edited result back to DV tape as the edit master.