Sequencing my DV from Analog to AVI to iMovie. Format? Compression?

[kiararden]

Hi all,
I'm new to the forum, have been editing my own stuff for a few years, but now have a challenge.
I possess the analog source machine (BETA) to import the video into my PC as an AVI file.
My buddy wants his BETAtape video transferred to disc so he can pull it into iMovie and edit it himself.
I see that AVI files are quite large and hours of tape will consume lots of DVD data discs.

I need to understand if AVI is the way to pull it in to the PC and, or how I can compress the files and to what format I might use (compressed AVI or otherwise) to make it available to for edting in iMovie.
Is it complicated? Am I stupid? Both? Neither?
I would appreciate anyone who could take the time to help me.

[edDV]

Hi all,
I'm new to the forum, have been editing my own stuff for a few years, but now have a challenge.
I possess the analog source machine (BETA) to import the video into my PC as an AVI file.
My buddy wants his BETAtape video transferred to disc so he can pull it into iMovie and edit it himself.
I see that AVI files are quite large and hours of tape will consume lots of DVD data discs.

I need to understand if AVI is the way to pull it in to the PC and, or how I can compress the files and to what format I might use (compressed AVI or otherwise) to make it available to for edting in iMovie.
Is it complicated? Am I stupid? Both? Neither?
I would appreciate anyone who could take the time to help me.

Beta what? Betamax? Betacam SP? Digital Betacam?

What is the model number of the playback deck?

What hardware are you planning to use for capture?

So you have a PC and want DV format to import into iMovie?

[kiararden]

I guess one has to be more specific here.
I'm using a Sony Betamax unit, pushing it through a Sony 8MM DV Camera for A/D conversion.
My Sony VEGAS software captures it as an AVI file.
THe AVI files are big.
I need an efficient way to get them somewhere else to be used in iMovie.
Can I compress them?
Should I be capturing them differently?

[guns1inger]

Get a portable HDD. Format it as FAT32. Break your clips into 4GB or smaller parts. Copy the files onto the Mac and you are set to go.

Or capture them on the Mac in the first place.

[edDV]

I vote for capture on Mac in the first place and save half the work. 4GB files would only allow 20 minutes at a time.

DV is the format the Mac will want but as *.dv not DV-AVI. You will need the $30 Quicktime Pro package on the Mac to read and convert a DV-AVI to *.dv.

Assuming your Digital8 camcorder has analog pass through, you can capture direct to a *.dv file on the Mac with iMovie. You can capture any length direct to iMovie at ~13GB/hr.