From DVD to mini DV

[lucianoristori]

I have some home movies on DVD. I would like to copy them on mini DV tapes.
I have a Sony DSR-11 DV recorder and the trivial way is to go
through DVD->analog->miniDV at the expense of quality.
Can anybody suggest a better way?

Thanks

Luciano

[JohnnyMalaria]

No. That's about the best way to do it.

You *could* use a PC to convert the DVD's MPEG files to DV and send the files back to the DSR-11 via FireWire. But you really aren't likely to see much difference and it will take a lot longer!

[2Bdecided]

DVD > PC = much faster than real time
VOB > DV AVI = about double real time (Using VirtualDubMod)
DV AVI > miniDV = real time

So that way it will take about twice as long as a direct connection. Your PC might be faster than mine (or slower!).

I would imagine some software would take the VOB, convert it to DV, and output it fire Firewire in real time e.g. some NLE's might do this. Maybe virtualdubMod would do it if I knew how to do it!

Whether you can see a difference depends on the quality of footage on the DVDs. If it originally came from a high quality miniDV camera, there's no way I'd want to send it via composite! Mind you, I work with PAL DV, which has different parameters to NTSC DV, so the difference I see may be greater or less.


Why do you want it on miniDV tapes? They are a good backup solution, but DVD and HDD can be too, and since the original datarate is 10Mbps max, bumping it up to 25Mbps and losing a little quality might not be the best plan.

Cheers,
David.

[JohnnyMalaria]

Whether you can see a difference depends on the quality of footage on the DVDs. If it originally came from a high quality miniDV camera, there's no way I'd want to send it via composite! Mind you, I work with PAL DV, which has different parameters to NTSC DV, so the difference I see may be greater or less.

I fully agree - especially re using composite. However(!), the odds are the DVDs are being viewed via analog connections to a TV (either S-video or composite). Consumer TVs are, frankly, crap at accurately representing the video. Dubbing the same analog signal to DV and then viewing the DV on the same TV will be virtually indistinguishable. i.e., the bandwidth/quality of the DV recording exceeds that of the TV. I've recorded some analog DVD signals to a DSR-11 (via S-video) and then watched them on a professional CRT monitor. I couldn't detect any degradation in quality.

[mats.hogberg]

I'd avoid taking a route via analog format, when converting between 2 digital formats. It'd be like "ripping" an Audio CD by hooking line out from your CD player to line in on your computer audio card.

/Mats

[2Bdecided]

Few people in Europe use composite or S-video for connecting DVD players though. It's many RGB (like component) via SCART, which has been around for over two decades, and standard for most of that time (i.e. long for DVD).

I think most people would notice that composite was visibly inferior to RGB. With S-video, it's less clear cut. Menus, graphics and teletext pages look softer, but maybe many wouldn't spot it on normal video content - especially home movies!

Cheers,
David.