60 miniDV tapes, camera doesn' work need to convert

[mikesbytes]

I've got about 60 miniDV tapes and my camera won't play them, it winds the tape in, unwinds it and ejects them.

I'm guessing my options are;
1. fix the camera
2. buy another miniDV camera
3. rent or buy a miniDV deck
4. hand the tapes over to a conversion service

Live in Sydney Australia

As the tapes are getting old, its time to get the them onto the PC

Views, opinions, suggestions? Appreciate your input

[2Bdecided]

Minimum cost: Buy a used miniDV camera from eBay or somewhere. They cost next to nothing.

If your tapes were recorded in LP mode, you may have trouble getting them to play on another camcorder. If this is a problem, getting your original camcorder fixed may be your only option.

Minimum hassle: pay someone else to do it. Though it'll be hassle if they don't know what they're doing, or make a mess of it.

Cheers,
David.

[Steve Stepoway]

If your tapes were recorded in LP mode, you may have trouble getting them to play on another camcorder. If this is a problem, getting your original camcorder fixed may be your only option.

Of course, the repair shop will probably reset everything to factory settings, in which case older LP tapes probably won't play, anyway.

If they're SP a cheap camcorder from e-bay should handle them. Or ask around -- maybe a friend still has an old camcorder that they'd let you borrow.


Steve

[julitomg]

Of course, the repair shop will probably reset everything to factory settings, in which case older LP tapes probably won't play, anyway.

??? What does it have to do?...LP mode IS part of the "factory settings"..isn´t it?..You just select using SP or LP

[Steve Stepoway]

The problem as I understand it is that the heads sometimes will get slightly out of alignment. In SP mode there is enough tolerance that the heads almost never get far enough out of alignment that they can't read an SP tape. LP mode has much less tolerance. Thus it's more likely that an LP tape recorded with the heads slightly out of alignment can only be played back successfully if the heads are almost exactly the same amount out of alignment. That's why trying to play an LP tape on a different camcorder is problematic.The repair shop would almost certainly put the heads back to the initial factory setting, which may or may not be where they were when a specific tape was recorded.

Or at least that's what I've been told.

[mikesbytes]

Some of them are in LP. I could ask the repairer not to reset it, appears to be a mechanical issue with loading the tape.

Spotted another Hurdle, my laptop doesn't have a 1394 port. I've got an old desktop that isn't working, could get fixed, shouldn't cost too much.

What's the story with paying someone to do it? Will they give me the raw data or something like mpeg2 ?

[rickydavao]

Had a similar problem with my Sony miniDV camcorder. Hadn't used it in quite a long time, and when I went to load a tape, mine did basically what you describe yours doing. Turned out it was just the tapes. I manually wound both tapes forward (they were at the beginning of the tape) using a large flat-head screwdriver on the front reel for 10-20 rotations, and then tried them again in the camera, and it didn't spit them out. Fast-forwarded them both to the end and then rewound them again to retension them and now everything works OK. Given you mentioned the tapes were old, this might be the issue. Might be worth a shot to try before bringing your camera into the shop, etc.

[2Bdecided]

What Steve Stepoway said.

However, LP tapes can play just fine on other camcorders. There's just no guarantee that they will.

e.g. My Sony DV camcorder must have had serious mechanical/alignment problems. Some of the first and last SP tapes I recorded don't play on anything else. Even so, many of the LP tapes I recorded in the middle years (when it seemed to be behaving itself!) play fine on almost anything. Of course the LP tapes from the early years are even more hopeless than the SP ones.

Cheers,
David.

[kaboose786]

I am in a similar situation as you are. I have many minidvs tapes however my cameras works totally fine but sadly i cannot connect it to my computer as i dont have stupid firewire port because i want to transfer these tapes to digital. I am thinking of buying a dvd recorder. Something like this: http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/toshiba-toshiba-1080p-upconverting-dvd-recorder-dr...rchPageIndex=1

[smrpix]

I am in a similar situation as you are. I have many minidvs tapes however my cameras works totally fine but sadly i cannot connect it to my computer as i dont have stupid firewire port because i want to transfer these tapes to digital. I am thinking of buying a dvd recorder. Something like this: http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/toshiba-toshiba-1080p-upconverting-dvd-recorder-dr...rchPageIndex=1

Or, for a hell of a lot cheaper: (As examples)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815287004
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16839158040

(And you probably should have started a new thread.)

[mikesbytes]

I'm not so keen on transferring to DVD as I intend to cleanup and edit in the future, so I'd prefer to have the native data.

[kaboose786]

I am in a similar situation as you are. I have many minidvs tapes however my cameras works totally fine but sadly i cannot connect it to my computer as i dont have stupid firewire port because i want to transfer these tapes to digital. I am thinking of buying a dvd recorder. Something like this: http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/toshiba-toshiba-1080p-upconverting-dvd-recorder-dr...rchPageIndex=1

Or, for a hell of a lot cheaper: (As examples)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815287004
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16839158040

(And you probably should have started a new thread.)

According to the discussion here: http://www.computerhope.com/forum/index.php/topic,139421.0.html. I dont think my laptop has the express slot.

I have the regular memory card slot for sd cards is it same as express slot?

[kaboose786]

I'm not so keen on transferring to DVD as I intend to cleanup and edit in the future, so I'd prefer to have the native data.

but if i transfer to dvd would it be raw data? or would it be converted to dvd? i think the quality wont suffer much. but do u think that dvd method would work?

[mikesbytes]

I'm not so keen on transferring to DVD as I intend to cleanup and edit in the future, so I'd prefer to have the native data.

but if i transfer to dvd would it be raw data? or would it be converted to dvd? i think the quality wont suffer much. but do u think that dvd method would work?

To clarify there is the DVD video standard and there's the disk, which holds 4.77GB when single layered and single sided.

Off memory 45min of minDV is about 14Gb (someone can correct me on that). So if it was transferred to DVD as data, then you would get something like 15 minutes per DVD.

I would say they are almost certainly converting the data to MPEG2 DVD compatible format, which involves re-compression of the video. How much quality lost occurs is debatable, but it does occur.

[kaboose786]

I'm not so keen on transferring to DVD as I intend to cleanup and edit in the future, so I'd prefer to have the native data.

but if i transfer to dvd would it be raw data? or would it be converted to dvd? i think the quality wont suffer much. but do u think that dvd method would work?

To clarify there is the DVD video standard and there's the disk, which holds 4.77GB when single layered and single sided.

Off memory 45min of minDV is about 14Gb (someone can correct me on that). So if it was transferred to DVD as data, then you would get something like 15 minutes per DVD.

I would say they are almost certainly converting the data to MPEG2 DVD compatible format, which involves re-compression of the video. How much quality lost occurs is debatable, but it does occur.

thx for replying. i dont knw wht the other solution is other than finding a computer with firewire or a laptop with express slots.. are they even making laptops with express slots anymore? i mean prior to this discussion i have never heard of express slots before.

[2Bdecided]

My advice (feel free to ignore it ): buy a cheap used desktop and install a cheap firewire card. Install (internally) the new large HDD you want to capture to. If it's SATA, you may also need a SATA card to use it in an old PC. Sell the lot (except the HDD!) when you've finished.

Cheers,
David.