N00b: How to Import DV to Another Compressed format ?

[Babalou]

Hello.

I have a Mini-DV 3CCD camcorder and I want to import about 2 hours worth of video. This will take more space that what I have available on my HD.
Is there a way to convert it on the fly to another format so that it does not take as much place ?

The video will be burnt to a DVD afterwards. What compressed format and of what specification should I use ?

thanks!
Babalou!

[redwudz]

The main problem you will run into is that using a more compressed format than DV is you will lose some quality. But you might look into Mainconcept MPEG Encoder. I've used it for DV conversion on the fly to MPEG-2, but it takes a lot of computer power to do that in realtime. The best solution might be a DVD recorder with DV FireWire input.

Alternately, the newest versions of VirtualDub can accept DV, but I don't know if you can convert on the fly to another AVI type format. And you would have the same problem as above; higher compression formats take a fair amount of computer power, especially in realtime, and you will lose quality.

How about an external hard drive? I'm assuming a laptop? If not, consider a second or a larger hard drive.

And welcome to our forums.

[Babalou]

Thanks for your help.

The external drive solution is feasible as I have a friend that can lend me a 20Gb USB2.0 drive. How much space do I need per minute of DV recording ?

And you are right, i'm on a laptop :P

Thanks!

[Jim44]

Figure about 13GB per hour of DV content.

You're going to need a bigger drive

Jim