How big is a 60min tape?

[vid83]

I want to save a full quality video file on my hard drive.
How many GB is a 60min. miniDV tape? Or does it depend on software, etc.?

[redwudz]

It depends on the format/codec used. DV-AVI is about 13.5GB per hour.

[guns1inger]

If you just do a straight transfer from tape to HDD using WinDV or your editor, then it is 13.5 GB per hour, and the same quality as the original.

You can then compress it, but at a cost to quality. The cost depends on how well, and with what, you compress it. You should be able to compress 60 minutes using mpeg-2 down to around 4.1 GB at 9600 kbps CBR with AC3 audio and have little or no noticeable quality loss.

[JimboS]

Format is neither here nor there...A mini-dv tape run at SP with ANY cam makes "about" 13 gig per hour...
When you capture, you can capture full 13 gig per hour.
Your editing program will always re=make it to "about" 4 gigs per hour..
Fits on a normal dvd ....how neat!!!!
But you can always save on your computer as the full 13gig or so but only play on your computer...

[guns1inger]

Format is neither here nor there...A mini-dv tape run at SP with ANY cam makes "about" 13 gig per hour...
When you capture, you can capture full 13 gig per hour.
Your editing program will always re=make it to "about" 4 gigs per hour..
Fits on a normal dvd ....how neat!!!!
But you can always save on your computer as the full 13gig or so but only play on your computer...

Format is what determines the acceptable bitrate, and bitrate determines size, so format is a major influence.

Most good editing programs give you an option on how you want to output. Depending on what you choose, your video could end up being a heavily compressed 300MB file, or an uncompressed 70GB file