Best way to transfer Mini DV tapes to the computer?

[kelemvor]

Howdy,

I dug out my old Mini DV Camcorder and found a bunch of tapes that I'd like to get onto the computer. I connected it to my laptop and ran Windows Movie Maker. I did an Import and just let 'er rip and it seems to work fine but it only copies at realtime speed so it's going to take a loooong time to get this done.

So, I have two questions.
1) Is there any way to do this at a higher speed?
2) Is there any reason to use different software to get this done?

The resulting file from WMM are around 13Gig/hr and save as an AVI file which I think is about as good as I'm going to get quality wise. It also seems to go back after it's done with each tape and separate the giant file into separate files based on the blank areas on the tape which is pretty cool.

Just looking for any additional recommendations.

Thanks.

[JVRaines]

1) No.
2) No.

That was easy. MiniDV tapes are already digital so all that's happening is that the data is being copied into files on your drive. You can't go any faster unless you invent a MiniDV player that goes faster.

[kelemvor]

Thanks. Just wanted confirmation I shouldn't be doing anything differently.

[ron spencer]

1) No
2) WinDV is the best you can do for software. But if WMM works for you good!

[jagabo]

I believe there were some standalone DV tape recorders that could play at 2x. But they were expensive and are probably not available anymore.

[JVRaines]

Some of the high-end VCRs could do 2× and 4× transfers, but I think it was limited to DVCAM and DVCPRO.