What to do with used tapes?

[wayupnth]

Can anyone tell me what the best thing is to do with used DV tapes? Is it best to keep the tape and not reuse it? It would take many DVDs to burn each hour of raw video in DV format. I'd be worried that the DVD might get damaged and then I'd lose the footage forever. Any advice? What is the highest resolution format to capture in? DV/AVI?

[toomanycats]

Make two backups on high quality Yuden (Spelling?) blanks if you can get them. Then put one away in a safe place. I wouldn't trust magnetic tape as it is prone to many problems that have plagued that type of media since inception. As far as capture you should experiment. A lot is going to depend on your capture card on your computer and the software you use. I have been using Ulead Movie Studio. Some use Pinnacle. It depends on what your comfortable with.

[photo_angel2004]

Here is a link that may help you, your are better off putting your video on DVD on Good dvd's see the link in my sig on the goldned rules of burning for good dvd brands.

There are different types of capturing divices what are these tapes from is it from a camcorder?

I use a Dazzle it hooks up to my camcorder to my pc then I use this guide on the converting.

http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=56454

[anonymez]

What is the highest resolution format to capture in? DV/AVI?

the capturing process is lossless. as already mentioned, encode & author to DVD. see http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=70874

[toomanycats]

I sure noticed a difference between the capture device via the USB port as opposed to my PCI capture card. Is lossless different than quality?

[anonymez]

capturing via a PCI capture card is most definitely not lossless. there are analogue taps and digital (DV) tapes. to transfer analogue tapes over to a PC you need a capture card/capture device. you lose quality from the analog connection, further quality due to re-encoding (unless you capture to uncompressed avi, but that's not really practical) and possible frame drops.

DV tapes on the other hand are ofcourse digital (much like a hard disk) and can be transferred to other digital devices without loss (1:1 copy) via firewire

[toomanycats]

Are most/all DV cameras firewire now? I have been thinking of purchasing one and have been wondering what is the best bang for the buck. What's a good deal these days (price/range/quality)?

[RFBurns]

As toomanycats pointed out, magnetic tape has many vulnerabilites, especially if they sit for a long period of time. They can loose their magnetic particles on the surface of the tape, even from just sitting on a shelf. They can also become polorized, that is..become magnetized from sitting in one spot for so long and the magnetic particles that saves the recording becomes affected by the Earth's magnetic field, or even influenced by a large induction motor like those found in vacume cleaners or floor sweepers.

Moisture, dust, dry air can affect the tape when stored for long durations. If you want to keep them, every effort must be made to keep them isolated from the outside environment. Special containers that shield the tape from outside influence will help preserve the tapes. Old analog audio recordings and quad video recording tapes have been preserved for many many years using these special containers.

Transfering them over to another format such as DVD is a plus. Capturing them on a PC may and may not be the best way to do the transfer, for various reasons. PC power, capture card capability, and capture program settings will affect the quality of the transfer. Plus there is the chance that the hard drive could fail at some point or PC itself might go nuts or some other roadblock. Rare but those things can and do happen.

What I would do if those were my tapes is to send them off to a duplication facility to have them transfered to stamped DVD's. The dupilcation facilities have all the necessary equipment and backups to do extremely high end quality transfers. It may be a bit costly, but if the preservation of the tapes is that important, the cost is miniscule compared to loosing a recording which cannot be replaced.

[anonymez]

Are most/all DV cameras firewire now?

i guess all would be, the whole point afterall is to keep it lossless

What's a good deal these days (price/range/quality)?

my knowledge is limited and probably outdated (bought mine a while ago) until you start the capturing process

[atifsh]

Are most/all DV cameras firewire now?

i havnt seen any dv cam without firewire, but iv seem Hi8 sony's with firewire [not all Hi8 comes with firewire]

What's a good deal these days (price/range/quality)?

depends on ur range iv changed mine 5 months back or so frm single ccd to 3 ccd cheap model panasonic ofcourse, 3ccd + panasonic = excellent price quality.

but when u buy think what u need to do with ur camera... that is if u gonna use it more in dark places or poor lighting then go for single big ccd then smaller 3 ccd's[like panasonic's 3ccd cheaper models]

[toomanycats]

I was totally unaware that one CCD was better for low light, makes sense though. I guess I will make that a consideration as I like to use natural lighting as to be unobtrusive. Thanks

[drfsupercenter]

capturing via a PCI capture card is most definitely not lossless. there are analogue taps and digital (DV) tapes. to transfer analogue tapes over to a PC you need a capture card/capture device. you lose quality from the analog connection, further quality due to re-encoding (unless you capture to uncompressed avi, but that's not really practical) and possible frame drops.

I am curious about how this works. I took the Cinematography merit badge at boy scout camp, and we had to bring our own videocameras, so I took my dad's which is a 5-year old+ Hi-8 camcorder. I recorded the footage on the Hi-8 tapes but when I needed to put them in the counselor's computer for editing I wasn't sure how to.

But her video camera had both DV and Hi-8 playback and used USB so it saves in DV. Is that like instant Hi-8 to DV or does it re-encode or something?