MiniDV archiving

[gyoung]

What do most people do with their MiniDVs? Do you capture the video and reuse the tape? Do you capture edit then burn to DVD? Do you capture burn unedited to DVD? Do you capture burn to unedited to DVD, burn edited to DVD, and archive the MiniDV tape and use another one?

I've had a MiniDV camcorder for about a year now and have footage on 3 tapes but have yet to do anything with the footage and was wondering what most people do in regards to reusing or archiving the tapes.

[RickNeff]

Actually, I don't reuse my MiniDV tapes. I've also got a system with 2 160Gb drives for video editing. So, far, I haven't deleted any of the master uncompressed .avi files.

I have copied some of the uncompressed .avi files to a DVD+RW, but truthfully, I've found the process to be overly time consuming. For me, it's much easier to keep the MiniDV tapes in case I need the masters again. If I know I'm going to delete the master .avi files, then I'll archive them to DVD.

However, I can see where that might not be attractive to everyone.

As far as the edited video, I copy 1 MiniDV tape from the computer to the camcorder. Then I'll burn the edited video to the standard MPEG 2 DVD-R so it can be played in normal DVD players for my family. We've gotten most of them DVD players as gift that can play the DVD-R format without issues. (The more computer literate ones can also play them on the PC too.)

I've done quite a few videos this way. I'm a big fan of airshows, so I've typically done 1 per year. For example, the Gathering of Corsairs at Indianapolis in 2001, the Blue Angels in LaCrosse in 2003, some family reunions (although I hate to admit I had to create some VHS tapes for those), Trip to Disney, etc.

But, I'll also state I have a lot of unedited video that I really should edit and reproduce on DVD. The problem is that editing is a very time-consuming process, depending how picky you are about the process. I've learned it's VERY hard to fill an entire hour or two with background music that isn't irritating or annoying.

Of course, if you simply want to burn the unedited video to DVD, that's not nearly as time consuming.

[gyoung]

Thanks, I think that is what I'll start doing.  I have found the editing to be time consuming as well.

Another question, is there a way to stream the data from the camera to the PC without having to play it?  Can't it just stream it over or is the play speed as fast as it will go?

[mhz40]

I keep my mini DV tapes as masters.  They're cheap.
Transfer to PC as far as I know needs to be real-time off of the cameras.

[RickNeff]

There may be a faster way than actually going at normal playback speed. (I know the software I use has a batch mode.) But, I never use it. I actually prefer to watch it come off in case there are playback or tape issues.

I have multiple computers, so if I ever get too bored, I can switch to another machine and fire up Spider Solitaire while the other is getting the video data.