You can find sometimes find Canon ZR camcorders at Goodwill in the $15-25 range.

The "standard" way of importing MiniDV tapes (in 'real time' ... an hour tape takes an hour to import) is playing on a camcorder (or VCR) thru a firewire connection. Does your computer have a firewire connector?

Depending on where you're located, I have a Sony DVCam VTR that can play back MiniDV & DVCam tapes. If you mailed the tapes to me I could get them in to DV format & mail you back something you could use.

Dusting off my DV TAPE brain cell, not all captured DV Tape are equal. If one of those PANNIE tapes was recorded "Long" or extended then you'd need that camera to be able to import. Is that right? Bob? Also, some of the dip switches for importing extended record would not handle extended record.

My, that was an ancient recall. Not Total Recall though....

Grazie

[I]not all captured DV Tape are equal. If one of those PANNIE tapes was recorded "Long" or extended then you'd need that camera to be able to import. Is that right? Bob? Also, some of the dip switches for importing extended record would not handle extended record.[/I]This is a bit of a jumble, and a little misleading..

1. All captured DV tapes are equal in the sense that they all contain the same bits, and those bits are all compressed in the identical manner, regardless of what speed was used (SP or LP), or what brand of equipment was used (more on this below).

2. The actual oxide formulation and tape lubrication from different manufacturers does differ, and some people reported that they got head clogs when switching from Panasonic to Sony (or vice versa). However, if the heads didn't clog (and I never experienced the problem), then the data transfer is 100.00% identical, regardless of brand. In addition, the current Wikipedia article on DV claims that much of this "don't switch brands" advice, while not exactly urban legend, was overblown and probably wasn't true at all after the first few years of DV's existence.

3. The one part of the statement that has some truth is that the LP (slow) mode makes head alignment more critical. This is actually true of all video tape systems because the slower the tape speed, the larger the percentage error created by head misalignment. As always, the highest likelihood of success happens when you can use the actual camera used to create the tape in the first place. However, while I haven't had to transfer more than a few dozen tapes given to me by other people, I have done this on a few occasions, and I was easily able to transfer both SP and LP speed tapes from JVC, Panasonic, and Sony.

Put another way, most DV cameras and tape decks will successfully play DV tapes, regardless of what company manufactured the tape or camcorder.

As for DIP switch settings, I am not aware of any such thing when transferring DV tapes. I think this must have something to do with a completely different technology.

Finally, since the OP is obviously just learning about DV, I think it is important to mention that even though we all use the word "capture" when we talk about transferring DV tapes to the computer, the actual process is much closer to being a copy process because there is no encoding, and certainly no loss of quality or change in the video bits. This is different than what happens during a "real" capture where, for instance, analog video is digitized. In that case, there is most definitely not a perfect equivalence in the quality of the video at the source and what ends up on the computer.

By contrast, when copying video from a DV camera to the computer via a Firewire/1394 cable, the video bits are exactly identical to what was on the tape. The only changes have to do with headers, etc., because digital data on tape is stored using a totally different physical media than a rotating disk drive and this necessitates a different structure (file system). As a result, all the header and other file structure information must be changed during the copy operation. However, if you put the captured files back onto another DV tape, the video on that new tape will be precisely, pixel-for-pixel, identical to the original video on the original tape.

Oh yes, one other misconception: LP and SP DV video, unlike analog tape, actually have the identical quality: there is no additional compression in LP mode. However, in LP mode the tape moves more slowly which increases the signal to noise ratio. Since DV is digital, that increase doesn't degrade the video [i]until[/I] the noise gets high enough to flip a bit. At that point you will get a dropout. So the big problem with tapes recorded in the LP mode is that they may suffer from more dropouts; and these may increase more quickly with age than if the tape was recorded at the faster speed. And, as already mentioned, they may refuse to play or transfer when using equipment that is different from the actual unit that was used for the original recording, although both my own experience, as well as what I have gleaned from reading lots of forum posts and reviews, most people do not encounter any of these problems.

BTW, the process of transferring from DV tape to the computer always results in a DV AVI file. This is the "ultimate" file format for Vegas because Sonic Foundry/Sony designed their own, world-class DV codec which gives phenomenal timeline playback performance and, when encoding, results in virtually no detectable degradation, even after almost a dozen generations (at least that's what those tests many people did a decade ago showed).

Finally, as I stated in my PM, I too would be happy to transfer these tapes for you, although others have already made the same offer.

Although this is likely not the case in this instance, HDV camcorders also used MiniDV tapes which would require an HDV camcorder or deck to transfer. HDV camcorders can usually record and play back standard definition DV, too.

This is a bit of a jumble, and a little misleading.. Well, you certainly got my attention - John.

1. All captured DV tapes are equal in the sense that they all contain the same bits, and those bits are all compressed in the identical manner, regardless of what speed was used (SP or LP), or what brand of equipment was used (more on this below). Agreed, that the DV standard should ensure this. However, my XM2 manual states that: "A tape recorded in LP mode on another camcorder may produce mosaic-like noise when played back on this camcorder, and vice versa". Again, I'm not accusing the DV standard wasn't hadn't been adhered to. If the OP gets an issue, then my feedback was meant to address this. I am not challenging the "make" of the camera's DV standard, rather that getting the original camera would assist.

....moving on . .

2. The actual oxide formulation and tape lubrication from different manufacturers does differ, and some people reported that they got head clogs when switching from Panasonic to Sony (or vice versa). However, if the heads didn't clog (and I never experienced the problem), then the data transfer is 100.00% identical, regardless of brand. In addition, the current Wikipedia article on DV claims that much of this "don't switch brands" advice, while not exactly urban legend, was overblown and probably wasn't true at all after the first few years of DV's existence. Agreed. But again, I didn't mention "oxide formulation" nor "lubrication", you did, and again not something I implied and therefore not misleading on my part. But all good information from you - John.

3. The one part of the statement that has some truth is that the LP (slow) mode makes head alignment more critical. This is actually true of all video tape systems because the slower the tape speed, the larger the percentage error created by head misalignment. As always, the highest likelihood of success happens when you can use the actual camera used to create the tape in the first place. However, while I haven't had to transfer more than a few dozen tapes given to me by other people, I have done this on a few occasions, and I was easily able to transfer both SP and LP speed tapes from JVC, Panasonic, and Sony. Agreed, alignment is/has been an issue. However, there has also been mention of issues between makes of cameras providing differing success rates too. All good information, John, but not something I can be accused of being as being "misleading".

....moving on . . again . .

Put another way, most DV cameras and tape decks will successfully play DV tapes, regardless of what company manufactured the tape or camcorder.Agreed, or rather, they should. And again, misleading on my part?

As for DIP switch settings, I am not aware of any such thing when transferring DV tapes. I think this must have something to do with a completely different technology.No, not different technology. I have a recollection that there WAS a DV-Tape Shuttle/box Playback/Send device that had the option to set DIP switches that needed to be set a certain way and that for a type of Tape this wouldn't play ball.

Finally, since the OP is obviously just learning about DV, I think it is important to mention that even though we all use the word "capture" when we talk about transferring DV tapes to the computer, the actual process is much closer to being a copy process because there is no encoding, and certainly no loss of quality or change in the video bits. This is different than what happens during a "real" capture where, for instance, analog video is digitized. In that case, there is most definitely not a perfect equivalence in the quality of the video at the source and what ends up on the computer. Agreed that the word "transferring" would appear to be more appropriate. However, I'd also like to point out that SONY's "Capture" program allows us to "Capture" tapes, it is called VidCap.exe. So, who is misleading who? . . Or is that "whom"?



Oh yes, one other misconception: LP and SP DV video, unlike analog tape, actually have the identical quality: there is no additional compression in LP mode. Agreed, and a point I did not state within my "short" response either, but you have, and it's always good to add additional information where relevant. The misconception is one that is/has been made outside/away from this thread and again, but not of my making.

Not only HDV but DVCAM was also recorded to MiniDV tapes. Again very unlikely given the history of the tapes.

Issues that I've some across over the years with MiniDV tapes:

The cheap ones can snap.
Tapes recorded with 4 channel 32KHz audio.
Assuming the tapes were PAL when they were NTSC. Unless you have a suitable VCR you might not be able to capture PAL or NTSC depending on the camera or VCR.
Last but most difficult problem, guide alignment in the camera that recorded them. This is a really big issue with LP tapes, so much so that manufacturers of cameras did warn that LP tapes may well only play in the camera that recorded them. Even SP tapes can have this kind of problem but don't give up on them. Try different cameras and/or VCRs. If all that fails find someone with a DSR 2000 VCR.
This quite expensive and large Sony VCR was the bees knees because it not only did DV and DVCAM it would also play DVCPro and therefore had very wide head servo latitude.

Bob.

I guess the question for the original poster is:

What format is on the mini DV tapes?

If the format is standard definition DV then all you need is any old DV camera.

If the format is HDV then you need the original HD cameras because Canon cameras don't read Panasonic tapes and visa versa.

So you need to ask your client what format is on the mini DV tape since mini DV is use for both DV and HDV. If you need to rent cameras, you need to add this to the cost. If your client doesn't agree then make it their problem and have them deliver the video on hard drive.

~jr

Don't forget ... you need a firewire port on the computer.