Best way to transfer old camcorder footage to PC?

StevieP · 17 May 2017 at 10:39

I've got a load of old camcorder footage on mini DV tapes and was wondering what the best way to put them into a digital format was?

The camcorder is an old JVC one and I can't seem to see any cables with it other than the power one!

I've had a look at the unit and it appears to have connections for S-Video and 4 pin FireWire!

Any recommendations for the best way to get this done?

Thanks...

mattyfez · 17 May 2017 at 10:54

You can get firewire pci cards for about a tenner, maybe that's the easiest option?

mattyfez · 17 May 2017 at 10:57

Or maybe something like this?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008F0SARC?psc=1

StevieP · 17 May 2017 at 10:58

My PC might already have a FireWire port to be honest - I was thinking more in terms of what software and drivers I might need?

*edit*

In fact it does have a FireWire port - would I just need a cable and then some sort of software?

StevieP · 17 May 2017 at 11:23

mattyfez said:
Or maybe something like this?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008F0SARC?psc=1

I had a look at a few of these last night but the camcorder doesn't seem to have component ports - will S-Video work on it's own? (ie. carry both the audio and video signal?)

I did read somewhere that FireWire is the best (and fastest) way but obviously I'll need something in the way of software?

ANDARIAL · 17 May 2017 at 20:47

S-video is just that...video...
You would need to add 2 phono/rca cables I think to get left and right sound
As above best would be Firewire

StevieP · 17 May 2017 at 22:46

Thanks for the replies - quick update:

My PC does indeed have firewire and I've even managed to find a working copy of Windows Movie Maker which has in turn allowed me to import the footage from my JVC camcorder.....but..... the file size is crazy!?!?!

I've copied a single Mini DV that must have been on long play because it was 93 minutes of footage on a 60 minute tape - and the hard drive space it's taken up is a whopping 18.9GB!?!?!? :eek:

There didn't appear to be any option to change the import quality and rather handily it's even split the footage into individual clips for me - but I simply don't have the spare space on my NAS for 20+ of these tapes!

Is there any way to reduce the clips to a more reasonable size????

Mr Badger · 17 May 2017 at 22:50

Try a video file compressor such as Handbrake.

gEd · 17 May 2017 at 23:19

18GB is insane for s-video format, you must have some funky settings going on. I understand DV format is 720x576 res 50Hz (interlaced) so should only be a couple of GB an hour.
As you have a load of tapes, rather than trancoding (down converting) the file, it would be much better to get the format right in the first place.

As a free starting point, take a look at WinDV which was recommended on the popular videohelp.com site. It was last updated in 2003! but apparently works on the latest windows versions.

https://www.videohelp.com/software/WinDV
http://windv.mourek.cz

StevieP · 18 May 2017 at 08:28

Mr Badger said:
Try a video file compressor such as Handbrake.

This has worked a treat! Thanks!

I changed the format to an MP4 (it was an AVI) and a 1GB clip has dropped down to about 55MB and the quality is still as good as far as I can see!

@gEd - it wasn't S-Video format, it was via FireWire and from reading around it's about right file size-wise! Most seem to say circa 13GB for a 60 minute Mini-DV tape!