miniDV transfer to PC

[jenningsphoto]

Hello, I've been doing this for years using different programs from Pinnacle and Adobe. I use the footage to make home music videos. Kids and family love it.
However, I realized I have about 60+ DV tapes that need to be archived, so I bought a 1TB eSATA drive to transfer all the footage.
I began to wonder which is the best AVI program/codec to use. Currently using Premiere Elements 4. However, there is a lot of overhead as it is project based (which would be OK if it is the best video quality).
I could use Vista wizard which makes just a single AVI file, but I am unsure of the quality of the file produced.

So please tell me, objectively, what produces the highest quality AVI files when transferring miniDV to PC via firewire?

Thanks

[alessandro2009]

I think the final quality depend always first by the source.
If you want have the same quality perhaps the choice are only two:
preserve the original;
or
convert in a container video like avi, mkv (Matroska Video) or other, using a codec lossless.

But if the source is in some ways compressed probably the final video will be more larger.

When choice a container video I think that should be looking where you want to see because often decoder standalone are unable to recognize certain combinations.



If you want save more space perhaps you can use a codec with some lossy of the data (for example x264 or h264) but if you later decide to do video editing perhaps this solution might be a little uncomfortable and also the encoding process is slow.
Also in this case you should check which devices are able to see similar videos.

Some reference.
List of codecs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_codecs)

[DeCeccoNET]

I can understand transfering the tapes to a hard drive if you want to edit them, but the MiniDV tape itself is the safest and best way to archive your footage already.

Hard drives fail, codecs will compress your footage and possibly cause sync issues you wont be aware of untill years later, and all it takes is one drop for the hard drive to crack or break, thus ruining ALL of your data.

I do not remember the exact specifics regarding lifespan, but I do remember that when I worked in video production, DV and MiniDV tapes were treated like gold (and in addition to the raw footage, we always mastered out to them as well for final edit archives).

Remember MiniDV tapes are not in the same catagory as VHS tapes which start to die a slow painful death over the course of a few years. I would strongly advise investing in a fireproof lock box and keeping your tapes in there as your highest quality safest archive sollution

[jenningsphoto]

I understand the points that the source is the biggest impact on quality and to keep the original miniDV tapes safe (will put in safe dep box). I also do master my music videos back to tape after editing.

However, my original question remains, what is best program to use when transferring tape to PC via firewire creating AVI files? Quality of the file is most important aspect.

Maybe there isn't a difference. I have tried to google this and just can't get a straight answer.

To give a basic understanding of what I want, these are my thoughts:
Put all home video on new external eSata drive for easy access for viewing.
Will also use as source files for when I want to make edited videos.
BTW, when I edit, besides mastering back to miniDV, I also make mpeg2 DVDs for distribution to family members,

So, any thoughts on which to use? I really appreciate any response.

[DeCeccoNET]

I believe AVI is uncompressed, but the file sizes will be enormous.

I havent used Pinnacle in a long time, but from what I remember they use certain proprietary formats that you may want to stay away from.

Adobe Premier has a lite version (Premeir Elements) which retails for around $65 on amazon.

My reccomendation would be to go with premeir as I am sure the NLE interface would be easier to use, and works well with other Adobe products (encore, phtotoshop, etc).

As for the codec... I enjoy the Quicktime format (for its quality/filesize) most. I use the h.264 compression but I dont know if that is available on PCs (for free anyway). Worse case scenario would be to get the quicktime pro software upgrade from Apple ($30 but there are rumers that it will become free in september).

I believe many also use the windows movie video format (.wmv) but my experiance with it is limited (again because I do use a mac).

[jenningsphoto]

Is there any consensus on using Adobe Premiere Elements ( I have ver.4) to make the source AVI files?
Anybody have an opinion on a better solution for creation of AVI?
Remember, the AVI will not be recompressed into another format. I will keep the AVI files as source material/archive.

[alessandro2009]

x264 is a free library for encoding H264/AVC video streams.
So no problem for Pc but it's a lossy compression and editing this type of video could be a problem.

I think you are doing some confusion.
The difference isn't on the container video but on the codec that you want using.
avi, mkv, etc. are only container video.

If you use, for example, mkv with the same codec video the final output is the same.