The most popular digital video medium for many years was the Mini-DV tape, and it is still in wide use. Even though this technology has been mostly phased out on the consumer market, don't throw away your mini-DV cameras yet!! These tapes record footage in DV format which is an almost universally supported format amongst video editing softwares.
Mini-DV Tapes
DV is a Standard Definition format (except for HDV, see below) where the video data is digitally encoded onto magnetic tape. The video quality is usually quite good and more than suitable for DVD and Web videos.
Getting the footage on my computer
Most video editing softwares, including Windows Movie Maker and iMovie, support capturing from your mini-DV tape through your camera. There are, however, a few requirements.
The interface a DV camera uses to transfer footage to a computer is called an IEE 1394 Interface, better known as Firewire. This interface requires two things:
1) A Firewire port in your computer.
2) A Firewire 400 cable. Usually this will have one end which is larger than the other. The large end is a 6-circuit connector and the smaller end is a 4-circuit connector. The small end goes into your camera and the large end goes into your computer. Sometimes your computer, particularly laptops, will have a 4-circuit Firewire port, in which case you can either find the appropriate cable or an adapter to make the cable fit.
Once the camera and computer are connected, turn your camera onto the Playback mode and open your desired editing software. The software will usually automatically recognise that the camera is plugged in, and you can capture your footage!
Capturing footage takes the footage from the camera and saves it as a video file for your computer. This takes place in "real-time", so a 35 minute video will take 35 minutes to capture.
Be aware that if you capture footage at full quality, it will use up quite a bit of hard disk space. It is usually a good idea to use an external harddrive for large projects.
Timecode Breaks
Some users might encounter problems capturing their footage, and the error often refers to a "timecode break" or something similar.
The timecode is the series of numbers on the top right hand side of your LCD or Viewfinder on your video camera that give you a time reference for your footage (eg. 0:35:22 to indicate 35 minutes and 22 seconds). The reference is not necessarily where you are on the tape, but where you are in your "block" of footage. You start a new timecode and block of footage by leaving blank space on your tape. This is what creates a timecode break.
Sometimes a timecode break will cause a cease in video capture.
To avoid timecode breaks, don't watch your footage back on the camera and then resume filming. Another way to avoid breaks is to record nothing for the entire length of the tape, and then record over the tape. This will create one long timecode with no breaks.
In general, timecode breaks are not a problem, but something to be aware of.
Additional DV Tips
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To avoid digital interference, don't leave mobile phone devices next to your camera or tape, especially when recording or capturing.
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Record nothing for the first 10 seconds of the tape, as footage at the beginning of tapes often can't be captured.
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Start filming a few seconds before your action to ensure the tape is rolling.
HDV
There is another format which uses mini-DV tapes called HDV. It is similar to DV footage in all the above ways, however the footage is High Definition. This means the footage will be of higher resolution, require more hard disk space and a more powerful computer.
The HDV format is also not as widely supported by older editing softwares.
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