Storing raw material

david4298 · #1 (**permalink**) 08-31-2005, 08:59 PM

I am new to this game and have spent a fortune on micro mv tapes as I have not been able to convert them to DVD or find another way to get the pictures off the tape for re-use. What is the best way of doing this with Pinnacle Studio 9?

Ian in Northampton · #2 (**permalink**) 09-01-2005, 03:25 PM

I know nothing about Pinnacle Studio 9, but someone who does is likely to have some pretty basic questions about

not been able to convert them to DVD or find another way to get the pictures off the tape for re-use

1. What kind of camera do you have?
2. Does it feature DV-out?
3. Does it communicate via Firewire and/or USB?
4. Do you have Firewire/USB inputs on your PC?

If the answer to all of the above is 'yes', we can move forward...

david4298 · #3 (**permalink**) 09-01-2005, 04:17 PM

Thanks for your interest, the camera is a Sony IP9 using Micromv tapes, with bluetooth, dv out, firewire connection and I have firewire and USB on my laptop, which is a Toshiba Qosmio E10 with Intervideo WinDVD as well as Pinnacle Studio 9 programmes.

I can download my tapes into the laptop and edit them ok, it is how I transfer the video to a removable DVD that I'm interested in achieving, so that I can store them and edit them later at my leisure.

The tapes are expensive and I want to be able to re-use them knowing I have access to the old raw material.

Ian in Northampton · #4 (**permalink**) 09-01-2005, 04:43 PM

Ah, right. I understand the problem better now. When you've edited the movie, does it end up as an .avi file? If 'yes', I'd just use Windows Explorer to copy it across to DVD. Your problem, though, will be that .avi consumes HUUUUGE amounts of space, so you'll get very little footage per DVD. It really would be better to edit/author your footage as your final, finished DVD before wiping the original tape: archiving the raw/edited footage to DVD will be a pain and consume lots of DVDs. The only 'problem' then is in editing the authored DVD file - it all starts to get a bit messy.

Ian in Northampton · #5 (**permalink**) 09-01-2005, 05:14 PM

Of course, the other thing that might be cost-effective for you is to do what I've just done for pretty much the same reason - I got a 250GB external USB 2.0 7200rpm hard drive from Amazon for £99, and I archive my projects on that. Sure, 250GB isn't a whole lot in .avi terms - but it's a whole lot more convenient than ~70 DVDs...