Transfer miniDV with iMovie or FC?

[alexalexalex]

Hey everyone, I am new to this great forum and I have been looking for answers. I am completely new to video so I'll probably ask obvious questions. I've seen lot's of threads with similar problems as mine but not quite the same, so here I go.

I have about 45 hours of video taken with a Sony PDX10, and I need to transfer all my video to digital format (i.e. from the miniDv tapes to my hard drive).

I might have the chance to get some funds and get a pro editor and nice equipment etc. but I need to start transferring my tapes to files very soon, and I can't just sit down and wait for funds to arrive.

So...

My 512Mb, 1.2Ghz PowerPC G4 Mac has iMovie HD. Should I start transferring my tapes into .dv files using iMovie HD, or should I wait for a higher-end application like FC?

I would like to start working on it myself so I can actually learn something (and save 1600 dlls!), but I don't want to invest so much time into transferring and then have a pro tell me, oh you know what, everything you did is worthless because xxx or yyy (mainly quality loss for transferring with iMovie HD).

I only need a straight transfer of the footage as-is, but I'm concerned that doing it on iMovie will lower the quality of video or audio and the money I spent on a nice camera will be for nothing.

I DO want to use those files later for pro edition. Technology is so amazing now that consumer applications can do professional jobs. Is this the case for transfering from miniDV to .dv files?

Any comments GREATLY appreciated!

Thanks everyone,

A curious noob

PS: Please feel free to correct any senseless usage of terminology in my thread!!

 

[ftaok]

Unless that Sony is an HDV, I don't think there's any video degradation in transferring off of miniDV to iMovie. It's the same format and there's no conversion going on. You might want to stick with iMovieHD over iMovie'08 (probably a moot point since you're on a G4) because I've read where iMovie'08 imports every other frame or something like that.

Anyways, the one disadvantage to using iMovieHD is that the DV files are stored within an iMovie Project, not in a library type system.

You might want to look into Voltaic ... I think it helps catalogs the files.

ft

 

[alexalexalex]

i've been asking around with people who know and they seem to agree that there is no quality loss. thanks for the reply.