Need help with conversion for archiving project

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DoctorO

300 Club - QQ All-Star
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I am hoping to catch the attention and expertise of someone who can suggest good software (and hardware?) for an archiving project. My goal is to transfer Digital MiniDV tapes to BluRay discs for archiving and easy distribution among family members. The DV camera has a full size HDMI output (1080p). Is there software that can be loaded into a PC such that the video can be captured at the HDMI jack and then burned to discs or at least stored in some user-friedly format on a hard drive?

Thanks for reading and helping!
 
Hey DoctorO,

I'm an audio guy but I sort of know the general outline here.

You need a video capture device with a thunderbolt or USB3 output to connect to the computer.
Like this:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...dlkulsdzminrec_Ultrastudio_Mini_Recorder.htmlThunderbolt is 1st choice but USB3 will also work. There are probably a few PCIe connecting card video capture devices available as well but that required a tower with a PCI bay.

The friendly digital format is .mkv file. This 'container' file format can host any quality video (lowest SD to highest HD) as well as any audio format that might be tagging along (including full HD surround). Bluray is the physical disc form of the mkv file as it were. A bluray burner drive for a tower is cheap, but... need a tower for that. The slot loading bluray drives for a laptop are a little more and you have to watch the thickness. They don't fit in most laptops without "help" it turns out. The 17" models are no problem. And the current 'disposable' generation of laptops (which should be avoided IMHO) don't have optical drive bays at all. There are thunderbolt and USB3 connecting external bluray burner drives available.

Someone else will have more and maybe better software suggestions.
Just authoring a file to bluray format can be done with freeware like tsMuxeR.
The video editing software recommended by everyone is DaVinci Resolve. They have a free version that is probably all you need and want for basics.
Pretty sure you can simply capture with VLC player too actually. (Select the device. Record live stream.)
 
I am hoping to catch the attention and expertise of someone who can suggest good software (and hardware?) for an archiving project. My goal is to transfer Digital MiniDV tapes to BluRay discs for archiving and easy distribution among family members. The DV camera has a full size HDMI output (1080p). Is there software that can be loaded into a PC such that the video can be captured at the HDMI jack and then burned to discs or at least stored in some user-friedly format on a hard drive?

Thanks for reading and helping!
Hello Doc O
Jim had some good advice there about the external hardware. I have been using an older version (PCIe internal) of this Black Magic Intensity video cap card. It plays nice with every edit software I use. That is open your video editing software & set it up for video cap device & audio cap device (if different) & there ya go. And perhaps you can capture with VLC as Jim said. It would be more direct to just capture in vid editing software if you actually want to any editing. You know, cut out those 5 mins of video of your feet while ordering at McDonalds.

In the days of SD there was a company called Canopus that had an outboard video/audio hardware that encoded to MPG2 & AC-3 in real time & then some bonus software to make a DVD with menu, etc. I don't think there is anything that simple for HD, but I would like to wrong. Today it seems it's capture, edit,author, burn.

I might also suggest looking into M-Disc as discussed elsewhere on the forum. It takes a special burner & the discs cost a little bit more but I think it's the best way to archive precious family memories.

Edit: BTW camcorders frequently come with their video capture software/edit/make disc software. How about yours?
 
Last edited:
Hey DoctorO,

I'm an audio guy but I sort of know the general outline here.

You need a video capture device with a thunderbolt or USB3 output to connect to the computer.
Like this:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...dlkulsdzminrec_Ultrastudio_Mini_Recorder.htmlThunderbolt is 1st choice but USB3 will also work. There are probably a few PCIe connecting card video capture devices available as well but that required a tower with a PCI bay.

The friendly digital format is .mkv file. This 'container' file format can host any quality video (lowest SD to highest HD) as well as any audio format that might be tagging along (including full HD surround). Bluray is the physical disc form of the mkv file as it were. A bluray burner drive for a tower is cheap, but... need a tower for that. The slot loading bluray drives for a laptop are a little more and you have to watch the thickness. They don't fit in most laptops without "help" it turns out. The 17" models are no problem. And the current 'disposable' generation of laptops (which should be avoided IMHO) don't have optical drive bays at all. There are thunderbolt and USB3 connecting external bluray burner drives available.

Someone else will have more and maybe better software suggestions.
Just authoring a file to bluray format can be done with freeware like tsMuxeR.
The video editing software recommended by everyone is DaVinci Resolve. They have a free version that is probably all you need and want for basics.
Pretty sure you can simply capture with VLC player too actually. (Select the device. Record live stream.)


Thanks! ohh, this brings back bad memories of lots of one-off video capture devices years ago...ughh! I have an absurdly overpriced JVC BluRay burner that's a standalone unit, a model from about five years ago, but it's hard drive seems to be failing after little use... hmmm
 
Hello Doc O
Jim had some good advice there about the external hardware. I have been using an older version (PCIe internal) of this Black Magic Intensity video cap card. It plays nice with every edit software I use. That is open your video editing software & set it up for video cap device & audio cap device (if different) & there ya go. And perhaps you can capture with VLC as Jim said. It would be more direct to just capture in vid editing software if you actually want to any editing. You know, cut out those 5 mins of video of your feet while ordering at McDonalds.

In the days of SD there was a company called Canopus that had an outboard video/audio hardware that encoded to MPG2 & AC-3 in real time & then some bonus software to make a DVD with menu, etc. I don't think there is anything that simple for HD, but I would like to wrong. Today it seems it's capture, edit,author, burn.

I might also suggest looking into M-Disc as discussed elsewhere on the forum. It takes a special burner & the discs cost a little bit more but I think it's the best way to archive precious family memories.

Edit: BTW camcorders frequently come with their video capture software/edit/make disc software. How about yours?

Unfortunately, the camcorder's software ran on a prehistoric version of Windows. Good thought, though!
 
Thanks! ohh, this brings back bad memories of lots of one-off video capture devices years ago...ughh! I have an absurdly overpriced JVC BluRay burner that's a standalone unit, a model from about five years ago, but it's hard drive seems to be failing after little use... hmmm

Fixing the hard drive may be the cheaper option.
 
Bluray drives

for SATA internal tower style computer
LG WH16NS40 $60

for laptop (SATA)
Panasonic UJ-267 9.5mm internal slot loading $170

Yeah, so it looks like there's a 9.5mm laptop bluray drive available now!
Hmmm... I've gotten used to two hard drives in my laptop (2nd in the optical bay). Now I'm not sure what I want to do. Bluray drive in the Macbook Pro might be convenient.
The tower models are sure cheap now.

Not sure what is considered the best model or if there are any ringers to watch out for. I didn't look it up but I bet the internal drive in that LG assembly is made by Panasonic too.

I think the current generation of video capture devices are much more happiness and light than in the past. Bandwidth was a challenge in the past and PCI was the only option. Thunderbolt basically being "PCI on a cable"... We're done here. USB3 works as well.
 
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