How do mini dv tapes work and how do you use them?

I've been thinking about how mini dv tapes work and how exactly you do stuff like editing and getting the film transferred onto a computer or how you get them on dvd. I have never had one before and I thought about getting a camcorder that uses them.But the main thing I want to know is about getting them onto a computer lol! |||The "DV" in miniDV = Digital Video. This is as digital as the video stored onto hard drives, flash memory or DVD storage media. Digital information can be compressed to use less space. DV format video (normally stored to miniDV tape) is the least compressed. This means the least amount of video data is discarded in order to take up less space.





Consumer hard drive and flash memory camcorders use a different storage filing system and compress more than DV. DVD based camcorders compress the most and you should not waste you money on them. Video compression = discarded data = reduced video quality.





To see what video compression can do, go to vimeo.com. Compare the HD video with non-HD video. You can do the same thing at YouTube - but you need to compare video quality on those videos which have a "view in high quality" format at the lower right of the video window.





For DV format, MiniDV tape video importing requires a firewire port on the computer. If the computer does not have one, adding one is easy if the computer has an available expansion slot. Connect the DV port of the camcorder to the firewire port of the computer with a firewire cable. Connect with firewire cable, camcorder in "Play" mode, capture/import (using your video editor)... Firewire, IEEE1394a, DV and i.LINK are all the same thing...|||"The first technical advantage is that Mini DV tapes allow for recording on high-density cassette tapes, which brings higher quality sound and video that鈥檚 much sharper to experience..."


http://www.tapeonline.com/MiniDV/Sony_HDM63VG.aspx#article

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