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February, 2021

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MiniDV help

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tea_bone
Posts: 93 - Karma: 327
I've got an old miniDV camcorder lying around that I'm gonna try to start using if I can get it to work (canon optura 60); seems like it can store video on both miniDV and an SD card. I know using an SD card would be way easier, although I'm kinda interested in messing around with using miniDV. Just conflicted over spending money on tapes if it's not guaranteed I'll be able to convert to a computer.

Anyone got any tips on converting tapes or know if there would be any differences in video quality between SD and miniDV while using the same camera?
Feb 1 2021 7:05PM 1 0
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SmartWater
Posts: 68 - Karma: 357
Firstly if you do use tapes you'll probably want a 'capture cam' to keep the heads on your o60 clean, with which you'll use to capture the dv tapes onto your computer.
Tapes are only getting more and more expensive so I'd just try one tape to start (you could use the o60 to capture this one) and compare it to the SD card footage. My guess is that there'll be no difference besides a lack of glitches and probably more reliability with the card. Perhaps a bit sharper but no resolution increase. Basing this off the fact that this guys VX records onto a hard drive at the same look/quality as a VX.
Feb 2 2021 2:01AM 1 0
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isaacwrong
Posts: 1106 - Karma: 5,256
Only way to see is to test it out. I highly doubt you'll notice a difference especially if you're just going to upload to insta where video just gets compressed. Personally gone through the hassle of capturing mini dv tapes with a firewire cable. Needless to say I will never be doing it again. It adds an entire step in the video production stage and is a hassle imo
Feb 4 2021 10:15AM 3 0
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