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Mini DV cassette video capture

My overview

On-cassette formats:

  • DV:
    • video: lossy compression
      • 720x480i @ 60 Hz (PAL)
      • 720x576i @ 50 Hz (NTSC)
      • aspect ratio: 4:3 or 16:3 (different pixel aspect ratios!)
    • audio: uncompressed
      • 16-bit linear PCM stereo @ 48 kHz (768 kbit/s per channel, 1.5 Mbit/s stereo) (almost always used)
      • 12-bit non-linear PCM channels @ 32 kHz (384 kbit/s per channel, 1.5 MBit/s for 4 channels)
      • 16-bit audio @ 44.1 kHz (706 kbit/s per channel, 1.4 Mbit/s stereo)
  • HDV
    • video: H.262 = MPEG-2 Part 2
      • 1280x720p @ 24/25/30/50/60 Hz
      • 1440x1080i @ 25/29.97 Hz
      • 1440x1080p @ 23.98/25/29.97 Hz
    • audio: MPEG-1 Layer II
      • 16-bit PCM @ 48 Khz (192 kbit/s per channel, 384 kbit/s stereo)
    • multiplexing: MPEG-2 transport stream

Legacy FireWire driver, article about that, alternative.

Camera types:

  • VHS
  • VHS-C
  • S-VHS
  • S-VHS-C
  • 8mm
  • Hi8
  • Digital 8
  • DV
  • HDV

Resources

Hardware

FireWire input:

Pinnacle drivers. (fix if driver doesn't install properly to due signing issues)

Pinnacle Moviebox 710-USB vs Hauppauge USB Live 2 vs Dazzle DVC103 comparison

Digital input only:

Digital signal (e.g. Hi8 analog input) to FW passthrough cameras:

TODO move into own section: when playing Hi8 or VCR for recording it it's important that the camera supports line TBC (time base correction) and DNR (digital-noise reduction). Using an external full frame TBC card in addition is recommended.

More info about TBC: http://www.unterzuber.com/TBC.html

Capture software

See comment on Windows 10.

DV:

HDV:

Both:

Working with the capture

@devnoname120
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@devnoname120
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devnoname120 commented Dec 29, 2021

@devnoname120
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