Archiving HDV footage

Ike615

Ike615

Well-known member
I had a client call me up asking me if I could archive his HDV footage from his XL-H1. Is there a relatively cheap solution to do this without having to buy a canon HDV camera. Because from what I hear the canon hdv tapes won't play properly in other dv decks. If it's pretty expensive does anyone know a company that archives HDV footage in the Portland area so I can refer my client to them?

Thanks!

- Isaac
 
No HDV tapes will play in any DV decks.

For the Canon there's a further issue, which is that its tapes won't play at all in JVC decks, and two of its three modes won't play in Sony's decks. If you want to deal wtih Canon footage, it's most compatible to play it in a Canon HDV camcorder.
 
Thanks Barry. so now that I know that I can get the HDV footage onto my computer with any DV deck I'm wondering how many gigabytes a 60 minute tape eats up? Is its size somewhere in between DV footage and DVCPRO-HD footage?
 
You have to re-read that. You cannot get HDV footage into your computer from any DV deck, no matter the brand or price tag. DV decks are DV decks, not HDV decks. You'd need a specific HDV deck, and if the tape you're using was shot in 24F or 30F, there's not a DV deck in the world made that could play that footage. If that's the case, your only option would be to use a Canon HDV camcorder to play it.

HDV data size is the same as DV data size.
 
Ike,

If the footage is standard 1080i HDV from the XL-H1, you can capture from Sony HDV decks, which are actually much more expensive than the HV-10, which can record and playback the Canon HDV frame modes.

What kind of archiving is he needing? Computer/hard disk-based? If he has the tapes they will already be "archived" and only need to be captured again if needed. If the client shot HDV frame modes, you will either need an XL-H1, XH-A1/G1 or HV-10 in order to be able to output from a computer back to tape. (you'll need to use FCP also if the footage was captured with FCP) If the footage is strictly 1080i, then Sony HDV decks can be used too.
 
Thanks. So I got all the facts today from the client and turns out it was the HV-10 that he shot on so I just suggested to him that he archive it to DVDs. He's not very computer savvy though so I'm trying to find someone else in the Portland area that has a canon camera and can archive the footage for him.
 
You won't need a Canon camera for that. It's 1080i-only so a Sony HDV deck or camcorder could also work.
 
Barry_Green said:
HDV data size is the same as DV data size.
Click to expand...

Wow, that's crazy, and I was unaware of that, still being in DV land, although contemplating moving to the XHA1. I was thinking that the Firestore FS-C record times had to be a misprint, giving the same record times for DV as HDV. Guess not....
 
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