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Best software for capturing tapes from FireWire

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Matt W.

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I want to capture and archive some of my old tapes and I’ll be using a miniDV camcorder and Digital8 (yup) camcorder to capture them via FW800 to USB3 to USBC adapters…



I just want to capture the tapes without worrying abut timecode and even if there are drop outs that’s okay, I don’t want capture to stop. It’s just for archiving home movies. Either one file per tape or one folder. And I want to capture the whole thing without audio drifting or having to restart capture at every time code discrepancy.



FCP7 was what I used to use but it aborts capture on drop outs and is… too old. What software today is best for this? I’m just making an archive of old home movies.



I am assuming Premiere Pro? What settings are best for this to make it as easy a job as possible? (I’d considered outsourcing but I sort of enjoy the process.)
 
I personally use the video out on the cameras and my Intensity Pro card on my tower. They also sell thunderbolt versions. Included is capture software I've used for this exact purpose. I did NTSC to ProRes for archival and then ripped DVDs for family members who wanted them, and then encoded to H264 for thumb drives for others. It does exactly as you're talking about and you can set it up so it just rolls on through without any error.

EDIT: posted without more info that I meant to put in. Here is a link to a USB3 version - https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/686585-REG/Blackmagic_Design_BINTSSHU_Intensity_Shuttle.html
 
I own one of those but left it in another state in storage. :/

I was planning to use the firewire interface for capture. Is it possible to use that (via USB 3 type C to thunderbolt 2 to FireWire 800) with the same capture settings?
 
Matt W. said:
I own one of those but left it in another state in storage. :/

I was planning to use the firewire interface for capture. Is it possible to use that (via USB 3 type C to thunderbolt 2 to FireWire 800) with the same capture settings?
Click to expand...

Honestly have no idea. I had gotten fed up with the capture process from miniDV for exactly the same reasons you're having and I already had the Intensity for outputting so I just used that. If you figure something out, let us know!
 
I used an old version of iMovie to ingest 40 tapes (mini-DV and Hi8).

Edit: iMovie HD (v6.0) > iMovie_602Combo.dmg > iMovie_603.dmg
 
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FCP7 aborted ingest upon dropout.
FCPX didn't support camcorders I own.
 
Yeah FCP7 is unusable for me because there are SO MANY drop outs on these old tapes that it basically just captures a few frames at a time. I don't own FCPX. Premiere seems to have sync issues. :/

I tried a hacked version of iMovie HD and it doesn't work on the touchbar rMBP. Ugggg.
 
You can capture with Blackmagic Media Express, which will capture to several different kinds of ProRes. Express is free with any Blackmagic Design capture card or adapter. The trick is finding a computer with a Firewire input.
 
Marc Wielage said:
You can capture with Blackmagic Media Express, which will capture to several different kinds of ProRes. Express is free with any Blackmagic Design capture card or adapter. The trick is finding a computer with a Firewire input.
Click to expand...

Here I am with my Black Magic Intensity box but I left the actual product in another state. :/

Someone else recommended QuickTime 7, which I'll also try. Thanks for the recommendation. I might be able to download it anyway usually they don't check the serial number in my experience.
 
If you want to archive properly, i'd go for AJA. AJA Control Room is the free capture software that comes with their hardware, but is included with their driver download. v12.5.1 is the latest and has some fixes in the software and offers a few new codecs too. It can capture a true 10bit signal if so you want, but more importantly will capture your super blacks and whites (not in ProRes), unlike the BlackMagic kit which clamps signal to Rec709. So this is extra handy if you're gonna run a quick grade on it to adjust your levels.

Now, you're going firewire into a Mac i guess, so Premiere would work also. See if control room can see your signal without the need for AJA hardware, then use control room!
 
Thanks! I'll give it a try. I figure straight miniDV capture will retain super whites etc. too even if it's stuck in that old clunky codec.

Premiere does work but it has problems.... audio doesn't sync up and you need to babysit it while it captures.
 
Any capture attempt via firewire will fail on dropouts, because it is sending a digital stream of the digital signal on the tape, not converting that to image signal and converting it back to digital.

You need a seperate capture card to get a continuous capture drom the audio and video outs.

Any capture card that just takes the video signal out should work uninterrupted, but if you use the DV/Firewire out of the camera you'll have to baby sit. Just the way the tech works.
 
Uggg. Unfortunately that makes sense.

Is there any software better than Premiere in that like... it won't screw up audio sync if there are drop outs? iMovie 6 was the best for this but even the cracked version of that won't run on my touchbar MBP.
 
Thank you, I'm going to try that next. I requested a trial.

Understanding what I do now about drop outs necessarily stopping firewire capture, I might just give in and use my Intensity Shuttle (when I dig it up from wherever I stored it, unfortunately out of state). I wanted bit perfect capture, but for archiving old home movies it doesn't matter much it seems.
 
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