No waiting by the computer for the tape to finish. Sending your MiniDV tapes to a digitization service will take the burden of editing off your shoulders.

If you digitize at home, you could end up with poor quality videos, which is literally the last thing you want after spending all that time to convert them yourself. If you’re unfamiliar with how to edit video in this capacity, or if you don’t have proper video editing software, then it is probably best if you choose to use a digitization service instead of digitizing at home. Yet another time-consuming hurdle you’ll have to jump when you get to it. Also, when you digitize at home, you are in control of audio and visual editing. Since you have to let the tapes run their course in order for the software to capture them, you could end up sitting in front of your computer for hours during the process. However, it can take a lot of time and money depending on the type of video capture software you choose and the amount of tapes you need to convert. This process will create one continuous digital video to be saved on your computer.Īt-home digitization seems appealing as it takes just a few supplies and some pretty simple steps to get the job done.

Once the tape is done playing, press “stop” on the capture window.

Now the software will record the tape in real-time.

Click “record” on the capture window in the video editing software.

The video should begin playing inside the capture window in the video editing software.

Press play on your camcorder or tape deck.

From the file menu in the software, click “capture” and wait for a window to appear on the monitor.

Open your computer’s video capture software.

Load the MiniDV tape into the camcorder or tape deck.

If using a camcorder, set it to VCR mode.

Using the USB cable, connect the MiniDV camcorder or tape deck to your computer.

Let’s discover how at-home MiniDV-to-digital transfer can be done and then compare it with a digitization service. The question is, which is better for your MiniDV tapes? If you’ve got the time and the patience, you can digitize at home with a video capture software, or you can send your tapes to a digitization service and let an expert handle the conversion process.

Do you have any MiniDV tapes that need digitization? Have no fear! You have some options so that you don’t lose those memories to father time.

How to digitize analog video