[derekc]

I have a large number of Mini DV cassettes that I would like to transfer to my PC and then stream to my TV using Apple TV. I've tried Windows Movie Maker, which obviously makes a huge AVI file which the Apple TV doesn't like, and then I've converted to an Apple TV format using Movavi suite.

Is there any software that would capture from the DV camcorder and produce an MP4 file straight away?

[grahamlthompson]

The files are huge because of the minimal compression used by DV.

mpeg2 (DVD compression) will produce much smaller files. Have you tried creating mpeg2 programme stream files (.mpg) from the .AVI files ? Not familiar with Apple TV but I can't believe it won't be DVD compatible (same as SD TV).

[rogs]

If you are capturing - or more accurately transferring - using Firewire, then DV is your only option in real time. This method transfers the DV tapes, with no loss of quality at all. But as you have discovered, the files need about 13GB of storage, per hour of video.
These files have several advantages though.

1) They maintain the full quality of the original
2) They are easy to edit
3) You can use high quality settings to make good mp4 copies, with freeware like Streamclip, for example.

The other thing is that these large DV files are only likely to be temporary. You would presuambly delete them once you've got your mp4 copies?

If you decide to 'capture' instead as MPG2, as Graham has suggested, you will not be using the Firewire port to do this, but rather the analogue (composite) output from the camcorder, via some other sort of capture tool.
A DVD recorder, or mpg2 hardware, presumably?
This process will involve losing some quality, although hopefully not too much These MPG2 files will also not be quite so easy to edit, if you need to.
You will still have to convert them to mp4 anyway.

AFAIK, there is no way of transferring DV directly to mp4, in real time......

[derekc]

Thanks for reply. Yes, it was just a ploy to avoid the trouble of converting afterwards!!