[ndbob79]

Hello. In the past I have transferred all my home camcorders movies to DVD so that I can archive them on 2 different media (miniDV tape and DVD). I now have a Canon HV20 Hi Def camcorder and presume that, until Blu Ray DVD Recorders and Blu Ray discs become commonplace, that I need to think of another option transferring miniDV tape from this hi def camcorder. My only thought to date is to transfer the miniDV hi def tape to an external hard drive in the form of iMovie. And so my questions are: 1) Does transferring via iMovie degrade the high definition image ? 2) Is there a better way to transfer to an external hard drive and preserve the hi definition image ? 3) Should I forget the whole thing, guard the tape with my life, and wait for hi definition DVD recorders and media to become more common and less expensive ? Thank you for your help !

[redsox_mark]

I'm not a Mac user, but as long as you capture the native HDV you can copy the file(s) to an external HDD, there will be no quality loss as HDV capture is simply a digital copy.

You can also copy back out to tape (i.e. you could create several copies on different tapes).

You can also copy the video files on to ordinary single or double layer DVDs (you can fit around 20 mins on a single layer disc, 40 mins on a double).

[ndbob79]

Outstanding Mark. Thank you !

[senu]

Transfer by all means but still "guard the tape with your life" anyway