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Importing from HDV tape to a mac at highest quality

What is the best way (or settings) to import the very many HDV tapes I have into my mac? It is HD Video, so I want to preserve the quality as much as possible.
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Andres

Comments: 3 Responses to “Importing from HDV tape to a mac at highest quality”

    13 years ago

    Import at the same quality as the tapes. If they are 720p, then import at 720p. If they are 1080i, then use that. Then you get the best quality. As for compression (raw HDV files, h264/mp4) -- that is up to you. If you import them as raw files, then they will take up a ton of drive space. So using h264/mp4 files (m4v) is a good option. But you have to decide on the specific settings depending on how much you want to balance quality vs file size.
    Do a bunch of tests first. Import 10 seconds of video using different settings. Compare this files for size and quality. Make a decision.

      Andrés
      13 years ago

      Thanks, Gary. Would it be better to use Quicktime Pro or imovie. If imovie, imovie HD or imovie 11?

        13 years ago

        Depends on what you want to do with it after. I'd say in most cases use iMovie 11 for capture (iMovie HD is very very old version, use the latest instead).

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