the TAPES

Not too long ago there was a format of video recording tapes called MiniDV. Digital video or DV came in a variety of sized tapes including the small cassettes or S-size, which are more commonly known as MiniDV. These MiniDV cassettes can store approximately 13 GB or data for 63 minutes video.

the Camera

If you’re like me, you had a MiniDV camcorder at some point. These miniDV camcorders had a tape mechanism that had so many moving parts, it’s not surprising if your unit would eventually wear out and no longer function.

Now if you are in this situation, you are probably stuck with a box full of MiniDV tapes that you can no longer access or view. There’s a good chance that you never took the time to actually convert them over to a digital format on your computer. Since I no longer had a working camera, I took a look on the used market for the cheapest working MiniDV camera I could find. I ended up finding a Sony TRV18 on Ebay for $75. I have no plans to use it as a camera, but more as a digital video transfer unit. So how do you get your old tapes on to your computer? Let’s talk about that next.

the computer

I’ve found a way to get your tapes off your camera and onto your a Thunderbolt 3 device. So we’re talking about a newer computer like a Mac. Most Windows PCs have the USB C type connector, but in my case I’m working with my Mac Mini 2018. Now you may be asking why we can’t simply use the USB connection from the camera. Your camera may have a USB 2.0 port however this port is typically used for transferring still images. It doesn’t have the bandwidth to transfer digital video content in full DV quality. So your only other option is the use the IEEE 1394 (FireWire, i.LINK) ports for digital video transfer. Does your modern computer have a FireWire port? Most likely no, so we’re going to need a few cables to go from FireWire to Thunderbolt 3.

the cables and adapters

I already had an old FireWire cable lying around, so it you don’t have one, you will need to get one. So here is the full signal chain in my case.

1) Sony TRV18 Camcorder

2) Firewire Cable

3) elago FireWire 400 to 800 Adapter

4) Apple Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter

5) Apple Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter

6) Mac Mini 2018

Now I obviously can’t speak for every possible combination of cable and adapter, but this is the solution that worked in my situation. You need to find a path from Firewire to Thunderbolt 3.

the softwarE

As a Mac user I am always editing my videos with Final Cut Pro. This is also the software that I have used to import my MiniDV. Now one thing to keep in mind, the import process occurs in realtime. So if you have a full 60 minute tape, it’s going to take you 60 minutes to import the 13-14 gigabytes of data. So with that in mind, make sure you have plenty of disk space before you attempt an import job. I can also confirm the import process will work with iMovie in case you don’t have Final Cut Pro.

Again I’ll mention the process may not work in all cases. I’ve only tested with a Sony TRV18, but hopefully you have the same results.

If you have any questions, I recommend you check out my full how-to video on YouTube.

Good luck!