# Final Cut Express: Any loss of quality after repeated transfers?



## biscotte (Nov 8, 2003)

Hi!

Since getting Final Cut Express, I've become aware of the importance of striping tape so that time code be continuous on it.

But I have quite a few miniDV tapes (for my Canon ZR40) that have not been striped before recording and so, the time code on them is all in bits and pieces, if I may say.

Would I lose quality if I transfered what's on those tapes to Final Cut Express, striped a new tape and then re-transfered the video back on that tape for later use?

This would allow me to put together all videos of particular events on one tape, making future transfers and editing a lot easier.

Thank you for your help!


biscotte


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## Arden (Nov 9, 2003)

You would definitely start losing image quality.  It's the same as taping a program on a VHS tape, then copying that tape.  Or making a photocopy of a photocopy.  You're going from a lossy medium to a (relatively) lossless one, the computer, back to lossy media, then presumably _back_ to the computer.


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## biscotte (Nov 9, 2003)

arden said:
			
		

> You would definitely start losing image quality.  It's the same as taping a program on a VHS tape, then copying that tape.  Or making a photocopy of a photocopy.  You're going from a lossy medium to a (relatively) lossless one, the computer, back to lossy media, then presumably _back_ to the computer.



Thank you arden.

The reason I was and actually still am wondering why there is a loss in quality is that the video on my digital camera is digital, isn't it? If so, when it is tranfered to my computer, doesn't it retain its digital quality? (Isn't a copy of a series of 1's and 0's still a series of 1's and 0's?)

The same should also be true when it's transfered back to digital tape.

I'm probably missing something here. So, if you can, please explain.

Thank you!


biscotte


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## biscotte (Nov 10, 2003)

Would anybody like to elaborate on that subject.

Maybe there's something I don't understand about digital. Is there any compression/decompression going on as the video is transferred from DV tape to computer and vice versa? That could possibly explain a loss in quality. And if so, what is it.

I would like to understand these things so I can treat my stuff with care and knowledge.

I would really appreciate if someone could help me here.

Thank you!


biscotte


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## Arden (Nov 10, 2003)

Ah, see, you left that little detail out.  Going from a digital source to a digital source (and back again) shouldn't make your image quality degrade too much, but it's definitely not going to improve.


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## biscotte (Nov 10, 2003)

arden said:
			
		

> Ah, see, you left that little detail out.  Going from a digital source to a digital source (and back again) shouldn't make your image quality degrade too much, but it's definitely not going to improve.



Thank you, arden.

That makes sense. But not knowing the intricacies of digital video and transfer, I might have missed something.

Of course, it's obvious the video quality isn't gonna improve but if it does not degrade perceptively, it gives me a chance to gather all that footage that is dispersed on different digital tapes with broken timecode and lay it anew on clean continuous timecode.

Thanks again.


biscotte


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## Arden (Nov 11, 2003)

Well, I don't know that much about digital video editing either.  The best advice I can give you is to experiment with "test" footage, as in nothing you want to keep latershoot your pets or kids with different settings, like tape speed, and play with it.


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## biscotte (Nov 11, 2003)

arden said:
			
		

> Well, I don't know that much about digital video editing either.  The best advice I can give you is to experiment with "test" footage, as in nothing you want to keep latershoot your pets or kids with different settings, like tape speed, and play with it.



Thank you... I will.

If I discover anything worth mentioning, I'll be back to report it here!

Again, thanks everybody.


biscotte


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## pbase (Mar 6, 2004)

If you still need help

It would be easier to simply dub all those bits and pieces video onto another DV tape, using another camera. In order to keep the timecode whole, let the dub go just a little past the point where you need it to end, stop the tape, rewind it just a few seconds, and then record the next dub. You can then use FCE to capture the new tape, and slice it up as you need it. 
It seems simpler than going from tape, to FCE, then back to tape again.


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## biscotte (Mar 6, 2004)

Thank you for your answer, pbase.

That situation occurred quite a while ago and not having another digital camera available at the time, I think, if I remember well, that I ended up transfering to FCE and back to video. It took a little more time but I had only 2 or 3 cartridges to transfer. It wasn't so bad.

Thanks again!

biscotte


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