I was hoping to see more interaction on this topic! I have quite a few MiniDV tapes I too, want/need to capture for a documentary spanning ten years.
I have a Sony 1800a with the optional up conversion card, and the AJA IO Express. I was hoping the 720×480 16:9 24p (shot on the canon XL2) would pop at 720, but was looking at pushing to 1080.
I am thinking that the hardware options would deliver better data versus software?
my deck will output HD-SDI which I thought I would feed the AJA IO Express and then capture with ??? maybe a KiPro mini.
How did your results turn out?
You are never too old to have a happy childhood!