DV Tapes don't last forever

I installed the free version to see if it would work. It was so simple and I downloaded one of my tapes. I quickly bought the pay version and within a few days had downloaded all of the movies. The product is simple to install and simple to use. Just make sure you have all of the proper cables for your camera before starting.

After swearing at iMovie for weeks I came across LifeFlix Importer and I’ve found peace! Simple as can be and now I've going back to older DV tapes to get all of those scenes that iMovie dropped.

I downloaded the Free Trial but it stopped my tape after 15 mins! WTH?! So I probably won't buy it as I have no idea if it works for my whole tape or not. It was not specified there was a time limit on the transfer. IS THERE? No idea.
Too bad, I probably would have bought the product as iMovie sucks

If you get sick of struggling with iMovie, LifeFlix is probably for you. It imports DV tapes in an intuitive way without any fuss. The resulting files can easily be imported into something else for further editing and colour correction.

Well, even though it's not exactly "analog", this program has been great for my father-in-law who stopped learning about technology in 2005. It's been a great program to use even with my old Core Duo iMac -- highly recommended!

Saving dozens of my old DV films was a simple job with this software

Easy to Use!

Other reviewers have said it, and I confirm it: LifeFlix is simple to use and efficient in getting the job done quickly. I have never used anything more user-friendly. As advertised, it starts the video capture from a digital camera automatically, but what may not be clear is that, when started manually, it will also capture analog video (run through a converter--I used ADVC110 by Canopus) from my Hi-8 camera as well. This software has greatly reduced the time and hassle of converting my videotape library into files I can store on external computer hard drives. The time you save quickly outweighs the low price of this application.

It’s exactly the app we needed to digitize our tapes.

I have over 100 mini DV tapes to transfer to my new NAS. Sure time for time transfer but a simple and easy program to use. The trial, full version , only1 tape transfer but was sufficient for me decide to purchase this program. Suggest a couple of enhancements in your next update. 1) Option "Automatic select" scene merge before importing. 2) Delete confirmation message box. (i have o accidentally deleted scenes) .... so easy . Have a MacBook Pro 2010 Firewire800>dv in , Panasonic NV-GS250 , Synology DS918+. Thanks ...

Like many people, I had a large collection of mini dv tapes with some of my most cherished memories aging in a closet for the past 10 years. I knew the useful life of these tapes would run out at some point, but didn't want to send them off to any of the media conversion services - partly due to cost but more because of the perceived risk of tapes being lost.
I finally got focused on finding a solution and saw the YouTube videos on how - through a cable and 3 dongles - you could create connect from a mini dv firewire port into a MacBook Pro. I ordered everything, hooked it up, and attempted to Import into iMove. Nothing happened. iMovie recognized that my camera was a Canon Optura 100MC, but it couldn't control the camera or download data.
Frustrated, I then found LifeFlix mentioned in a couple forum searches and decided to try it. Literally within minutes everything was working perfectly. At first I was getting no sound in my downloads, but I then found a note on the LifeFlix support site saying that if this occurred with a Canon camera, just manually start each tape from the camera controls and immediately after doing that hit "Import" in LifeFlix. It worked perfectly.
The tape logging, scene detection and metadata extraction all worked great. This probably saved me $1,000+ on going to a third party service, so it would be hard to complain about the $100 license fee.
I'm not a frequent review writer, but hope this is helpful to anyone stuck like I was.

Excellent product

Very stable and easy to use software. Much less hassle than iMovie and Adobe Premiere in my experience..

So easy to use and the HD upscale is a bonus

My one tape came out beautifully and I was able to edit it on Premiere and iMovie. My only gripe is the price of the full version. I only need to convert 9 tapes.

Just the app that I needed

I have used this software a lot now and each time it's performed great. The simple user interface makes it easy to do all you need it to without going through endless menus while also giving you all the needed options super fast to make capturing video painless. Works miles better then trying to capture with Final Cut X

Performed exactly as described. I transferred around 49 hours of Mini DV tapes to disk. Super easy to use and organizes into Tapes and Scenes. Carries the original date and time stamps.

This software is the easiest most powerful tool for converting those miniDV tapes to raw (or compressed) digital. I use a Mac, Thunderbolt 2, Firewiree 800<>400 converter, firewire, camera.

Other software programs did not always find camera, and then I would have to render movie. This does it all easy peasy!

1 hour of minDV RAW = 10 GB. Or you can compress. But I wanted to save my memories in highest quality.

I rarely leave product reviews, but appreciate how helpful LifeFlix was in helping me convert 100 hours of tape!

‏I bought it

I found the software really easy to use worth the money for the workarounds and headaches it has saved me.

I bought a cable to connect a Sony Vaio to a Sony camcorder about 20 years ago but gave up as the results were useless. I was attracted to the trial version of LifeFlix importer as it allows a single complete import and edit. I have a mid-2012 MacBook Pro connected to the camcorder by the original Sony cable to FireWire adaptor.
I was so impressed by the results that I bought the full version as I have so many memories to share with the family.
The software splits up the longer recordings into clips which can be joined in the editing process. The only thing I would suggest if you have a really long recording, is to import in sections as the impact on system memory may cause a few ‘jumping’ frames. Apart from that I’ve been extremely happy with the software.

Easy too use, great quality transfers. The software does its job, with not much of a learning curve. Great way to copy and save old mini DV tapes, Had audio sync problems importing directly into iMovie, but had no problem when importing into LifeFlix,

Excellent product

I would tell all my friends and I Recommend it .....

The app has worked perfectly. And the folks were incredibly helpful when I had questions.Never thought I’d have all my old videos ready to show again…. and had tried so many options that didn’t work. Really pleased!

If You have old tapes of 8 or Hi8, this app works like a champ to get those tapes digitized. The problem with old taps and old camcorders is they drop out and don’t play smooth. Most app crash on these dropouts. Lifeflix works thru them and continues to capture the entire tape.

I had a series of tapes that when importing using iMovie or FinalCut they would have the same audio drop outs. But, if I kept repeating the import countless times I would eventually get an import with no audio problems. LifeFlix - works every single time. I have some problematic tapes where sections were re-recorded over, dates/times encoded on the tapes were messed up and LifeFlix cuts through all of it with ease. The scenes come out in order as they are processed. Lifelix, unlike iMovie, has no problem when the end of a tape is reached - either at the last scene or the physical end of the tape. Every single LifeFlix import has had zero audio issues. I found out about LifeFlix while reading a forum where someone was describing the same problems that I was having. I tried LifeFlix's trial version and I was amazed! Had I started using LifeFlix at the beginning, I cannot count how many hours I would have saved in editing and re-importing. The conversion to HD is a super nice feature as well. There are only a few very minor UI things I wish would be changed but besides those - I still rate this app 100%. Having the trial version was great because I was able to try one problematic tape and saw a prefect end result and that was all of the proof that I needed.

Lifeflix does exactly as it advertises. Great to automatically get scenes for each tape.

Lifeflix is an awesome software. I was able to capture my memories with ease. At first I was only going to use iMovie and save my money. But I purchased Life Flix and compared it to iMovie. Lifeflix was able to import my old tapes that had problems with sound with no issues, where they seemed to skip in iMovie. Thank you Life Flix.

I had purchased a ten year old, but fully functioning camera from eBay, but I couldn't get any software to recognise it through Firewire, until I tried the demo of LifeFlix. I purchased and am able to take my footage off the camera

I tried for 3 months to get old movies on MiniDV tapes into my MacBook. Going up the walls, no success. With help from Dave at Panasonic I tried LifeFlix DV Importer and it worked. I got a free try and then bought the real deal. Great help to anyone wanting to get MiniDV onto Apple.

Had 96 DV old mini dv tapes which are all now saved on my Mac. It was so easy to use. Thanks Lifeflix.

LifeFlix is a LifeSaver! I was excited to embark on my MiniDV conversion project, using iMovie. I have a number of tapes I'd like to import. But on my very first attempt, iMovie chopped up my scenes. There were ~400 segments, many of them 1 second in duration.

I assumed the problem was with the Handycam. I nearly purchased a used one (they're going for ~$150, looks like). But then I realized that, on the onboard LCD screen, the video plays just fine.

Along came Lifeflix. I was nervous (if iMovie chops it up, surely others do too?). But "LifeSaver" imported it perfectly! Very excited to review my memories, catalog them, then throw away the tapes! Thanks!

Captured several Mini DV tapes I hadn't seen in 20 years. Can you say nostalgic?! It was just plug and go, very easy to use and got great results. I liked how there was zero set up, and how it automatically created scenes. Also, really liked the "send to text" feature to show my wife some clips as I was capturing. Thanks for the memories!

It does the job, and saved our recordings from being lost! Thanks!

very happy with it.

I recently got LifeFlix and I'm super happy with this program. It's fun and easy to use, and the user interface is very pleasant to look at. This program makes the video capturing process a breeze. I would definitely recommend it!

I was having lots of difficulty importing miniDV tapes with iMovie. Lifeflix makes the process significantly easier and faster. Very satisfied with this simple program.

I have had horrible time trying to do it with I-movie and Quicktime! It kept crushing or not recording the sound. With lifeFlix is so easy! I can finish all my mini DV tapes in one week. If it stops there is a resume button to continue!! I think $75 was little too much but I am so happy I took a chance.

Makes it easy to import tapes.

IMovie was having trouble breaking up into multiple scenes upon import. LifeFlix handled same tapes flawlessly. Have imported ~50 tapes. Very satisfied.

Downloaded trial version for a very specific project. It worked great and did everything I needed it to do from my video camera. When I get around to converting all my tapes, I will purchase the full version.