Topic: How to Convert DAT to Mac HD wav or aiff

[bonghitwillie]

i have 1000's of dats.  probably 500-1000 that are masters.  i have been told to transfer them before they stop working.  i have final cut 5,6,+7 on 3 dif computers.  also have a box that does aes/ebu to firewire.  also have a fostex d5 dat with aes/ebu out.  with final cut i can log and capture, but it wants to see a video signal.  with the video signal it eats up 8-10gb of hd space per hour.  i can then convert the audio to aiff and that reduces the file to normal dat size.  anyone know of a better way?  i have also been told of internal scsi dat readers for sale on ebay for cheap that work with pc's.  i am worried about the learning curve with this method, plus it might eat the tapes.  anyone know of a "how to" when using these scsi dat readers?   thx in advance

[Cheesecadet]

Why not use a audio editing/capturing program that doesn't require a video signal instead of Final Cut?

[rhinowing]

can't you just send the firewire signal into audacity??

[scb]

1. use an audio program like Cheesecadet suggested
2. your mac probably has an optical in.  use the optical out of the d5