Questions regarding DVScan and capturing in general...

[nutsnbolts]

I'm sorry to ask this and excuse my noobiness.

I'm just beginning to start my first video edit using Media Studio Pro. Obviously, the very first thing is to import a video from a DV camera and I want to make this as painless as possible.

I am computer savvy, and understand pretty much what has to be done, however, getting it done right is the question.

From my understanding, you can capture 3 different ways.

1. General capture, where you can just select to capture the entire DV.
2. Batch capture, depending on mark in/out.
3. DV scan and capture.

Really, what's puzzling me is the DV scan portion. I have scanned an entire DV and basically, how do I go about selecting which sections I want specifically batchfully to capture. If that make sense. I see the thumbnails and know which one's I want but don't know how to record selections. There are a series of checkmarks but no button to capture just what I want. Am I understanding DV scan?

When I do go into the batch capture section and import the dv scan list, I don't see the thumbnail view and can't see which one I need.

This is imperative for me because, my DV tapes are recorded at different angles, perspectives and not everything on the DV tape is something I obviously need, I need to review it and pretty much I know which one I want to use hence, capturing everything is not really the best and efficient way of doing this.

Please help.

[Gorf]

Unless you have a hard disk space problem, just capture the whole lot then split out what you don't want in video editor.

You'll end up with a 13GB AVI (for a full hour of tape) which you can drag onto the timeline. Right click it, and select "split by scene". Use the DV timecode as the basis for the split, not frame content.

[nutsnbolts]

Unless you have a hard disk space problem, just capture the whole lot then split out what you don't want in video editor.

You'll end up with a 13GB AVI (for a full hour of tape) which you can drag onto the timeline. Right click it, and select "split by scene". Use the DV timecode as the basis for the split, not frame content.

Whether space is an issue or not, time is more of an issue than anything. When I recorded my video, I did a lot of "Junk" recordings of let's say a statue at multiple angles. Trying to achieve "multi-camera" on one camera so to speak.

The reason for the DV scan is to basically allow me to see which I really need or would like to import. Probably out of the 100% of a tape, I would only take a good 50% of it so me importing 6 tapes can be time consuming whereas, on a DV scan, if I knew what each scene was, I can say this and this and this and off the process of capture.

I did find a small workaround (or solution), scan the DV, then when I have the list, delete what I don't want. Save it. Then import it on the batch capture. And then proceed from there. It works. It controls the camera stops and starts and goes to each "time stamp".

Is this the way it should work? I would think that DV scan would have it all in one interface as opposed to this "slightly" extra steps?

[Gorf]

Well considering you have to go through the tape once to mark in/mark out your captures, then go through it again to perform the capture itself, I'd say that capturing it once then editing out the dross will be quicker.

It's also better for your camera instead of the stop/start activity you're proposing.

It's just a question of workflow, you have your preference; I have mine. I'm so keen to avoid wear and tear on my camera that I use a cheap handycam to capture and rewind the tapes.

[heinz-oz]

I basically capture the whole lot also but, instead of having one chunk to put on the time line and then split into scenes, I have the capture module split my footage into scenes. It's using the time stamp to recognize a scene change. Works very well and I can weed out clips I don't want using the WinExplorer in thumbnail view. That should be a lot quicker than going through the whole tape once to mark In/Out spots, rewind and go through it again for the capture.

[Devil]

I'm roughly 228% with Gorf. It is quicker and more reliable to do a single 1 h capture, use the cut by scene feature and delete the dross, IMHO. If necessary, you can recover the disk space by using Smart Package and then deleting the original 1 h AVI.

I do it this way all the time.

[sjj1805]

Thats also the way I do it.

[nutsnbolts]

I'm roughly 228% with Gorf. It is quicker and more reliable to do a single 1 h capture, use the cut by scene feature and delete the dross, IMHO. If necessary, you can recover the disk space by using Smart Package and then deleting the original 1 h AVI.

I do it this way all the time.

Everyone:

Thank you very much for all your responses. Capture all at once and doing one of the following suggestions is the way to go.

I thought going through the DV scan and then just having it capture will do the trick efficiently. However, I guess not.

Out of curiosity, what is the purpose of DV Scan and Batch Capture then?

Devil:

Smart Package, can you please elaborate more? I don't know what smart package does?

[Devil]

You'll find a full description of the possibilities of Smart Package on p. 174 of the manual. It allows "packaging" of a project for archiving, exporting, removing unused footage and creating proxy files. It is a powerful tool because you can frames before and after each clip, if wanted, for safety's sake.

[Gorf]

Out of curiosity, what is the purpose of DV Scan and Batch Capture then?

Its purpose is exactly what you were trying to achieve. A viewing "pass" where you mark out the sections you want to capture, and a capture "pass" where the job is done.

My first video editing computer had a 20GB capture drive. That's about 90 minutes of DV source footage with no room for edits. The machine I currently use has 200GB online and 200-300 GB available in interchangeable caddies. When I started, batch capture was necessity, as was "on camera" editing, because of a lack of drive space. Now, I just capture the whole tape, and I don't start/stop the tape during filming.

The feature has been left in because it's always been there.

[HankM]

I only make one pass capturing what I want, as I go. Since I shot everything, it's easy to capture only what I need. One pass, no splits, no extra time.
Hank