Split by scene (option) is greyed out

[jparnold]

I am trying to capture video from my vidcam and after I select CAPTURE VIDEO the small menu is displayed showing DURATION, SOURCE, FORMAT and CAPTURE FOLDER but the SPLIT BY SCENE is greyed out preventing me from selecting it.
I have been able to select this in the past when capturing from the same camera.
Why is it greyed out and how can I rectify this problem?
Thanks

[Ron P.]

Hi John,

Are you capturing using Firewire? If so if you are selecting to capture to MPEG, then the Split by Scene is not available. It is available when capturing to DV, using firewire.

[jparnold]

Hi vidoman (think I did see your 'proper' name somewhere else but can't remember)
Yes that is correct (can't split by scene using MPEG). I must have my default project settings set to MPEG and so must change it so I don't have the same problem next time in case I forget the answer.
I think that I had this problem last time and accidentally stumbled across the reason using trial and error but this time it evaded me.
Thanks for you very fast reply - I am trying to capture today and appreciate being able to continue so quickly.

[Ron P.]

Glad to help John..,

Proper name in my Sig..Ron P.

[jparnold]

Ron (if you are still awake - anyone else if not)

I noticed that if I set the project properties format to Microsoft AVI files then the attributes are displayed as -
NTSC non drop frame (30fps) which I find strange as when I installed VS10+ I selected Australia (PAL) as the default when prompted during the installation. Edit (within setting project properties) does not seem to give me the opportunity to correct this.

This worries me as I would have thought that as my video camera is for the Australian market then it would record PAL at 25fps.

Does it matter (when capturing video) if the project properties are set as NTSC non drop frame (30fps)? Will VS automatically set the project properties to match the input captured video?

I can get around this by dragging an existing video clip onto the timeline which has the correct attributes and then deleting the clip before I do my capture but surely I shouldn't have to do this.

Also the project properties seems to always default to MPEG each time I start up VS regardless of me setting it otherwise.

[Ron P.]

Since Ulead is located in Taiwan, which is NTSC, that is the reason that VS has a default for NTSC. However since you are located in a PAL country, you would need to insure the project properties are set to PAL.

I think all the VS versions have MPEG (DVD) as the default project properties when first launching. If you have the box Show message when inserting first clip into timeline checked (found in Preferences), then you should get a message asking if you want to change the project properties to match that of the video file. Selecting yes, VS will adopt the properties of the video clip. However this does not always work, on all video file formats. If the video has no sound, it will not present you with this message.

[jparnold]

Ron
What are you doing answering my posts. Isn't it late at night or early morning where you are?
If you have the box Show message when inserting first clip into timeline checked (found in Preferences) but this didn't seem to help if I startup VS and then go straight to CAPTURE VIDEO which defaults to MPEG and causes the problem with split by scene greyed out.

Well I just checked and I don't know what has happened but VS now defaults to AVI when I start up. I see that the FORMAT can be changed within the Capture video from camera (and I have it set to DV and that if it is set to MPEG then split by scene is greyed out BUT I am sure it was set to DV before when I experienced the problem. Maybe it wasn't.
Oh well you learn by experiences.
Thanks again and have a good sleep.