Capturing a whole tape with splits?

[Nathan Quattrini]

thanks guys, you`ve really eased my headache that started yesterday apon learning premiere couldn`t split HDV nor review while capturing....weak

[Ervin Farkas]

Even if PremPro would capture, I would still use HDV Split because I can capture with it in the background while the computer is working something else, it's very low in computer resource usage.

[Nathan Quattrini]

i looked at the HDV Split page and still had questions. It will make a new scene every time the camera button was paused during recording right? Thats what makes a timecode break? Also did they just never update the readme? It only says the Sony cams work

[Brian Brown]

It will make a new file from each "scene" on the tape (yes, by sensing when the footage has changed, like when you pushed stop or turned off the cam). Timecode breaks are another matter entirely, and good habits must be followed to avoid breaking timecode on your tapes. Another good practice is to put 20-30sec of bars and tone at the beginning and end of a tape (the most vulnerable areas for stretching and damage). I also do this between major "events" on a tape... the tone alerts me to take a look at the next filename (*.m2t) to put the footage in another sub-directory or even stop the capture.

I haven't read the readme since the software works so well for me. But my XH-A1 never has any trouble synching up with HDVSplit. I have the best luck with a solid capture when I activate the software and then turn on the cam in VCR/Play mode. If there's any doubt or hiccups, I just restart the cam. Since you also shoot with this cam, be aware of the settings between HDV and DV in the camera's menu. Sometimes they mysteriously change on me and HDVSplit doesn't recognize the cam.

HTH,
Brian Brown
BrownCow Productions

[Nathan Quattrini]

Thanks brian, i always have new things to learn. My workflow has always been just film, capture the old fashion way (watch, rewind, capture, missed 1 second rewind again, capture again). I never realized there were alternatives to these things. So now I`ll need to learn how to film for this kind of work flow...and save some more sanity.

[Nathan Quattrini]

I can`t HDV Split to recognize the A1....and the directions on their site lead to a dead link...and is aimed at the Sony camers anyway....how did you make it work with your A1 brian?


*ok i got it to recognize the camera...but in ffdshow the instructions say
"1. In start menu open "ffdshow" -> "Audio decoder configuration"
2. Choose "Codec" tab
3. Find in the table, under "Format" column, "MP1,MP2" row. "

There isn`t any row thats named that in the audio codec menu. What now?theres an MP2 row but thats it.

[Brian Brown]

Nathan, I haven't ever used ffdshow. I think it's for folks that don't have a native mpeg application like PPro. You can get along fine without it.

FWIW, I use VLC Media Player to view my clips outside of PPro. I'll then rename the clips to something useful prior to bringing them into PPro or AE.

HTH,
Brian

[Nathan Quattrini]

i got it all working, now have about 9 hours of tapes all split. Now I`m curious as to how you delete files efficiently. Do you just write down the bad ones and manually delete them? Or delete them off the timeline and use the project manager to copy only files on the timeline to a new folder? (Using premiere)

[Adam Gold]

To delete unused files after editing in PPro, go to Project Manager and "Create New Trimmed File" and tell it to delete unused files.

To delete unnecessary files before editing, you can double click each one in the project window to open it up in the program monitor. Play it to confirm you don't need it, then go to it in the project window, right-click and select "Unlink media." This will give you an option to delete the file from the disc.

Deleting from the timeline only removes that instance of the clip, not the clip itself.

This is all from memory so if it doesn't work let us know and I'll fire up PPro and double-check.

EDIT: just remembered you're using CS3 on the Mac, so procedure may be a bit different. Also note that just hitting the DEL key with an unnecessary clip highlighted in the project window just removes the reference to the clip, but does not delete the clip from your HDD.

[Nathan Quattrini]

well i`m going to need to be deleting several hundred clips so going one by one won't work. I was thinking to just delete the bad takes from the time line then use project manager to make a new folder with only used files, but I was hoping there was an easier more streamlines way to do it.

[Adam Gold]

I guess I'm a little confused. Why are bad takes on your timeline at all? They don't go there unless you put them there. You'll have to to through them one at a time to decide which ones to delete even if you've dragged every clip to the timeline, won't you? Otherwise how will you know which ones are the bad ones?

If you find that less than about half your footage is "good," you shouldn't be capturing the whole tape with scene detection. You should go through your tape, mark the in and out points of all the "good" takes, and then batch capture. It's a little more work (okay, a lot) up front but saves you all of this deleting hassle.

But for your current project, I guess your way is the best way, since the bad shots are there already. Just create a new trimmed project after you've finished editing.

[Nathan Quattrini]

ok heres the layout.

- 1 tape of footage.

- Captured with scene detection to save the heads on the camera from too much wear from rewding, recording, missing recording because of too small pre-roll, rewinding again, etc.

- 100+ Clips from tape dropped onto timeline so I can watch them all in sequence.

- Good takes raised to video 2. When I complete the tape, select Video 1 and delete everything on it leaving only the good takes from the whole tape.

This is where I`m not sure if there is an easier way than to use the project manager to create a copy of the project copying over only used clips on the timeline (I believe theres an option 'delete unused clips') Or is this the easiest way?

[Brian Brown]

I always look at each clip with VLC, deleting the bad ones off the hard drive before I begin editing PPro. But since you've already started in PPro, the advice you've been given with Project Manager is the best way to go from here.

It's a good practice to slate your takes in production, putting a small whiteboard in the frame with the take # and any other info helpful during post. Then write down the good takes on a notebook to make your life easier in post. Another option: On the very next take after the good one, you can place your whiteboard upside-down as a visual that the last take was a keeper (alternatively, you could use color bars and tone), then quickly turn off the camera. Once the tape is captured, scan your clips for the smallest file sizes containing the "good take" visual and you'll know that the file preceding it was the good one. And delete the rest.

Sometimes the extra time we take in production pays off with big time savings in post-production.

HTH,
Brian Brown
BrownCow Productions

[Nathan Quattrini]

Yea thats something I need to get into the habit of, but I need more crew first. I also tend to want to watch all the footage anyway since sometimes you can salvage pieces of takes especially for camera switches. Hard to tell whats a good take in the small LCD as well. I do need to at least start slating once I get the chance to find more people to work with other than myself and my brother when I get lucky and drag him into it. Guess I felt it was something more appropriate for when giving footage to an editor...but I`m editing it as well.

[Ervin Farkas]

Adobe Bridge is also a good tool for reviewing clips and deleting the bad ones. Is that not part of the suite for the Mac?