13 hours of DV footage and 50 gigs of HD space. at DVinfo.net

Gerald Lee · July 19th, 2003, 10:26 AM

I just came back from Junction, TX and shot about 13 hours of DV. I'm planning on turning this into a feature length documentary, but I'm limited by my hard drive space. What would be the most optimal way to go about doing this? This wouldn't be a problem if I had a billion gigs of hard drive space.

Peter Jefferson · July 19th, 2003, 10:37 AM

capture what you need to keep...

then, with what you DO capture, convert to MPG2 at a high bitrate...

apart from that, get another HDD.
120gb will get you 8hours and 45mins of raw DV

Peter Moore · July 19th, 2003, 03:33 PM

I had a similar problem so I gave up and bought a 250 GB external firewire HD for about $400. That's the only solution I'd recommend. Peter's idea is probably the only other possibility, but editing MPEG2 is a pain in the ass.

Maybe you can try to cut as you capture. I.E. after you capture a tape, go through it in an NLE and cut out what you know you don't want and then re-save it as one DV AVI. That should cut it down somewhat.

Gerald Lee · July 20th, 2003, 03:11 AM

Thanks. I'm probably going to try Peter's idea. I would love to have a 250 gb external but it's out of my range right now.

John Locke · July 20th, 2003, 04:22 AM

Gerald,

I'm from Texas...and I can't keep shaking my head and grinning when I see this post. 13 HOURS of footage on Junction, Texas?!?! If you're on the highway and at the "Welcome to Junction" sign, you can't even get your camera out of power save mode before you're already heading out of town.

I'm really interested in hearing what you're doing. Once you get the technical question answered, would you mind telling us more?

Mike Rehmus · July 20th, 2003, 11:20 AM

It should only take you 40 hours or so to log your footage and build a capture list. Then you can capture the footage and get right down to serous editing.

Capturing all 13 hours and then sorting. Ouch. I can log in my easy chair which is much more comfortable than my editing suite.

Gerald Lee · July 20th, 2003, 02:12 PM

Well, Texas Tech University has this campus in Junction where Architecture to Agriculture is taught. I went there to learn classical guitar with my cool world renowned professor Dr. Bogle. We went tubing, kayaking, fishing, and more. I actually brought my dv cam on the kayak and got some cool shots. I do dumb things like that every now and then, but some cool shots resulted. I think there is enough great footage to make a comedic eye candy documentary. I'm getting my wisdom teeth taken out tomorrow, bummer :(.

Gerald Lee · July 20th, 2003, 03:32 PM

I had an idea, tell me if you think it's good or not. I can capture all my footage on some super low bitrate craptastic low res format and edit like that. Once I have my final product blueprint, I will go back and replicate it with the raw full quality dv footage.

Downsizing the footage would take a super long time and be a major pain however.

Sheesh, this is harder than I thought it was going to be.

Mike Rehmus · July 20th, 2003, 04:16 PM

That's why we make the big bucks.

TANSTAAFL - There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.

Low quality edit with a follow-up high-quality edit is the premise on which a lot of computer-based editing was accomplished before DV and even now. Sometimes they call it off-line and on-lineing. But you need frame-accurate capture to pull that off. And a good EDL. Both of those are missing in today's low-end DV system.

The most efficient way is to log the shots and then load only what you want. That's how the big boys do it.

Gerald Lee · July 20th, 2003, 04:34 PM

I bet you need a pretty good computer to edit HD.

Mike Rehmus · July 20th, 2003, 08:45 PM

ANd an even better and very large SCSI RAID system

Don Donatello · July 22nd, 2003, 04:15 PM

keep your eye on sales .. i've been seeing the WD 250gig internal HD for $179 after rebates - usually in sunday paper pull out ads - compUSA , best buys, frys seems each week somebody is offering it ..

Jeff Donald · July 23rd, 2003, 11:00 AM

Office Depot and CompUSA both had drives on sale last week. I picked up IDE133 160gb drive for $99 (after rebate). You could install it internal or pick up a FireWire enclosure for $50 and go external.

If you can't afford and equipment, follow Mike's advice and just transfer what you need.

Peter Moore · July 23rd, 2003, 02:36 PM

Yeah big HDs are the way to go. In a few years we'll have terrabytes for $200. :) If only processor speed would increase so quickly.

Gerald Lee · July 25th, 2003, 08:43 PM

Yeah. I think it's time for a new hard drive. Editing with limited space is a PAIN! Wow, this is super frustrating.

July 19th, 2003, 10:26 AM	#1
Gerald Lee Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Arlington, TX Posts: 64	13 hours of DV footage and 50 gigs of HD space. I just came back from Junction, TX and shot about 13 hours of DV. I'm planning on turning this into a feature length documentary, but I'm limited by my hard drive space. What would be the most optimal way to go about doing this? This wouldn't be a problem if I had a billion gigs of hard drive space.

July 20th, 2003, 04:22 AM	#5
John Locke Retired DV Info Net Almunus Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Austin, TX USA Posts: 2,882	Gerald, I'm from Texas...and I can't keep shaking my head and grinning when I see this post. 13 HOURS of footage on Junction, Texas?!?! If you're on the highway and at the "Welcome to Junction" sign, you can't even get your camera out of power save mode before you're already heading out of town. I'm really interested in hearing what you're doing. Once you get the technical question answered, would you mind telling us more? __________________ John Locke SursumFilms.com

July 20th, 2003, 11:20 AM	#6
Mike Rehmus Wrangler Join Date: May 2002 Location: Vallejo, California Posts: 4,049	It should only take you 40 hours or so to log your footage and build a capture list. Then you can capture the footage and get right down to serous editing. Capturing all 13 hours and then sorting. Ouch. I can log in my easy chair which is much more comfortable than my editing suite. __________________ Mike Rehmus Hey, I can see the carrot at the end of the tunnel!

July 20th, 2003, 04:16 PM	#9
Mike Rehmus Wrangler Join Date: May 2002 Location: Vallejo, California Posts: 4,049	That's why we make the big bucks. TANSTAAFL - There ain't no such thing as a free lunch. Low quality edit with a follow-up high-quality edit is the premise on which a lot of computer-based editing was accomplished before DV and even now. Sometimes they call it off-line and on-lineing. But you need frame-accurate capture to pull that off. And a good EDL. Both of those are missing in today's low-end DV system. The most efficient way is to log the shots and then load only what you want. That's how the big boys do it. __________________ Mike Rehmus Hey, I can see the carrot at the end of the tunnel!

July 20th, 2003, 08:45 PM	#11
Mike Rehmus Wrangler Join Date: May 2002 Location: Vallejo, California Posts: 4,049	ANd an even better and very large SCSI RAID system __________________ Mike Rehmus Hey, I can see the carrot at the end of the tunnel!

July 19th, 2003, 10:37 AM	#2
Peter Jefferson Inner Circle Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Aus Posts: 3,884	capture what you need to keep... then, with what you DO capture, convert to MPG2 at a high bitrate... apart from that, get another HDD. 120gb will get you 8hours and 45mins of raw DV

July 19th, 2003, 03:33 PM	#3
Peter Moore Trustee Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Arlington VA Posts: 1,034	I had a similar problem so I gave up and bought a 250 GB external firewire HD for about $400. That's the only solution I'd recommend. Peter's idea is probably the only other possibility, but editing MPEG2 is a pain in the ass. Maybe you can try to cut as you capture. I.E. after you capture a tape, go through it in an NLE and cut out what you know you don't want and then re-save it as one DV AVI. That should cut it down somewhat.

July 20th, 2003, 03:11 AM	#4
Gerald Lee Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Arlington, TX Posts: 64	Thanks. I'm probably going to try Peter's idea. I would love to have a 250 gb external but it's out of my range right now.

July 20th, 2003, 02:12 PM	#7
Gerald Lee Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Arlington, TX Posts: 64	Well, Texas Tech University has this campus in Junction where Architecture to Agriculture is taught. I went there to learn classical guitar with my cool world renowned professor Dr. Bogle. We went tubing, kayaking, fishing, and more. I actually brought my dv cam on the kayak and got some cool shots. I do dumb things like that every now and then, but some cool shots resulted. I think there is enough great footage to make a comedic eye candy documentary. I'm getting my wisdom teeth taken out tomorrow, bummer :(.

July 20th, 2003, 03:32 PM	#8
Gerald Lee Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Arlington, TX Posts: 64	I had an idea, tell me if you think it's good or not. I can capture all my footage on some super low bitrate craptastic low res format and edit like that. Once I have my final product blueprint, I will go back and replicate it with the raw full quality dv footage. Downsizing the footage would take a super long time and be a major pain however. Sheesh, this is harder than I thought it was going to be.

July 20th, 2003, 04:34 PM	#10
Gerald Lee Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Arlington, TX Posts: 64	I bet you need a pretty good computer to edit HD.

July 22nd, 2003, 04:15 PM	#12
Don Donatello Hawaiian Shirt Mogul Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: northern cailfornia Posts: 1,261	keep your eye on sales .. i've been seeing the WD 250gig internal HD for $179 after rebates - usually in sunday paper pull out ads - compUSA , best buys, frys seems each week somebody is offering it ..

July 23rd, 2003, 11:00 AM	#13
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	Office Depot and CompUSA both had drives on sale last week. I picked up IDE133 160gb drive for $99 (after rebate). You could install it internal or pick up a FireWire enclosure for $50 and go external. If you can't afford and equipment, follow Mike's advice and just transfer what you need. __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

July 23rd, 2003, 02:36 PM	#14
Peter Moore Trustee Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Arlington VA Posts: 1,034	Yeah big HDs are the way to go. In a few years we'll have terrabytes for $200. :) If only processor speed would increase so quickly.

July 25th, 2003, 08:43 PM	#15
Gerald Lee Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Arlington, TX Posts: 64	Yeah. I think it's time for a new hard drive. Editing with limited space is a PAIN! Wow, this is super frustrating.