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Capturing Footage to External Hard Drive, Part 2
Thanks to Enzo, Todd, and David for helpful responses to my first post.
I’m here with all the footage, and yesterday, I captured 6 hours of footage by going with my initial system of uploading all 6 60-minute tapes in 20-minute clips.
The only trouble I ran into at this point is when I tried to do a very basic edit using two subclips just cut from one to the other (with no transitions, effects, or anything), I notice that FCP made me render it before I could actually view it. When I had tried out FCP earlier and had uploaded individual clips from the MiniDVs instead of in these large chunks, it didn’t require me to render it to be able to watch the edited scene. Is it because I’m editing using subclips that it has to be rendered before I can actually view it? Or is there something I can do so I don’t have to render it just to be able to preview it even? If every little scene has to be rendered before I can even view it, then how can I make cuts match up exactly as I want them without it taking forever?
Also, I want to again say thanks for the advice. I would prefer to do it the way you’ve all mentioned. But here’s the predicament: 1) we really don’t have any additional budget to purchase anything else and 2) I don’t have the luxury of letting this project sit on the shelf until I do come up with additional funds.
Continuing on, I’ll tell you what we do have equipment wise to see if any of you has any suggestions.
1) DVX-100a
2) PowerBook G4
3) LaCie 500gb Extreme triple port hard drive
4) Canon ZR80 DV camcorderI wish we could buy a deck, but we just can’t afford it. And already from viewing some of the MiniDV tapes through the DVX-100a, I’ve noticed a few glitches (“drop-outs” I believe you call them) here and there in the tapes. So my goal is to run the MiniDV tapes through the DVX-100a as minimally as possible, and that’s what prompted this approach of capturing 20-minute clips and then doing the actual logging in FCP. I have every intention of logging, but I am hoping there’s a good way of just doing that AFTER all the footage has been captured so we can run the tapes as little as possible. And I’ve heard talk from other people that capturing using a different camera is fine, but since we shot on 24p advanced, I’m concerned that problems would arise with time code, audio, etc. if I use the ZR80 to capture with. Plus, still, I’d be running the MiniDV tapes more through the camera than I want anyways, even if I could use the ZR80 and cut down on the wear and tear of the DVX-100a.
So there’s my predicament. Like I said, I’m 6 hours into the initial approach, but if someone’s been down this path before (no access to a deck and wanting to minimize any glitches that running the footage through a camera might cause), then I’d really appreciate your insights.
Thanks,
Jay -
4 Replies
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Jay,
If you have the render bar then your sequences and captured footage are mismatched.
What did you set the capture preset to?
Should be DV NTSC FIREWIRE>with advanced pulldown removal checked.
Your second post already ignores good advice from people who have done tis many times over. It feels like you are in a bit deep and the problems are a big larger than we can explain in responses to these posts.
I know that this is the basics forum, but you are getting into a large project with huge media management issues. DV is a very robust tape format and I wouldn’t worry too much about the scrolling. If your footage is that valuable then rent a deck for a few days and capture it that way.
I appreciate your predicament and I am sure that all of us will halp you as much as we can, but please try to isolate your problems into a few simple questions that you want answered. This might be the best way we can all help you out.
David
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Hey guys,
I’m not sure why everyone assumed I’d be capturing unnamed clips! Yeesh – what a nightmare that would be!!
I usually at least log by Tape Name, but usually feed in the tapes in a couple of shorter clips, much like is being described. A for skipping a subclip, EVERYTHING should be subclipped, not just stuff you like, and your camera master clips safely tucked away in a folder somewhere. Usually on a big project you’d probably have an assistant editor prepare this (budget allowing). A good one won’t miss anything.
I will qualify that by saying, though, that I usually work on short form projects, so I don’t really have to deal with dozens of tapes. A Word to the wise would echo David’s sentiment – as much as possible take the advice of people who have been through it all before.
If you are really concerned about your tapes, and you are seeing dropouts, it might be worth taking them to a dubbing house and getting some working copies made from your originals? I know you said budget is an issue, but budget or no budget, you’ve got no documentary without your footage!
And just to clarify David’s comment about sequence settings: you need to make sure that the sequence you are cutting into has the same video format settings (codec etc) that your clips do. Your evil red render bar will magically disappear.
Even if you used different capture settings to David’s, you’ll still be able to play in realtime from a sequence if your settings match. -
Hey Enzo,
The post I made wasn’t a slight on you. I know you know. But it didn’t look like he knew. You know?🙂
Todd at UCSB
Television Production -
I know.
e.
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