analog vtr into FCP projects

[Enzo Tedeschi]

It depends on what it is you are trying to achieve – please be clearer in your question.

Is it easier to use a DVD recorder than to encode a DVD with your Mac? Certainly quicker, but you won’t have as much flexibility in the authoring (menus, etc).

Enzo Tedeschi
____________________________
Editor
http://www.outpostpps.com
Sydney, Australia

Check out our latest music video – http://www.outpostpps.com/thebleed/

Look out for the Outpost Video Podcast coming soon

[Bouncing Account needs new email address]

Do not burn anything to a DVD to edit in FCP.
DVD compression (which is very severe in the first place) can’t be directly edited, so you’d need to convert the DVD files into another editable form (say, DV) for FCP to use it.

Best bet is to record your VHS to a DV tape first, then capture the tape.

That way you’ll have a ditital “master” of the VHS, and that tape will have timecode… which can come in very handy in editing anything, over the long-term.

[Tom Meegan]

If you intend to edit the footage currently on VHS, follow the advice above. Dub the VHS to DV tape, then capture the DV tape via firewire into FCP.

If you are just trying to do a dub, it is quick to use a DVD recorder. This footage will not really be appropriate for future edits, as has already been noted.

If this DVD is going to clients, be aware that compatibility and playback reliability is a crapshoot with discs created with consumer disc recorders. If it is going to a client, dub to DV, capture the footage into FCP and use Compressor/DVD Studio Pro to create the DVD.

Your mom will forgive you if you give her a disc that doesn’t work. A paying client might not.

I learned this one the hard way when sending approval copies of an edit to a client. Prompt apology and sending a disc that did work saved the relationship.

Tom

[Bouncing Account needs new email address]

[Tom Meegan] “A paying client might not.

I learned this one the hard way when sending approval copies of an edit to a client. Prompt apology and sending a disc that did work saved the relationship.
“

ANY “burned” DVD may or may not play on a “who knows what kind of player” that a client has.

I always tell a client up front that since all DVD Players are different in their abilities to play certain discs, that the approval copy I’m sending may not play on her DVD player.
I tell them to try playing it in another player or on a computer.

I’ve had Mac-burned DVDs not play on any given unit, but a DVD-R burned on a cheap set-top recorder worked great.

Its still hit-or-miss so I just let ’em know up-front.

If its really important in a time-crunch, I send a dupe on VHS at the same time.

[Enzo Tedeschi]

What Matte says is very very true. DVD Studio Pro I have found to be a fairly reliable method, but even so, I have had discs go out to clients after having been tested on 4 different machines in the office – and they still can’t get them to play.

Enzo Tedeschi
____________________________
Editor
http://www.outpostpps.com
Sydney, Australia

Check out our latest music video – http://www.outpostpps.com/thebleed/

Look out for the Outpost Video Podcast coming soon

[Tom Meegan]

I know this is getting OT, but…

My hearty agreement with the necessity of warning clients about disc playback issues. One of the things that made the above mentioned client feel better, was the inclusion of a VHS tape, just in case, on the second try.

I think it was equally important that I did not act as if I was the victim, as if it was my client’s fault for not being able to play the disc I had supplied.

My sentence was, “Regardless of cause, it is my responsibility to deliver something you can view.”

Because I took responsibility for the problem, the client felt better about me than he would have had I never made the mistake.

Tom

[Mvzproductions]

Thank you so much for all your advice. I am a very new business. I want to offer a service of VHS to DVD, and I want to record the vhs onto my DV and then put it into FCP.(Thanks for that advice.)Would you use a commercial VTR w/ firewire, or would you suggest something else? I really appreciate all your advice. Thanks so much.

KMVZ

[Bouncing Account needs new email address]

VHS decks are analog and do not have FireWire outputs.

Combo VHS/DV decks have FW outputs but I don’t know if the VHS playback will output via the FW… and those decks are notoriously unreliable anyway.

Just use a standard VHS deck and connect via standard analog patch cords.