Vegas 8 and record time/date in DV (again)

[Edward Troxel]

If you right-click it, go to Properties, and then go to the “General” tab, the date/time the footage was recorded is shown in the “Capture” section. So… the information *IS* there.

Edward Troxel

[Matthew Reyes]

I have a very similar problem to Brian Wells’s, and I have been struggling to find the correct answer.

Indeed, following Edward Troxel’s instructions, from either the Explorer Tab or the Media Manager, when I examine the properties of the file, There are three apparent date codes:

Created:
Modified:
Accessed:

For Quicktime .MOV files generated by firewire capture using iMovie HD on a MacBook Pro, the CLIP INFO accurately reflects the camera’s DATE/TIME stamp recorded to tape (regardless of camera brand). When I view the properties of these same exact files on the PC, I can see that Mac stores the camera’s DATE/TIME stamp information in the MODIFIED field, while the CREATED field is the date the .MOV file was generated during the firewire capture process.

However, for those .M2T files captured by Sony Vegas’s Capture video tool, this information is NOT apparent. The CREATED and MODIFIED fields yield the same (approximate) information: the date the .M2T file was generated on the PC’s hard drive during the Firewire capture.

What I do not know is: is this a bug with the Sony Vegas video capture “m2tsplug.dll”, is this a design oversight, or am I doing something wrong?

[Edward Troxel]

Sounds like you did it from WINDOWS Explorer. Instead, right-click it in the Explorer window INSIDE VEGAS.

Edward Troxel

[Matthew Reyes]

I appreciate the quick response, but the problem I’m having is far more serious than understanding the UI. 🙁

On my systems, the times and dates provided from Windows Explorer and within Sony Vegas’s Properties>General tab are precisely the same. It is also the same information that is displayed by the Media Manager SQL database’s Properties pane.

Can you clarify that on your system, when you transfer video from tape, your .M2T files’ properties indicate the camera’s DATE/TIME Data Code from day the event was recorded to tape?

Also on your systems, are the Windows Explorer properties different from the Properties found within Vegas? (Aside from the extra metadata such as Streams, ACID Information, etc)

If you are capturing the correct DATE/TIME Data code, can you clarify your method of video capture? Do you use the native Vegas Video Capture tool?

Please provide details, thanks!

[Edward Troxel]

I have a file on my hard drive that I taped on January 13, 2007 at 4:48 pm. From Windows Explorer properties, the “Created” reads “Saturday December 29, 2007” and “Modified” reads “Saturday January 13 2007” which seems to bear out what you’re saying. That file was captured with Scenalyzer Live.

I have another file that was captured with the Vegas capture program recorded the same day that reads “Created” Saturday December 29, 2007 and “Modified” Thursday August 2, 2007.

From inside Vegas, the “General” section reads the same on both of those files as above. However, in the “Capture” section, I see this on the second file:

Capture
Tape Name: AG
Recorded: Saturday, January 13, 2007 5:05:14 PM

And this on the first file above:
Capture
Tape Name: sclive
Recorded: Saturday, January 13, 2007 4:48:26 PM

So in both cases I’m getting the actual date/time info from the tape in the “Capture” section of the properties from within Vegas.

Edward Troxel

[Matthew Reyes]

Ahh, this is helpful. You have cited things that I do not see…my gut is telling I’ve done something incorrectly.

To insure clarity, let me describe the “obvious” details:

I am using Sony Vegas Pro 8.0b in Windows XPSP2 on an VAIO laptop. All videos were recently recaptured from the original camera (Sony HDR-HC7) by firewire to the VAIO via the Vegas internal Capture Video tool (File>Capture Video…)

The transfers captured on the MacBook Pro that had the correct DATE/TIME annotation were done with the same camera, so I believe it’s not the camera.

From within Vegas’s view tabs “Explorer” or “Project Media”, I can Right-click on a file to give me the following Properties:

General
Name: TapeSix 122.m2t
Folder: F:\Video\Galapagos\16Dec08Interview
Type: MPEG-2 Transport Stream
Size: 1.47 GB (1,506,953,728 bytes)
Created: Monday, April 28, 2008, 7:40:12 PM
Modified: Monday, April 28, 2008, 7:47:58 PM
Accessed: Sunday, May 04, 2008, 12:00:00 AM
Attributes: Archive

Streams
Video: 00:07:41.161, 29.970 fps interlaced, 1440x1080x32, MPEG-2
Audio: 00:07:41.161, 48,000 Hz, Stereo, MPEG Layer 2

ACID information
ACID chunk: no
Stretch chunk: no
Stretch list: no
Stretch info2: no
Beat markers: no
Detected beats: no

Other metadata
Regions/markers: no
Command markers: no

Media manager
Media tags: no

Plug-In
Name: m2tsplug.dll
Folder: C:\Program Files\Sony\Vegas Pro 8.0\FileIO Plug-Ins\m2tsplug
Format: Sony M2TS
Version: Version 1.0 (Build 908)
Company: Sony Creative Software Inc.

From the “Media Manager” view tab, although the display is different in the Properties Pane, the pertinent data is identical. I cannot copy these fields altogether or attach a screen grab to this post…but take my word for it.

In your response, you cite a “Capture” section with “Tape Name” and “Recorded” fields. Tell me, where did you see this section with those fields? I do not see even a blank field in the “Media Manager” section, even though there are other blank fields such as “Camera Make”, “Camera Model” etc.

Also, when using Vegas, did you use the internal Capture Video tool (File>Capture Video…)?

In the process of troubleshooting, I’ve also discovered that there is an External Video Capture tool that comes with Vegas. From Options>Preferences…>Video tab there is a check box that allows for the capture to be managed from an external application, for which the greyed out default is:

C:\Program Files\Sony\Vegas Pro 8.0\VidCap60.EXE

I confess I have not tried this program, and will do so ASAP to see if the results are different. In the meantime, some additional data from you will be helpful!

Lastly, I am very appreciative of your time and attention. THANK YOU for helping solve this very frustrating problem. Hopefully the original poster is finding this useful.

[Matthew Reyes]

Previously I noticed this:

In the process of troubleshooting, I’ve also discovered that there is an External Video Capture tool that comes with Vegas. From Options>Preferences…>Video tab there is a check box that allows for the capture to be managed from an external application, for which the greyed out default is:

C:Program FilesSonyVegas Pro 8.0VidCap60.EXE

Apparently this utility does not capture HDV, but DV.

[Edward Troxel]

Correct. External is for DV. Internal is for HDV. My test clips were DV.

Edward Troxel

[Matthew Reyes]

Ahh, but does Vegas save DV video files as M2T?

I know the title of the thread suggested DV, but it seems the topic of the discussion surrounded M2T files, which in my experience implied HDV files.

Perhaps this is an issue HDV .M2T format? Is there not there not the metaspace to store the DATE/TIME data code as there in the Quicktime .MOV?

[Edward Troxel]

[Matthew Reyes] “Ahh, but does Vegas save DV video files as M2T?”

No. DV is saved as an AVI file type. HDV is saved as m2t.

Edward Troxel