Capturing HDV to hard disk
 

hello,
i'm new to this forum, and i hope that i am posting this message in the right place.

i would like to shoot a 5-8 hour continuous shot in HDV. the idea is to then convert to H264 and play back in real time for a gallery exhibition.

can you shoot continous footage to disk for that long? i have done this same project in DV, and it worked fine. but in HDV?

the live capture part is possible - i tried that out with the sony Z1U and an 2ghz imac G5, but as others have noticed, the capture is at 1/2 or less real time, because the computer is converting to the AIC(Apple Intermediate Codec). i am guessing that at a certain point the buffer room would run out and the computer would crash - can anyone confirm?

Other questions:

1. i have read that on dual 2.5ghz G5's the "ingest time" is in real time. can others confirm this? what about on dual 2.3's? (where i live, you cannot buy 2.5's anymore - just 2.3's or 2.7's)

2. is there any file size formula for AIC? with dv i could count on my files being around 13 gig's for an hour of footage - what about AIC.

3. because i don't need to edit my footage, just record and playback - is there any way to record just the HDV without decompressing to AIC? could this be played back somehow through via firewire to an HDV deck?

4. with dv one can "play through to camera". is this possible with hdv?

Thanks so much,
k schmidt

Have a look at VLC.

It may just be what you're after.

Just did a test of VLC's 'stream to file' mode.

Success!! Well, at least in terms of capturing to disk... direct from my FX-1e via firewire. This should mean that record time is only limited by the size of the drive.

Unfortunately I couldn't see a way to monitor the recording on anything other than the camera's LCD. If recording to tape, VLC can be used to monitor the image... I guess it's a small price to pay for the ability to capture directly to disk.

Experimentation with the stream capture options will be essential, but at least firewire capture to Hard Disk of what the FX1/Z1 is pointed at is very 'do-able' via VLC.

Looks like VLC could disappear if the EU allows software patent legislation to go ahead... BUMMER!!

Better hope they realize what they're doing before it's too late!!!

BTW Kevin, it appears VLC for OS-X doesn't have capture device support just yet... only on the PC/Linux version.

They have. The patent legislation did not make it at the Parlement !

Thank goodness!!

Although I hope it wasn't just a case of apathy that led to the legislation not getting up. Such legislation is just another by-product of those who see the opportunity with the current World situation to capitalize on manufactured paranoia.

You might look at DVRack with the HDV option with a large external hard drive. I know this is a PC solution for a Mac guy but it looks like it would solve your problem.

Ron Evans

Not at all. It has been rejected at a strong majority. This makes it very difficult for this kind of law to be presented for many years in the EU.

Steve,

I also try vlc tonight but could not find what you said about "stream to file". Could you tell the steps how you use vlc player to capture footage directly from Z1 or FX1?