Get Video Off GL2 and onto computer
 

Hey folks, what an awesome sight for the newbie. I just got my GL2 and I am loving it. Got an Azden mic and a Firestore and a tripod and a lav system, this is way cool.

The problem I can't seem to figure out, I feel like an idiot, is getting the footage off the dv tape and onto the computer with the firewire port. I have windows ME and it brings up a generic dv camcorder when i plug it in, but I don't see any way to move the tape contents onto the hard drive. All i see is stuff relating to the capture card for stills.

Where have I gone wrong here. I am also using premiere 5.1 and want to edit in that. Is this going to be possible.

I just want it to work

Thanks
Trent

You should be able to capture it all through Premiere in the File > Capture > (Batch Capture/Movie Capture) menu. The Premiere help file has a pretty good description of how to take it from there, as should the manual.

This of course assumes that you have a firewire port into which to plug the camera.

NLE Computer Editing - BIG POST!
 

Hi there. As I've indicated you have asked quite a simple question to what will become a massive answer from others.

I'll kick-off. . . .

For starters, IMHO WinME aint the best OS for Non-Linear Editing[NLE]. DV editing deals with very, VERY, large files. At the core of WinME is a file restriction limit of 4gig - go figure! From Win Pro2000 onwards there is no limit to file size - this is because these later versions of Windows use NTFS file size allocation. Reports of WinXP home and pro give a major thumbs up by others who use NLE on their pc. Guess what I use . . . WinME - DOAH! I wish I had opted for Win2000Pro when I ordered my Dell Inspiron.

WinME will bring up the "generic dv camcorder ", this is the cammy driver for WinME. This aint front page news - it happens to me on WinME and I bet it is the same for others. I haven't heard anybody getting "Hello, Trent, here is your new Canon GL2 - and thanks for using WinME - Bill Gates" it just wont do it. Don't worry.

I don't use Premiere - I've gone down the Sonic Foundry route. VideoFactory>Vegas Video and now the latest release Vegas4 - all excellent NLEs. So, I can't comment on the functional Plug 'n Play for Prem - yeah? It should be there and within Prem it should see your Canon and have a "Capture" or "Import" option for you to place in a time line - yeah?

"All i see is stuff relating to the capture card for stills." It would appear you may have your GL2 TAPE/CARD switched to CARD - flip it over to TAPE. It is around this that I/we need some more feedback from you.

Bottom line here is - I guess most certainly - you WILL be able to capture into Prem. Others here will talk you through what you need to do.

If I had my time again, and it had been available, I'd have gone with XP or Win2000.

Fred - Thanks for digging me out!
 

You said it far more clearly than I! While I was gathering my thoughts you got in. Thanks!

We really do need to here how - Trent - you are attempting to "pipe" your dv footage into your pc? Do you use the firewire connection? Do you have a firewire input on your pc?

Again - thanks Fred. I really should read my own signature from time to time

Trent,
You say you have a Firestore? So are you trying to record directly to the Firestore's disk, bypassing tape? (Which is what the device is designed for.)

p.s. I've moved this to the PC editing forum, since it's a more appropriate venue for this thread.

Windows 2000 / XP should auto-detect your camera. In Win 98, I had to actually install the proper driver to enable video capture. You do of course need some kind of capture program, and like was said here most good NLEs have one built in. Win XP has a simple little "Movie Maker" program included that will capture video, but it's not very good.

Okay, you guys are awesome and we are headed down the right track. What I did was put in the driver into the computer that came with the GL2. However, I think this driver was just for the stills on the card. I didn't see any special driver for transfering or capturing the movie from tape. Instead, the Gl seems to count on Windows ME or Premiere to find it. right?

Next, plug in camera to firewire and computer, turn on camera, camera shows up in my computer as generic dv. Good so far? So I guess what I was really wondering is, is there now a way to see the tape in the camera as another "hard drive", you know, to like drag and drop the footage off the camera onto my internal HDD? I have switched on the "tape" function even.

Now, I have also been exeperimenting with the Firestore. this is an awesome thing. Captured a few different formats. However, Premiere 5.1 says it can use DV and edit it. Does anyone know what settings to use on a new Premiere 5.1 project to make it work in DV without flickering on every frame. I import the raw dv files off the firewire hdd onto my internal hdd. I then import the files into a new project. But it won't play back smoothly no matter if i choose "upper field first", "lower first" or no fields. Or, should I just upgrade to a 6.5 or Vegas or something?

Thank you.
Trent

The GL2 transfers stills (from the memory card) via USB. You need to connect a firewire for actual video transfer and capture. Most older computers don't have firewire (IEEE1394) on board- you can buy a PCI firewire card for around $40.

Thanks George

Just had some great luck capturing video through the firewire card with Pinnacle Express. Big sigh of relief here. Now, these files also show up in Premiere and I can work with them there. If I could only get them to play out to my vcr it would be groovy. Thank you for your help
Trent

Did you get a manual?
 

I'm a PAL user so XM2 here I don't where in the GL2 manual it is, but there is an extensive discussion regarding getting footage from cammy to VCR - it is very very simple. In PAL-LAnd we use the multiple min-jack PLUS phonos PLUS a SCART plug adaptor [ don't ask - it's a European thing! ]

So Trent - you are almost there. Sticking your footage to a vcr is an absolute cinche - really! If you haven't a GL2 manual, you could do worse than downloading it from the Canon Site.

Can I transfer video to PC on USB 2.0?
 

I'm having the same problem as Trent, except I do not have firewire - need to transfer on USB 2.0. Should this work? I haven't been able to get the Sony Picture Package to transfer any video so far ... v frustrating!

You likely can get transfer to work, but you probably don't want to... USB transfer for full sized, full frame video (ie, off a dv cam corder) will result in dropped frames and poor performance.

If you don't have Firewire (IEEE1384) on your PC, either buy a PCI card (for a desktop) or a PCMICA card (for a laptop) that supports Firewire. They are inexpensive and worth every penny compared to USB.

Of course, I'm assuming your camera has a Firewire port. If not, let us know exactly what camera / PC / software and USB type (1.1 or 2.0) you're using.

To add about the 4GB limit and OS-es.
Graham and Trent on eBay the Win XP Home OEM version cost as little as 80-90 bucks.
Much less than any video gadjet you are buying or going to buy in near future.

And Trent I wonder why you have to use Pinnacle to capture? Couldn't you do it in Premiere?