Project file backup once complete ?
 

Another newbie question here...Last year I used Vegas to make a
55 minute (feature) motorcycle DVD..I still have all of the vid files and project sitting on my hard drive..Which I would like to cleanup. Is there a way to backup the project and all associated vid files to tape via the print to tape option ??

Cheers

SC

If you keep the original source tapes, the VEG file, and the Vidcap file, you should be able to recapture and reedit at any time.

If you do a File - Save As, point it to a new folder, and check the "Copy and trim media with project" box, you will get a new folder with only the contents used in your project. This would be much smaller than the original source and easier to back up.

A removable hard drive would be another viable option.

when I'm working on current projects, I have a 80GB external drive to keep copies of edits and raw DV files as I work through them.

Once I'm finished a project, I usually keep the tapes, and burn the PC material to high quality DVD-/+R discs (Taijo Yudens). If it's uber important, I'll burn it twice! ;) Whats 30cents for double redundancy I say? So a full tape takes up 4 DVD discs, I'll burn the VEG and other small project files to each disc. I'd rather recapture the tape, than lose the hours and horus of work put into the VEG file, so having many copies helps me sleep at night ;) Call me paranoid!

Take a large 500 MB AVI file I used as a source, but only used a few seconds of it in the project (via the trimmer)... This would cut that 500 MB file down to what I trimmed to say, 60 MB?

Take a large 500 MB AVI file I used as a source, but only used a few seconds of it in the project (via the trimmer)... This would cut that 500 MB file down to what I trimmed to say, 60 MB?

If all you used was 60MB worth then yes. Now, not ALL formats will be trimmed but DV-AVI will. One thing to note: DV-AVI video will be placed in a new AVI file but the corresponding audio will be placed in a W64 file! So you'll end up with TWO files instead of ONE.

Okay so you are saying I should be able to save my veg file (new folder), check the copy and trim media option and this will save not only the project but every vid clip / mp3 / text media that was used in the time line ? That way I could back it up accordingly ??
If so would it be reasonable to assume that b/c my finished project fit onto 1 4.7 gig DVD then I should then be able to backup it up using only 1 DVD ?
That would be great...

Cheers

SC

Umm.... no. It's most likely that the "source" will still be much larger than would fit on 1 DVD. Remember, to get your final project onto DVD you're compressing it into MPEG2 format.

Right....duh....Oh well so much for hoping...

I would listen to Edward’s recommendation for the future. They key thing he said was to keep the vidcap file! Most of us don’t even bother saving it once the video is captured but if you save that file, you can put the original tape back into your camera or deck and recapture the tape to be used with the rest of the project elements. So all you need to do is save any extra media you used in your project but not the source AVI files.

If you plan to do this, don’t use the Capture Tape option of VidCap, use the Capture Video option. This will note exactly what timecode on the tape you started capture from and will start at that same timecode if you need to recapture. If you use Capture Tape, it just rewinds the tape and starts capturing but this won’t be frame accurate if you need to recapture again. So always use Capture Video if you plan to save the vidcap file.

I blacken the first 20 seconds of all of my tapes so I have plenty of pre-roll to get a good position to start capturing from. HTH

~jr

The other option, and the one I usually use, is Advanced Capture. Then you can manually log the in/out points on the tape. Once again, timecode information is saved when using this method.