1st Time capture help, Many Options???

[Danny Winn]

So I just shot some test footage for the first time with my new XH A1s but when i went to Capture using my CS4 on PC there were soooo many options for HD capture settings and when I picked one to try I could not see the footage as it was being captured, it said something like "playing to hardware" I gotta be able to view it as it's capturing of course.

Can you all tell me what the best capture setting in CS4 is and how to view it as I capture?

The default HD capture went to "DVCPROHD 1080 24p" But I shot it at 30p. I also tried the "HDV 1080 30p" but both looked a little jumpy like a high shutter speed look.

Help would be appreciated;)

[Bo Sundvall]

Hi

I use a freeware, HDV Split, for capturing all the time. It has greate features compared to capture in Premiere:

- With HDV Split you don't have to bother about all framerate options, it captures whats on the tape as long as it's HDV material.

- It have (optional) scene detection which stores each clip as a separate file. These files can have either numbers or the date they where recorded integrated in the file name.

- It can scene detect already captured files if you have used for example Premiere to capture as Premiere doesn't have scene detection for HDV capture.

-It also have preview where you can select different sizes of the preview window.

What it doesn't have is some kind of limiter where you can select when the capture will stop. Either it captures the whole tape or you have to manually stop the capture. If you leave the capture unattended, it will stop when it detects that there isn't anymore recorded on tape or the tape is run to the end.

HDV Split saves files as .m2t files which can be imported into Premiere. Make sure you create a project/sequence whith the correct settings. If you are in PAL country, "HDV 1080 50i" and "HDV 1080 25p" (for Canons 25f mode) are your options depending on your recording mode.

You will find HDV Split if you Google for it.

Good luck!

Regards,

/Bo

[Tripp Woelfel]

Originally Posted by Danny Winn

...when I picked one to try I could not see the footage as it was being captured, it said something like "playing to hardware" I gotta be able to view it as it's capturing of course.

Then I'm pretty sure you'll need another tool. I have CS3 and you cannot view HDV on screen whilst capturing. I believe CS4 works the same way.

The settings, though varied, are not that complex. For capturing HD video from the XH A1, select HDV and the frame rate of the source footage. That will get you what you need.

Premier Pro will tell you if you dropped frames on capture so if you get through the process without any notifications your footage should be good. The "jumpiness" that you see would likely be computer performance issues and not damaged footage.

+1 for HDVSplit. I use it all the time, plus a tech at Adobe told me they use it as well.

[Danny Winn]

With HDV Split, are you saying that you can't capture at will (Press record, pause, name file, continue) like SD in Premiere pro Bo? I'd like to be abel to just capture at will. If an actor does 10 takes, I don't want to capture all 10, I only want to capture the best 1 or 2. If I have to capture the whole tape then I might as well just us PP.

It's soo stupid that Adobe would set this up like this, who wants tho moniter from the viewfinder during capture? For the amount of money spent for CS4 it's just idiotic that a free program online would be so supierior.

Does Final Cut works this way too? I bet not.

Thanks guys, I will download HDVSplit today and give it a go.

[Tripp Woelfel]

Originally Posted by Danny Winn

With HDV Split, are you saying that you can't capture at will (Press record, pause, name file, continue) like SD in Premiere pro?

To my knowledge, you cannot. If I want to create a batch list, I'll use PP. If I want to capture a whole tape, I'm all over HDVSplit.

You're a bit late to the party as people have been bellyaching about the lack of HD capture monitoring in PP since at least the introduction of CS3. I've stopped caring about actually seeing the stream. I just monitor from the camera on an HD monitor. It's 150% the size of my computer monitors so I can see the video better anyway.

[Danny Winn]

Originally Posted by Tripp Woelfel

To my knowledge, you cannot. If I want to create a batch list, I'll use PP. If I want to capture a whole tape, I'm all over HDVSplit.

You're a bit late to the party as people have been bellyaching about the lack of HD capture monitoring in PP since at least the introduction of CS3. I've stopped caring about actually seeing the stream. I just monitor from the camera on an HD monitor. It's 150% the size of my computer monitors so I can see the video better anyway.

Haha, thanks Tripp, yeah I think I'll be bellyaching a few more days before I get over it. I just don't get the logic by Adobe... What a pain in the arse!