How to stop old clips from downloading?
 

Hi all, Is there a way that I can stop downloading clips to my computer at a predetermend position on the tape? The reason I ask is, when I use a tape that has been used before I only want to download the new clips and then I would like the downloading to stop. Any ideas!!.............................Pete.

OK, you could run your camera from the mains and have the three pin plug pushed into an on/off mains timer - I used one for my Christmas lights. That would stop the tape, but your capture program might carry on recording blue screen. My Storm Video capture doesn't though - when the signal ceases the capture ceases too.

What capture program are you using Peter?

tom.

1 Don't reuse tapes! (Sorry about that - but someone's bound to say it!)

2 At the end of your shooting, run off 30 seconds or a minute with the colour bars or with the lens cap on and audio turned down/off. Then at least you can find the end of your new footage more quickly, and if you are vaguely paying attention to the importing you'll notice it.

If you are using a professional NLE you can set in and out markers (as many as you want) and then ingest in one go. Hope this helps.

How to stop old clips from downloading.
 

Thanks all, I forgot to ask so that I am not using the same section of tape all the time, is there anyway that I can stop the XL2 from rewinding to the beginning of the tape when I hook it up to the computer? The software that I am using is Cyberlink Power Director.

It doesn't matter that you use the same bit of tape all the time. Tape is designed expressly to be reused - if it wasn't we'd never get to replay our recordings out into the computer or tv screen.

Ah but isn't that exactly the point? In this case it does matter because after the bit he wants has been imported, old footage he doesn't want is being added.

I wasn't really pontificating about never reusing tapes so much as pointing out that it wouldn't happen on a new tape 'cos there isn't any old footage on it! Sorry for not being clear, and please join me in a toast to the longevity of footage recorded on tape and the reliability of the medium in general. I've just bought another tape based camera after all.

I keep all my footage archived on the original tapes, bore that I am, and I fully expect to be able to reuse tapes until the cows come home if I wanted to.

How to stop old clips from downloading.
 

The reason I would like to be able to stop the tape at a certain place IE before it rewinds to the beginning
is because of the type of filming that I do (birds/wildlife) so its very rare that I use a lot of the tape.
So if I could stop the tape before before it rewinds I could eventually use all the tape.

Sorry I don't know the software that you are using, Peter. Can you not stop the tape manually from the camera if Cyberlink Power Director won't do it? As a last resort you could play/fast forward the tape to where you want it even if it does get rewound. That's where 30 seconds of black or bars could help by making the end easier to find and avoiding timecode breaks without any danger of overwriting previously filmed footage.