Capturing from my TV using the XL1s and Vegas
 

I know I can use my XL1s to preview a project I am working on in Vegas (5.0) on a TV via firewire and the a/v outs, BUT how do I capture a DVD playing from my TV into Vegas?

Thanks!

p.s. I tried going to FILE then CAPTURE VIDEO but all it does is look at the tape inside the camera.

DVD -> tape -> Vegas

Not sure what you mean by "tape". Do you mean I have to record the clip I want from my TV to a MiniDV tape then capture it like normal?

You could go to tape as an intermediate or you could turn off device control and just use the camera as a convertor.

Thats what I would like to do. How would I go about doing this?

When I look through my eye piece on the xl1 it says "a/v in" so I guess I have it hooked up correctly. I just need to know the steps to capture what my TV is playing using my xl1 as a convertor and Vegas.

64 people looked at this post and know one knows?!?! =)

Oh well thanks for trying, if I figure it out I will post how I did it.

Patience, Oliver.....:-)

Connect your television to the analog inputs of the XL
Connect your XL to the Firewire card on your computer
Put your XL in VTR mode.
Enable the capture utility on the computer/Vegas.

Done.

Many, many people use their camcorder as pass-thru/converter devices, it's very easy, I'm thinking that maybe folks are under the impression you wanted to do something more complicated. That's what I was thinking.

One more thing to make sure that I mentioned in the previous post: turn OFF device control in the capture program. Otherwise it will try to capture from a tape instead of the pass-thru.

Oliver, I have XM2s. The lowlier XL Canon. When I first started out, I HAVE done exactly this. Use the Camera as a Pass Thru' device.

If I had seen this thread, I wouldn't wanted to reply as I don't have the more PRO XL series - yeah? Meaning, maybe the PRo-er version wouldn't allow for pass thru'? I could quite easily confused the thread here.

Now we HAVE got this far, I can also say that when I did do this, I needed to set the XM2 to ALLOW for Pass Thru.

There are some caveats to this process. Least of which is the copy protect signal that can stop the signal in its tracks. Neither can I have a tape in the camera.

This is the only thing that I cant seem to find, I did a google search and it seems you have to goto: Options / Preferences / General and remove the checkbox from "Enable DV device control", BUT that box is nowhere to be found for me to uncheck.

I am using Vegas 5.0.

Thanks a lot for the info Douglas & Edward, I feel like I am getting closer. =)

p.s. Graham, I have no idea what your talking about....

whoops (I'm dumb), the box to uncheck has to be done in the window that comes up when you click capture video. So you: click capture video / options / preferences / its the 1st box.

But I still don't get a picture, it stopped looking for a tape after I turned the DV Device Control off and the screen went from blue to black but I'm not getting a preview / input to capture anything.

Maybe Graham knows something we don't about the "copy protect signal"? BUT like I said on my 1st post I CAN use the XL1s to preview on an external monitor when I am working on a project in Vegas so shouldn't it work the other way?

Thanks Guys.

Why would you not put the DVD into your computer and rip the contents to an .avi file? that'd avoid unnecessary digital->analog (composite or svideo)->digital conversion.

Just a thought.
Kyle

Great idea but, unfortunately, Oliver's only running Vegas 5 and that feature didn't get added until 6.0c :-(
You could use the various ripping tools available but I prefer doing it the easy way myself :-)

That's what I want to do also, but what format
 

I have some footage on DVD that I'd like to edit with Vegas Movie Studio 7 and I've tried this approach. I've ripping the DVD to several formats and they each seem to work. Which format is better for this application - MPEG2, DivX or AVI? Or another?

Aren't there anti piracy features in a dvd to prevent this?

Can anyone recommend a program that rips a DVD to an AVI? (I actually just need a section of the DVD, about 20 seconds)

Concerning the copyright issues, I would be using the footage for a promotional DVD, not for sale.

Thanks.

p.s. I am about to film my freaking TV with the camera. LOL

OK, I put the DVD in the DVD rom of the computer, opened Vegas / file / open / then explore the DVD drive / click VIDEO_TS / change the Files of type pull down to "All Files" / choose an .IFO file.

Downside, there is no audio when doing it this way, but for my project I didn't need the audio.

I'd probably convert it to a minimally compressed .avi like DV. Definately not a highly compressed format like mpeg2 or 4.

Maybe, depending on the actual DVD, but if it is copy protected it'll likely have macrovision that should stop copying through analogue means as well. In reality this probably won't give any problems, not to mention that a DVD with copy protection shouldn't be being copied anyway.

I used a program in the past called DVDx (IIRC) - not sure if it is still around, you probably need to do a websearch.

I'll leave others to debate the ethics...

Good to hear you found a solution! I doubt Vegas would open copy protected files anyway.

Cheers,
Kyle

Oliver, the ability to read AC3 audio from a DVD was added in Vegas 6.0c. With Vegas 5.0 you'll need some other method.

OK . . .

#1 - I was referring to the Analogue signal coming from an Analogue device. Reading in my XM2 manual it refers to the Copy Protect signal from an analogue signal which will inhibit "copying". As to me knowing something "we dont", I have NO idea what you mean?

#2 - Also, and with reference to my XM2 Manual, it suggests not to leave a cassette IN the camera.

I'm real glad you have a solution.

Though it probably doesn't matter for this thread - commercial DVD's generally have a macrovision flag set which triggers analogue copy protection on the output. You should get playback fine but if you record the signal (VCR, DVD recorder, DV deck) you should still get a picture but it will be unstable.
Some DVD players are sold now with macrovision disabled, there are also video 'enhancers' - inline hardware to filter out macrovision from the video signal. The legality of the use of these may vary...

Cheers,
Kyle

Thanks to everyone that posted, you all gave me good ideas that ultimately helped me figure out a solution that worked for my project.