How do you capture footage as *dv?

Hey guys.

I bought my camera this February, but have never been able to edit on my computer when I import it here. Now, I have still been able to make a few small films (some of you might have seen my latest "The Resistance"... golf clubs, alley, etc, maybe you remember) but that's only when I bring the camera over to my friend's house to capture it using his Mac.

Why, you ask? Because when I capture if here on my computer, it captures as *avi, and whenever I try to edit *avi files, my computer locks up. When my friend captures it with his Mac (using FCP3), he captures it as *dv somehow. When he brings that captured footage back over to my house (via a portable hard drive), I can edit it perfectly fine. All because it's *dv instead of *avi.

Now, this is okay for doing movies, but I really, really hate not being able to just pick up my camera and film random stuff or little short silly things just when I'm bored because I have to call my friend, arrange a time to meet, make sure his dad'll let him use the portable hard drive, etc etc. So it really stinks.

So, I need your guys' help. Does anyone know how to capture footage from a DV camera as *dv??

ANY help would be amazing and awesome.

Here's my specifics...

Camera: Canon ZR-40
Computer: PC Windows XP (1.8 GHZ, 512 RAM... It's a good computer)
Programs: Premiere 6.0 (editing), MGI Video Wave 4 (capturing), and Ulead 6.5 (capturing).

So, um, PLEASE help me and I would love you.

 

maybe try getting a video converter and converting it to something else

 

You can capture with Premire 6 I think. And it will come out as DV.

 

Yes you can capture using premiere 6.0 and it will be DV. Ulead should be able to do it also.

 

Well just did some transfering from a buddies Samsung DV cam using it's Firewire connection thru my Sound Blaster Audigy, which has the Firewire port IEEE 1394.

Snag the vid's using Premiere and Vega Video and both cam up with the DV ability.

Not sure if it was a XP codeac or if some of the Codeacs I got installed supplied the ability. But was able to snag in DV format and work with the footage at it's 740x480 (I believe) natural look.

There are free codeacs for many options, and for improving you vid association needs.

Hopefully supplied a few pointers worth using...=]

 

Hmm, it seems I've tried doing so before (I just tried Ulead, in fact, and it automatically captures in *avi so that's no good. Any ideas on how to change it to *dv? )


I'll go try Premiere now.

 

<<When my friend captures it with his Mac (using FCP3), he captures it as *dv somehow>>

I'll think you'll find that FCP captures as MOV - not DV.

your friend must be converting it to a DV stream which is pretty pointless to be honest as any conversion would be a generational loss.

anyway,

Nick "Shorty" Long

 

When you use Premiere, if you have a IEEE 1394 port then you should be presented with the ability to select DV/IEEE 1394 Capture choice.

So I guess first question is how you are actually trying to "hook up" the camera to your PC. If using Analog cables then probably not your best option. Take a look see at the formats your privied to use for capture.

 

Why, you ask? Because when I capture if here on my computer, it captures as *avi, and whenever I try to edit *avi files, my computer locks up. When my friend captures it with his Mac (using FCP3), he captures it as *dv somehow. When he brings that captured footage back over to my house (via a portable hard drive), I can edit it perfectly fine. All because it's *dv instead of *avi.

Don't macs capture as .mov, not .dv? Anyway, I dunno what's wrong.

However, your computer specs (the ones you listed, at least) are exactly the same as mine.

Uhh... I don't understand why your computer locks up with .avi's though. Do you have the SiSoftware Utilities thing?

It should capture in .avi with the DV codec. Something's obviously wrong, though, with the computer-freezing-up-while-working-with-avi's bit.

<<When my friend captures it with his Mac (using FCP3), he captures it as *dv somehow>>

I'll think you'll find that FCP captures as MOV - not DV.

Yeah, as I was saying.

So I guess first question is how you are actually trying to "hook up" the camera to your PC. If using Analog cables then probably not your best option. Take a look see at the formats your privied to use for capture.

No. That's not the question. As he said, it's not a problem of capturing. It's a problem that his computer freezes up while working with avi's.

He said this:

Because when I capture if here on my computer, it captures as *avi, and whenever I try to edit *avi files, my computer locks up.

 

<<He said this:
Because when I capture if here on my computer, it captures as *avi, and whenever I try to edit *avi files, my computer locks up.>>

perhaps it's file size?

how big are the video clips?

I seem to remember PCs having a problem with files over 2GB if the Hard Drive was FAT32 compressed.

anyway,

Nick "Shorty" Long

 

<<He said this:
Because when I capture if here on my computer, it captures as *avi, and whenever I try to edit *avi files, my computer locks up.>>

perhaps it's file size?

how big are the video clips?

I seem to remember PCs having a problem with files over 2GB if the Hard Drive was FAT32 compressed.

That's one reasonable... reason.

But FAT32 is not worth existing. NTFS has very large limits. So large that I don't even remember the number anymore. And the file limit with either FAT32 or something else not worth using was 4GB. But I could be wrong as I don't like remember numbers associated with things not worth using.

EDIT: Nick, the last line of your sig got cut off. I assume you made one of the other lines longer, so it cut off part of the last line.

 

Oh, the file sizes are small enough... Like 500, 600, 700 Megs usually.

Hmmm, after reading all this, and trying over and over again... I think I'm diagnosing the problem wrong.

I think my problem is more "Why can't I edit my captured *AVI files?" rather than "How can I capture in *DV?"


Alright, so when I go to edit the files in Premiere, it's not like it so much locks up (though that happens a few times), but it just takes a VERY, VERY long time to do much. Like, it'll let me grab a section from the Source box fine and drag it into the timeline fine, and even use like the Razor tool and stuff fine there. That's all fine. Like, if I take the mouse and click at a specific spot on the timeline, the correct frame's image will appear in the Preview box (as it should).

BUT, if I try to press "Play" or even just press the Right Arrow key on the keyboard to go forward a frame at all (this goes for box the Source box and when playing the timeline), it usually takes approximately 15 seconds just to get to display the next image of the next frame. During that 15 second time, the computer is locked up (though afterwards, one frame later or so, the computer is back to normal).

Rendering does not help nor change anything at all.

So, of course, it's obviously impossible to make any sort of movie without being able to play the timeline through (to get pacing and timing of sound, etc) and without being able to even make exact cuts between shots (by moving a frame right or left or whatever you want to do).


So, yeah, perhaps if anyone has any ideas on how to stop it from doing this when editing *AVI files, it might be better, I dunno.

Any ideas?


(Thanks for all the help so far, guys, though )


EDIT: When making a suggestion as to what setting maybe I should change, could you try to be as exact as possible? Being relatively newish to Premiere, it's easier if someone tells me the "File --> Setting --> Etc, etc" of somethign rather than just "why don't you change the ______ ?" You know? Thanks.

 

<<And the file limit with either FAT32 or something else not worth using was 4GB. But I could be wrong as I don't like remember numbers associated with things not worth using.>>

I know under win98 and lower it was 2 GB because the pinnicle 500 i used to use automatically cut the chunks up into 1.99GB pieces.

<<Alright, so when I go to edit the files in Premiere, it's not like it so much locks up (though that happens a few times), but it just takes a VERY, VERY long time to do much.>>

Welcome to Premiere!


<<EDIT: Nick, the last line of your sig got cut off. I assume you made one of the other lines longer, so it cut off part of the last line. >>

I know i'm keeping it for 2 reasons:

1. it annoys people
2. I'm lazy and can't be bothered to change it right now!

anyway,

Nick "Shorty" Long

 

BUT, if I try to press "Play" or even just press the Right Arrow key on the keyboard to go forward a frame at all (this goes for box the Source box and when playing the timeline), it usually takes approximately 15 seconds just to get to display the next image of the next frame. During that 15 second time, the computer is locked up (though afterwards, one frame later or so, the computer is back to normal).

Is your camera off? If it's still on, then it will be showing you the presentation on the camera's viewfinder/LCD screen, not the computer.

Rending does not help nor change anything at all.

Was that supposed to say reading or rendering?

 

Just to clarify some misconseptions about video formats.

Both AVI and MOV are wrappers for multimedia information. These file wrappers typically contain video and audio tracks compressed in a variety of codecs (such as Indeo, Sorenson, On2, DV, MPEG, etc). The DV format is a compression scheme for video and audio captured on consumer video cameras. When DV footage is imported into a desktop editing application via Firewire, the DV data will be stored in a file (either a mov or avi, depending on what OS and software you're using).

So, as we've figured out in the thread, the question should be "Why can't I use DV-AVIs that I captured with such and such application"

 

Jake - i think you'll find the extension *.dv does exist - this seems to be the problem the author of the thread is having

anyway,

Nick "Shorty" Long

P.S. hell - you could capture *.RM or *.txt format if you wanted to - as long as the program interpreted it properly

 

I didn't realize Sithman was simply talking about file extensions; just trying to clear up some misconseptions. And IIRC, Apple's DV Stream format (*.dv) is only used by iMovie.

In any case I hope we all learned something today, something that will need to be clarified again in another 2 months. Where's Daft when you need him?

*sigh*

 

I had that same problem when editing some stuff I captured from a consumer DV camera. I couldnt stream on the timeline or anything like that. I couldnt edit with stuff captured from a DV camera but when I captured something from a composite source it worked just fine, I was also working with about 8 gigs of video and it worked perfectly fine. I just tried out Vegas Video and it worked fine. Try Capturing and Editing in vegas video and see what happens. Hope that helps some.

 

I think the problem could be your camera is still on. Therefore playback will appear slow in Premiere but will playback on your camera through the tape. Hope that makes sense.