Best way to save disk space?

Jen wrote on 3/13/2002, 12:51 PM
Newbie here wondering how on earth to save precious disk space!

How do people actually move video from a camera to Vegas and not clog up the hard drive with huge AVI files? I have been doing rough edits by previewing and saving clips from my camera, which takes a very long time. Then I place them in my project, but the clips can't be deleted from there until ... when?

One idea I have is to download the entire tape of video, edit it in Vegas (as opposed to in the Capture program), then when I have a "rough draft" to render to a new track, permitting me to delete the original media files. Is this a good idea? Is there a better way? Help!!

Comments

liquid324 wrote on 3/13/2002, 1:18 PM
hi jen, something you might try is to use another capture program. Are you using dv? If so, then there aren't many options for you. If your using analogue capture, you might try looking into virtualdub. I generally capture all my video (analogue that is) with this program. It will automatically compress to whatever codec you specify. I generally use picvideo's mjpeg codec. It save a lot of room, but doesn't give you tons of artifacts. Your idea of rendering to a new track would help on disk space, but your quality would decrease alot. hope this helps
Jen wrote on 3/13/2002, 1:45 PM
I have a digital tape camcorder, so yeah I guess it is digital. I'll try a different file format ...

Thanks!
Cheesehole wrote on 3/13/2002, 1:53 PM
I have a method that involves using the trimmer window, and then the awesome new 'Trim' capability of VV3, which allows you to save a project with all the video you didn't use deleted.

firstly, if you are using DV:

1. the assertion by the previous poster that your quality will decrease when rendering your project to a new file is NOT correct when it comes to DV. unless you place effects on your tracks, or otherwise affect the source DV, it will be a file-copy, with no recompression at all. even if Vegas does have to recompress your DV video, if you are using VV3 (has the new SF DV codec), you can recompress several times (probably dozens of times) without any noticeable degradation in video quality.

2. as for capture program options, you have VV3 capture which should be sufficient, and also Scenalyzer which is a low cost capture program that seems to have some useful capabilities. then there is whatever came with your Firewire card if anything... but there isn't all that much to capturing DV. I don't think you should worry about finding a different capture program. VV3 capture integrates well with Vegas so I like it.

3. I ran into the same issue with filling up my drives really fast when I got my DV camera. this method seems to be working for me so far...

first I capture all the footage of the day. sometimes I use the 'scene detection' option to have VV3 capture split up my footage into many clips based on when I hit 'start' and 'stop' on my camera while recording the original footage. sometimes I just capture the entire tape as one video. sometimes I use the batch capture functionality (under 'advanced capture') to specify blocks of time to capture as videos.

then I open VV3 and drop all the new files in the Media Pool (happens automatically if you launched capture from within Vegas)

I pop one into the Trimmer and get ready with the 'I' 'O' and 'A' keys.

I play through the clip in the trimmer window and when I see a part that is good, I hit 'I' to begin a selection. then when it get's bad, I hit 'O' to end my selection. then I hit 'A' and it pops it up to the time line. then I continue to find all the good tidbits in my video footage. each time you hit 'A' it will add the selected video in the trimmer to the cursor postition on the timeline.

I find this 'trimmer method' is better than dropping the entire captured clip on the timeline and trying to find all the stuff I DON't want and deleting it. I think it's a psychological thing... but I always end up with much LESS footage if I use the trimmer method, which is a good thing :D

now here is the cool part. after I'm done, I go to Save As... and I click the checkbox, 'Copy and Trim Media with Project'
NOTE: it is important to save your project into it's own brand new folder!

when you hit save, you can choose to 'Create Trimmed Copies of Source Media' and choose how much extra padding to put around your clips. I usually pick '1 second' or even less because I'm pretty sure that I grabbed all the footage I could possibly need onto the timeline.

now when you save your new project, Vegas will go through and trim all your source media so you don't have any data that you didn't put on the timeline. after it's done, test out your new project. (your old project and source will not be touched, so you can do this process without worrying)

compare the file size of your old project folder to your new one. I usually save many gigabytes worth of space because I shoot a lot of worthless footage! :) then just delete the old source files / veg files.

then I go back and finish the project by editing it into something real. once I'm done, I'll render a DV version and store it on a tape for archival purposes. and I'll also render a DVD version for quick and easy viewing and sharing. once that's done I can just delete the project from my drive, or if it's small enough I can archive it as a project with all its source files onto a data DVD so I can go back and tweak the original project at a later date.

I'm still figuring out all this content management stuff, but so far that's what I've come up with.

- ben (cheesehole!)
Jen wrote on 3/13/2002, 3:08 PM
Ben:

It sounds like you have come up with a great procedure! The trimmer is something I just "learned" about and am forcing myself to use. Kinda hard when you've created half an hour of project doing it the harder way. It also sounds like VV3, which I was planning to upgrade to tonight, has a few extra tidbits to help me organize my stuff and keep my computer clean ... Thanks for the extensive reply!

Jen
SonyEPM wrote on 3/13/2002, 3:22 PM
Logging the tapes before capturing, then batch capturing only the clips you want, is really good practice. Yes, this is more work, but you'll get a feel for the source material up front, and you won't fill up your drives with useless video. You'll also have log info about the stuff you didn't capture- and you can digitize that later if needed.

Tip: Always type in the tape name, and name every scene whether you capture it or not. There's a search function in Video Capture that lets you search every clip you've ever logged, and the clip name and tape name are critical if you want to recapture.
Jen wrote on 3/13/2002, 3:26 PM
Logging tapes before capturing? Yo no comprende ... What do you mean?
SonyEPM wrote on 3/13/2002, 4:49 PM
check out "logging" in Video Capture's online help
wvg wrote on 3/13/2002, 9:23 PM
Am I missing something here? Maybe we're talking apples and oranges. I can see saving a temp render if you're dealing with "raw" video where you're really hacking away at it, stuff that's never had anything done to it, but for me I'm working my way through a mountain of old stuff that is "finished" in the sense I'm just improving the video by applying filters, that kind of thing...very little actual editing aside from throwing out 15 seconds here, maybe 30 seconds there. So, I just keep the origianl source files and save project files every few minutes as I work through it. That way no wasted disk space. Once I'm done, then I render, finally getting rid of the old source files.