I use it when I need to capture 4 channel audio. I use Vidcap for the rest of my capturing. If Scenalyzer would let me manually enter a batch capture list, I could use it all the time. If Vidcap would let me capture 4-channel audio, I could use it all the time.

In addition Scenalyzer also offers Optical Scene Detection, a "fast scan" mode which quickly scans the tape and looks for different segments creating a batch capture list, ability to take a series of clips and write them back to tape and be able to retrieve them identically, etc...

You'll really need to look at their website to see the full functionality list.

I use it to "index" my tapes. It creates a rough video of every clip, and the clips location on the tape. If I need to recapture a clip on any tape, then I use vidcap.

A big plus for me is the fact that you don't need a continuous timecode to capture scenes (you did in Vidcap 3 not sure about 4).

I capture the scenes to an index and then pull off the clips I want, I can usually tell from the index (which palys on fat forward) which material I want.

The automatic file nameing convention based on your prefix and the date/time stamp works for me as well.

Regards, Paul

Alright, I may be completely missing something here, but...

It aggravates the hell out of me that Vegas insists on checking for a tape name every time my cursor moves away from VidCap. It's annoying enough to do it the first time, but very annoying that I have to re-insert the tape's name every time I click on another app, and then return to vidcap.

I understand that -- theoretically speaking -- tape name verification is supposed to help give structure my workflow, that clip names follow tape names, and provided I've entered everything correctly, I'll be able to match them up, BUT...

What's the point of entering the tape name if every tape is the same to Vegas? I.e. if I've got "Tape 2" in my deck and I pop it out, when I insert "Tape 1" and am prompted with the name tape dialogue, "Tape 2" is the default name.

Is there a way for VidCap to keep the names of tapes associated with their timecode structure? Ideally naming tapes should work like naming CD's, disks, or any media -- I should be able to pop the tape in and, based on a database within my vid cap utility, the proper name should pop up.

Also -- it's entirely possible that I've missed this, but -- is there a pref in Vegas or VidCap to automatically launch with 'Advance Capture' chosen instead of having to: wait for sync, be interrupted (again) by the tape naming dialogue, then click on the button for Advance Capture, then wait...wait again for the preview window to resize...wait...and then start working?

Otherwise, I love this app :D

- jim

Two things I really like about ScenalyzerLive:

(1) It gives my avi clips names based on time and date of shooting, making it very easy to organize and find specific clips; and

(2) It shows the contents of a capture folder as a collection of thumbnail clips, where each clip is displayed as a sort of filmstrip running horizontally, with beginning, middle, and ending snapshots. You can run your mouse over the filmstrips and play the video clip. Very slick.

Another feature, already mentioned above, is the ability to do a very fast "index" of an entire tape. The video is captured as the camcorder is running in the fast-forward mode. The resulting image quality is marginal, at best, but good enough to give one an idea of a particular clip's contents. This index only takes about 5 minutes for an SP miniDV tape. I don't use this feature much (yet).

The program also has the ability to capture sequentially to multiple hard drives as they fill.

What's the point of entering the tape name if every tape is the same to Vegas? I.e. if I've got "Tape 2" in my deck and I pop it out, when I insert "Tape 1" and am prompted with the name tape dialogue, "Tape 2" is the default name.

Umm..... How is Vidcap supposed to know what tape you just put in? You complained that it asked for the tape name again when you left and came back. At least is brought up the LAST name you selected so you can just click on OK.


On the General tab in Options - Preferences, there is an option to "Close files and devices when not active". If you turn this off, you *may* not get the tape request when you leave and come back. Of course, nothing else will be able to use the firewire port while Vidcap is open either.

Umm..... How is Vidcap supposed to know what tape you just put in?

I don't expect Vegas to magically know the name of the tape I just put in -- I'm asking if it's possible for Vegas to retain the names of tapes in a directory and associate them with timecode structure of specific tapes, so that, when I re-insert Tape 1 after taking Tape 2 out, Vegas knows it's the first tape automatically.

Agian, I'm asking if this is possible (and if so why it isn't like this already.

- jim

retain the names of tapes in a directory and associate them with timecode structure of specific tapes

Seems to me that in order to do that, it would have to scan the entire tape EVERY TIME you put it in the machine. I'd rather choose or type the tapes name than waiting for 5 to 10 minutes while it scanned the tape to "determine which tape it was". Are you thinking of a different way???

Well, I'm ill-equipped to tell you how it'd work properly though I hadn't thought about it needing to scan the whole tape which punches a nice hole in the idea :D

What might work better? Could it look at the first few timecode breaks -- a sequence of timecode entries together as a "fingerprint"? Could it use time stamp? Could it use both? Could it use visual data of the first frame? Could it combine all these things in some sort of probability matrix?

- jim

I ALWAYS use Scenalyzer. I find the capture application built into Vegas to be limited in a huge number of ways, awkward to use, non-intuitive interface, etc.

The things that make Scenalyzer special:

1. You can see a timeline representation of each clip, and can scrub and playback directly from these clips. (Press down on the wheel on your mouse to play from that position; press and hold the left mouse button and drag across the clip to scrub; hold the ALT key while scrubbing to only go a frame at a time). You can also use this facility to explore the video clips in any folder.

2. You can select any grouping of clips and record them back to tape directly from Scenalyzer.

3. You can use timers to start and stop your capture.

4. You can do time lapse capture and stop motion capture.

4a. Let me repeat that: You can do time lapse capture and stop motion capture. Really amazing.

5. You can do optical scene detection, during capture, of analog footage that is being "passed through" your camcorder. Not perfect, but a good starting point.

6. You can batch capture, even on a tape that has interrupted timecode.

7. You can capture the second DV audio track (if you have dubbed a voice over on your tape), either as the main channel, or onto a separate WAV file which you can them place in Vegas below your main audio channel. Nice. Actually, more than nice. This is essential if you use two mics (as many pros do) and have two audio channels on your tapes.

8. You can export stills directly from the Scenalyzer timeline. You can do this in Vegas too, but if you don't get everything set just right (or use a script) you will almost certainly end up with a resolution other than the 720x480 (for NTSC) that you started with.

9. You can preview your clips in up to full-screen, directly from the AVI DV file (i.e., the preview window can be made full screen).

10. You can choose from several different file naming conventions.

I have never found a single reason to use the Vegas capture application instead (i.e., there is no feature that Vegas has that is lacking in Scenalyzer, or at least nothing that I have yet needed to use).

Get Scenalyzer!

I am not sure any system can do this. What I am going to say is based on recapture for the most part -

Any online sysytem I have ever seen that is EDL based it will always ask the user to insert the next tape. With Vegas people always ask me why I feel you need EDL support or Timecode support - this is a perfect example. Any capture software is stupid when it comes to knowing what we do. I can shoot 40 tapes that all have the exact same timecode - the software has no clue what tape is what so it asks for a tape number. Hopefully the user has labeled each tape 1 - 40 so when the software asks for a tape number you tell it what number and you insert that tape.

In the non-consumer miniDV world tapes are timecoded according to tape numbers. Tape 1 would be timecode 01:00:00:00, Tape 2 would be 02:00:00:00 and so on. That way there would be no mistake about capturing material from tape 20 when you should be capturing material from tape 3. But even than the software would not tell you anything other than the timecode could not be found. You would still be asked to put in tape 3.

In the case of first capture and Vegas - once you create a master list for a project you can choose what tape from the drop down. The Capture mod does save all the tape numbers you type in...you have to be in the advanced capture screen by the way. My problem is that you can not export a workable EDL from what has been captured.

Currently you can not do this with SCLive either - but the button is there. It just is not implimented.

I have never found a single reason to use the Vegas capture application instead (i.e., there is no feature that Vegas has that is lacking in Scenalyzer, or at least nothing that I have yet needed to use).

Well, there IS one:

Ability to MANUALLY enter a batch capture list. For example, I like to capture my tapes in "segments" - however, I may have started and stopped the camera 20 different times in that "segment". I want to be able to enter the beginning of the segment and ending of the segment manually to capture that entire section as ONE clip. One tape may also have four different "segments" on it as well.

The fast scan/batch option is kind of cool. It needs to be extended so that I could manually put entries into that batch capture list. With that, I would use it full time. With out that, I batch capture in Vidcap all segments except for the 4-channel audio segments.

One of the things I fine useful is that it captures timecode that works in other programs. For example - capture in Premiere but the timecode will not read in Vegas. Capture in Vegas but the time code will not read in Premiere. Capture in SCLive and the timecode will read in Vegas and Premiere. Now if SCLive would impliment the EDL export you could import the capture list into other programs - but Vegas would have to allowEDL import into the capture mod, which it does not do. Vegas would have to adopt better EDL support overall because even in the edit portion it disreguards tape numbers with the limited EDL import so the "recapture all media" function is pretty pointless unless it is Mini-DV material captured with VidCap.

Quick question here. for those in the know:

What is the difference between the free version of scenalyzer, and the $39.00 version of sclive?

No info on website regarding diff.

Frenchy

I am also considering buying Scenalyzer. I recently bought a Canopus ADVC100 and use it along with Vegas to capture & convert analog video from a VCR. Would Scenalyzer be able to do this?

>>>What is the difference between the free version of scenalyzer, and the $39.00 version of sclive?<<<

I believe the "free" version watermarks everything you capture.

The "free" version DOESN'T capture!

Paul,

Scenalyzer should work with your VCR to Canopus to PC system, as it seems analogous to how I capture video from TV to Camera (analog to DV pass-thru) to PC.

Its a great little piece of software.

Greg

Thanks, Erk. Another question, would Scenalyzer work within Vegas like a plug-in or does it function as a standalone app?

Standalone - However, you could change the pointer to Vidcap to Scenalyzer instead and you could activate it by going to File - Capture Video.

Wow!
I just got back to this. Thank you for all the responses. I'm sold.

Regards,

John

>>> The "free" version DOESN'T capture!<<<

April fools joke right? Considering SCLive is a capture program what good would it do if it didn't capture? ;)

From the website:
limitation of the trial version
It displays logos on some pictures of the video. It only prints-out the first page of the clipsheet, most pictures on the printout are replaced with the word "unregistered". - Once you register, no logos are displayed any more.