Capture question

gjesion wrote on 6/6/2005, 9:17 AM
I have a question regarding capturing. Is there a way to capture the (DV) tape and have it stop automatically at the end of the tape. I have searched the forum, looked at the manual, and the vidcap help file with no luck. I usually have a bunch of tapes to capture for a project and would like to start each tape and not have to arrange to be there at the end to stop the capture at the end of the tape.

Regards,
Jerry

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 6/6/2005, 11:11 AM
If you are using Device DV Control this should be happening automatically. In fact, VidCap is usually smart enough to stop capturing when it hits blank tape so it won't even capture the entire hour if your material is shorter.
cbrillow wrote on 6/6/2005, 11:11 AM
Gotta give 'em a little more information, old buddy...

Basically, Jerry's capturing from new, unstriped tapes of somewhat variable duration. If he knew the length of the recorded video, he could enter that into the capture length dialog. Or, if there was a timecode break, perhapes he could set it to stop on dropped frames.

What really desired here is a way to determine when there's no more video coming in and have it stop at that point...

Edit: typing at the same time as Kelly's answer came in...

I thought it worked that way, too, but Jerry says it doesn't for him...
johnmeyer wrote on 6/6/2005, 11:12 AM
What you are asking for is how Vegas capture works. Just make sure you have enabled the option (in the Preferences dialog of the capture application) to enable DV device control.
johnmeyer wrote on 6/6/2005, 11:49 AM
What really desired here is a way to determine when there's no more video coming in and have it stop at that point...

Of course there is no way to know that there is no more video on the tape without actually playing all the tape. All gjesion wanted to do was have the capture stop when the end of tape was reached. I seldom use Vegas capture anymore, so I don't know if it insists on stopping at timecode interruptions. If it does, there must be some setting that lets you get around this. Certainly Scenalyzer can capture the whole tape, regardless of timecode breaks.
cbrillow wrote on 6/6/2005, 12:48 PM
"All gjesion wanted to do was have the capture stop when the end of tape was reached."

No, that's not quite accurate, John. Jerry is a good friend of mine, and we've talked about this. He's using new tapes that have a variable amount of material on them. He'd like to be able to have the capture stop at the end of the recording, not the physical end of the tape. Perhaps it can't be done, but that's what he's trying to find out.
Chienworks wrote on 6/6/2005, 1:13 PM
That works for me. With Device DV Control enabled, capturing stops at the end of the recorded material. It seems pretty forgiving; it will keep on capturing even over very short blank spots on the tape. It must wait for a certain minimum blank time before it stops.
gjesion wrote on 6/6/2005, 2:04 PM
Question answered. Just ran a test. Went very near the end of a tape (under DV control) and started capturing. The timecode stopped at 34:09 but the capture length timer kept incrementing. I then stopped the capture and checked the video. 34:09! I was under the impression that the capture put black at the end of the clip if not stopped manually at the end of tape. It does not. I just never let it go after the timecode ran out so did not have all the information. Thanks to all for the quick responses.

Regards,
Jerry