Dear Sony, thank you for HDV capture...BUT...

Shannon Rawls wrote on 1/22/2006, 5:17 PM
....we really need TIMECODE & SCENE DETECT with HDV captured video using Vegas. I have successfully captured HDV footage using a Canon XL-H1 HD camcorder.

The footage I captured from my minidv tape had "FREERUN" timecode on it.
Vegas 6.0c (build 153) showed the correct timecode in the capture window on the lower right hand corner. So Vegas was obviously reading the correct freerun timecode from the tape and this gave me indication that the timecode was infact being captured correctly to the video clips.

However, after I manually captured a few clips using Vegas, each and every clip began @ 00:00:00;00.
*sad face*

This is NOT good. I desperately need timecode so my Editor can sync the multi cam shoots (which I just did with 2 XL-H1's jam synced to eachother both in freerun timecode) AND ALSO so I can refer to my Script Supervisors notes and my Sound Mixers notes.

It's nice to know I can capture the footage, but I need the Vegas HDV Capture feature to scene detect and set the time code correctly.

Please implement this in version 6.0d. (unless there's someting I don't know, anybody?)

- ShannonRawls.com

Comments

Laurence wrote on 1/22/2006, 5:28 PM
There's a free utility to capture and split HDV footage into separate M2T files. It's called HDV Split and you can find it at:

http://strony.aster.pl/paviko/

It does what you want, is nicely laid out, and it's free. I recommend it highly.
Wolfgang S. wrote on 1/23/2006, 12:47 AM
Yes, try that. But one of our German user has seen here strong artefacts, capturing form his PAL-FX1.

Another utility is capDVHS - then the conversion to Cineform Intermediates, and then the automatic scene detection in AV-Cutty, using the Intermediate. Capture to longer pieces - so 20 to 30 minutes - and then this workflow is fine, too.

Desktop: PC AMD 3960X, 24x3,8 Mhz * RTX 3080 Ti (12 GB)* Blackmagic Extreme 4K 12G * QNAP Max8 10 Gb Lan * Resolve Studio 18 * Edius X* Blackmagic Pocket 6K/6K Pro, EVA1, FS7

Laptop: ProArt Studiobook 16 OLED * internal HDR preview * i9 12900H with i-GPU Iris XE * 32 GB Ram) * Geforce RTX 3070 TI 8GB * internal HDR preview on the laptop monitor * Blackmagic Ultrastudio 4K mini

HDR monitor: ProArt Monitor PA32 UCG-K 1600 nits, Atomos Sumo

Others: Edius NX (Canopus NX)-card in an old XP-System. Edius 4.6 and other systems

Laurence wrote on 1/23/2006, 4:59 AM
Wierd I've never seen any extra artifacts with HDVSplit. I don't believe it does any compression of it's own, it just copies and splits the M2T compression (mpeg) done by the camera.
johnmeyer wrote on 1/23/2006, 7:15 AM
Obviously, Sony MUST add scene detection. I'm sure it can be done.

In the meantime, what I do is to re-capture the tape using Scenalyzer's batch capture. This takes about 5 minutes for a 60 minute tape (the tape is fast forwarded). I then use the scene breaks provided by this tape. They are not frame accurate, but they get me close. Just put the resulting low-res video on the timeline and use that to find your scene breaks.
Laurence wrote on 1/23/2006, 8:31 AM
HDVSplit does it all easily in one pass. Connect the camera, define a directory where you want the files and a base name, run the program. Everything captures and splits in realtime. At the end of capture you have a directory of M2T files ready to convert into proxies with Gearshift. On top of that, it's free. You guys really should try it.
Shannon Rawls wrote on 1/23/2006, 9:58 PM
Yes, but what about timecode? Do these programs you wonderful gentlemen are suggesting preserve timecode?

- ShannonRawls.com
Laurence wrote on 1/24/2006, 1:51 PM
Here is the answer I recieved when I asked this exact question to the HDV Split author:

"Yes, when using HDVSplit for capturing and/or splitting clips, timecodes (and other additional data like shutterspeed, aperature, gain, ...) are preserved."