HDV workflow using VMS 7.0

TravelJunkie wrote on 9/14/2006, 2:21 AM
I have recently invested in a Sony HDR-HC1 and am battling to find a viable way of editing the results.

As a very happy user of VMS 6.0 standard edition – I have just upgraded to 7.0 Platinum – for the HDV functionality. However, my first impression is that, as an HDV editing tool, this is a horrible cludge!

Hopefully I am missing something vital – and you experts can correct my present understanding of the options:

If I use the integrated capture option in VMS I get one long capture file. I then have the option of directly editing the m2t file (and suffering the painfully clunky preview on my 3GHz / 1Gb P4) or rendering to an intermediate file (assuming I have enough hard-drive space. In either case I am faced with the task of manually dividing the scenes (a very time-consuming process) before I can start editing.

If I use HDVSplit to divide scenes at the point of capture, then I am stuck with m2t files unless I individually render each file using the intermediate codec (another hugely time-consuming process)

Other consumer-level products in the market place seem to handle this challenge in a far more civilised way. For example, on a Mac, iMovie captures directly to an intermediate file with full scene detection. Although the capture process and the eventual re-render back to HDV after editing takes forever, it is only the computer’s time being wasted - not mine! (Unfortunately, I cannot afford to buy a new Mac) Ulead does something similar in Media Studio Pro (although scene detection is a separate stage, post-capture) – but, perversely, cannot “print to tape” in HD, somewhat limiting the output and long-term storage options.

Can anyone suggest a better workflow using VMS, that will allow me to use the editing tools I know and love, without introducing lengthy manual scene-chopping?

Comments

Laurence wrote on 9/14/2006, 7:05 AM
Here's what I recommend:

Capture using HDVSplit.

Use Gearshift to generate proxies.

Vegas 6 couldn't handle more than about 80 m2t clips on the timeline, so this wasn't that viable approach with that version. This limit is now gone. The HDVSplit / Gearshift approach works much better with Vegas 7.

TravelJunkie wrote on 9/14/2006, 10:38 AM
Many thanks for your thoughts, Lawrence.

I've taken a look at the VAAST website, and Gearshift looks exactly what I need. However, it seems like it only works with Vegas - not with VMS (which has scripting disabled). if this is indeed the case, then I guess it's back to the drawing board ...

Any more ideas ?