You might look at this thread:

2 dv captures

At first, I didn't think it would work, but I had the opportunity to test it myself.

And it works.

I just captured two tapes to disk simultaneously using two instances of Scenalyzer Live. Not a single dropped frame.

My productivity just went up......

Steve Mann

Steve, what's your system config? I can't get this to work using two separate cards, to two separate drives, both on the same computer, using Scenelyzer. I'd sure like to though.

Single proc Athlon, 2GHz, Win XP Home (SP1), One Firewire card.

Turned on the two cameras, started Scenalyzer 4.0, selected camera 1 for the input, start capture. Double click on the Scenalyzer icon on my desktop, select camera 2, start capture. (And, mute the audio on both instances).

Then I sat back in amazement and watched both instances capture their respective tapes without a single hiccup or dropped frame.

I really didn't think that it would work, either.

Steve Mann

Perfect. I can try that. I have 3 firewire cards (built-in in front of case) and 2 USB/firewire combo cards in the rear. I'll try the scenalyzer.

Thanks.

Wow, that's very nice.

...watched both instances capture their respective tapes...

Steve, out of curiosity, does this work with the cameras in normal mode, i.e. trying to shoot something?

Mike

If it works when capturing from tape, then it will work when capturing live from the camera. The bits are the same, at the same data rate.

Interesting idea you have, being able to capture live from two cameras at once.

Interesting idea you have, being able to capture live from two cameras at once.

I can't take credit for it. The issue has come up here before as well as on a number of video groups that I read. People are looking for an alternative to having to record to tape and then worrying about switching at the one hour mark. If this does work, it'd be great. Hopefully Steve Mann tries it and reports back.

Mike

I must have a system config that won't allow for it, as I can't get it to go with older or newer versions of Scenelyzer. I CAN get it to work if I use Canopus and Vegas at the same time, but that's not something I want to try to track, and have been able to do this in the past. But I do like Scenelyzer, and would love to be able to get this flying.

Of course, I may not need multiple capture if I go tapeless. I am looking at the ADS Pyro DV Disk and "upgrading" it with a 100GB HDD. I'll let you know how it goes.