Running Date & Time Stamp

fuss wrote on 5/17/2013, 10:54 PM
I've tried searching back posts on this and just not finding anything. Maybe not using the right terminology.

I'll just preface my question to say I have Sony Vegas Movie Pro 11 and I'm VERY new to using it so I don't have a feel yet for all it's idiosyncrasies. I'm not a pro video person by any means.

My question is, I am wanting to add a running date & time stamp on my videos. I do investigative work and our videos require the running date & time to be displayed on them.

My old video camera had a built-in feature that did this automatically. You just turned it on and recorded your video and when you downloaded it, it would show up right on the video, no extra work required.

My new camcorder does not have that feature any longer and it appears not any of the new consumer model camcorders do either.

So now, I need to try to do this step manually, downloading the video to my computer and then using a program such as Sony Vegas Movie Pro 11 to add it on there.

I have found a few tutorials online about using the SVDTS extension, but I am so lost inside of Sony Vegas Pro and the instructions are very vague. They are not written for complete novices who need every step spelled out explicitly. There seems to be some implicit instructions that go right over my head. Also, the tutorial web pages and YouTube videos I've found are outdated with many of the places they point to no longer in those spots in Sony Vegas Movie Pro 11.

Is there anyone here who can help me with some clear instructions? I want to make sure I have that SVDTS dll file in the right place and then I need to know where to find it in SVMP11 and then how to make it work.

I'm pulling my hair out trying to figure this out myself. Save me! lol

Comments

_Lenny_ wrote on 5/18/2013, 2:46 AM
SVDTS is a great utility, that I use more than any other extension.

However, I find that version 3 does not meet my needs, so I stick with version 2; alas, this means to use it I have to use a 32 bit version of Vegas.

Visit http://www.elisanet.fi/paavo.jurvelin/indexV2.htm and click the Video Briefing link to watch an instructional video.

Once you et the hang of it, it's an invaluable utility. I do wish Sony would provide one built in, but maybe it's too 'consumer level'; Why would a 'pro' want the date to appear on their video?!
Grazie wrote on 5/18/2013, 2:53 AM
@lenny : Why would a 'pro' want the date to appear on their video?!

So, would this be an option for the non-Pro versions of Vegas? I'm guessing that that isn't part of the "plan" either?

Also wait for Bob "farss" to get wind of this as a wish. He'll have something to say about it.

If we already HAVE the info let's get at it.

G
farss wrote on 5/18/2013, 3:35 AM
You rang?

Of course there's nothing unprofessional about needing this capability.
Pretty certain most cameras record date and time as metadata, that's why they have a clock. Some even record your location derived by the GPS.

Personally I've never needed to burn any of this data into video but that only means that one day when I need to Vegas will let me down. There's a whole raft of metadata stuff recorded by cameras today that Vegas seems unaware of let alone lets us display in the video and all of it could be useful to different users for different reasons.

Bob.
_Lenny_ wrote on 5/18/2013, 9:12 AM
Magix Movie Edit Pro has the feature...

Yes, all the cameras I've used, including digital stills cameras that shoot videos, have embedded the date and time in the metadata. WinDV and HDV Split allow for naming files with the date and time if you want. But when I work with and files recorded to SD, there seems to be no way to automatically name the files.

When I'm editing my home movies, I like to stamp the first 5 seconds of each day with the appropriate date; SVDTS does the job perfectly.

As to whether it's a pro tool, I would say it depends on the pro. Much like all those transitions we have. 99.9% of the time they are not needed, but once in a while, the story being told can benefit from a certain transition, so having them in the toolbox is handy.
fuss wrote on 5/18/2013, 3:13 PM
Thanks! I'll go watch that video and then see if I have any further questions. I'm good with computers and software once I get a little bit of initial handholding help, lol.

The computer I have Sony Vegas Pro 11 installed on is 32 bit so it sounds like I should go find SVDTS 2, am I understanding that right?
fuss wrote on 5/18/2013, 3:18 PM
In answer to your last question, it depends on what you are a pro of. For example, as a professional investigator, I'm not in the business of making movies, I'm in the business of conducting investigations. Our work product is often surveillance caught on video and our clients want to see the date/time right there on the video. So it all depends on the context and what kind of professional is using the program, what their needs are.
fuss wrote on 5/18/2013, 5:23 PM
Oh, thanks Lenny. I have Magix, too! So, you're saying Magix will let me display the running date/time on the video without having to download and figure out a special plugin/extension? That would be awesome.

I have no clue yet how to work with Magix, though, lol. Bought it because I love the company (I have other of their products), but haven't had any time yet to play around in it or figure it out. Would you mind giving me some quick steps for displaying the running date & time?
fuss wrote on 5/19/2013, 6:31 PM
Lenny,

I finally had a chance to watch that movie and I had in fact already found that one online before I found this forum. Here's the problem...

When it gets to the part about stamping a clip, it says to go to Tools – Extensions. So I go to do that, but I do not have any option under Tools that says "Extensions." This is where I'm getting stuck.

At first I thought maybe it was because he was showing how to do this in 9.0 and I have 11.0.1.4, and maybe Extensions is in a different place. But if it is, I can't find it anywhere.

And then I thought, maybe I don't have the SVDTS.dll file in the right place, but I do according to this video. It's labeled exactly like it's supposed to be and it's in the ProgramData files like it's supposed to be.

So I am lost and can't move further until someone can direct me to where the Extensions option is.

Help?!
altarvic wrote on 5/19/2013, 11:16 PM
Extensions are supported only in Vegas Pro. I guess you have Movie Studio
fuss wrote on 5/20/2013, 12:01 AM
Yeah, that's what I have--Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD 11.

So, there's no other way to get the running date and time on my videos unless I get that other version?
Rob Franks wrote on 5/21/2013, 6:30 AM
"So, there's no other way to get the running date and time on my videos"

Not necessarily. You could create an overlay track with the time/date and then render as one. The only problem is that you would have to create the track manually since Studio does not support the extensions required to do it automatically.

I should also add that I don't believe Vegas 12 pro supports svdts either.... or at least I could never get it to work.

I use the "quicklabels" feature in the Excalibur extension.
Make sure your clips are renamed as the time/date shot then use Quicklabels to automatically generate an overlay track complete with regions, then render as normal.

NOTE:
This works in Vegas 12 PRO but I don't think Vegas Movie studio supports Excalibur
_Lenny_ wrote on 5/21/2013, 10:43 AM
Download the trial of Vegas Pro 10 of 11 (32 bit), and use that to generate the date & time. You may be able to copy and paste the clips into Movie Studio. If pasting does not work, then just render the track containing the dates and times to a new file, and import that into Movie Studio.

The trial lasts 30 days, and can be found here:

VP 10:
http://download.sonycreativesoftware.com/current/vegaspro100e_32bit.exe

VP 11:
http://download.sonycreativesoftware.com/current/vegaspro11.0.700_32bit.exe