Video Capture

Bit Of Byte wrote on 6/21/2007, 4:13 AM

Hi Team.

I have a standard DV camera.

Currently capturing my video with SchenanalyzerLive and then importing into Sony Vegas for editing.

What advantages exist for capturing directly through the Vegas SW instead of Schenanalyzer Live?

Do i lose any quality by importing the captured avi file into Vegas?

Cameron

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 6/21/2007, 4:42 AM

Probably the only major advantage of using Sony's VidCap is that you don't have to pay for 3rd party capture software. But then, you've already done that, so that's a moot point. The only other advantage i can think of is that there is a free program available that lets you operate Sony's VidCap just like the timer on a VCR. You can program start and stop times days and weeks in advance to have VidCap record material unattended. But that's probably not of much importance to most folks.

The quality will be identical. In actual fact, your camcorder does the capture and encoding process. DV "captures" are really just bit-for-bit file transfers. It doesn't matter what program does the job; it just copies the data as-is from the camcorder to the hard drive.

Bit Of Byte wrote on 6/21/2007, 4:52 AM

Thanks Chienworks.

By going through SCnLive, and not through vegas, won't i be missing out on the intricate video and audio settings I have at my control under 'preferences' in vegas?

i.e. deinterlaced video and stereo busses, fps, etc..?

I have a mid to upper sound card too - how does this sound card get utilised via the capture process?

PS - I am still learning

Bit

ScottW wrote on 6/21/2007, 6:01 AM

You won't be missing out on anything as far as capture goes. Both scLive and vidcap are basically just a pass-thru program, taking the data stream coming from the camera and putting it on disk. The sound card does not get involved in this process either.

For me, the feature I liked most about scLive was that it worked reliably on all my machines - the same cannot be said for vidcap.

--Scott

Bit Of Byte wrote on 6/21/2007, 6:17 AM

Thanks Scott.

Does my soudn card get used at all when video editing/rendering/authoring?

With Scenlive - how do I ensure I am capturing at 720x576?

Bit

farss wrote on 6/21/2007, 6:36 AM

Sound card is only used for monitoring, has no direct impact on capturing or editing. That said if your sound card is really crud then judging audio / mixing can be more difficult but I'd suggest your speakers are more to worry about than the sound card for that.

You can only capture DV via firewire as it is on the tape, if what's on the tape at 720x576 that's all you can get, there's no way to change it while capturing, period.

Bob.

Bit Of Byte wrote on 6/21/2007, 12:54 PM

Thanks Fars.

How can i determine what my resolution actually is?

How do I confirm/check that I am capturing @ 720 x 576?

Bit

farss wrote on 6/21/2007, 3:28 PM

Capture it and check media properties.
If you shot PAL DV then it is 720x576.
If you shot NTSC DV then it is 720x480.

You cannot confirm you are capturing @ 720x576 as such, you have no choice in this, it's totally dependant on what's recorded on the tape.