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"Using DVD Footage" by Tanya Spann Roche
Copyright 2006
We've arrived to the great new digital age, right? Your VCR is gathering dust in the garage while you use your DVD recorder or Tevo to grab air checks of all of your fabulous productions for your reel. So what do you do with all of this great digital material once you have it?
If you use good quality DVDs and those special "CD-safe" Sharpies, the discs should last for several decades, unlike all of those tapes you have sitting in a closet that are slowly but surely shedding their oxide particles and bits of your precious past works with each one. But what do you do when you want to edit those DVD clips into your snazzy new reel?
One way is to hook up the S-video and RCA outputs of your DVD player into the analog inputs of an editing system's capture card. Another way is to pass the DVD player's analog signal through a DV deck or camera by using the DV firewire spigot to get the material into the computer. Either of these methods requires passing the digital signal through analog cables at some point.
So why be digital, right? Another option is that some DVD recorders have DV outputs so that you can just connect the DVD deck to your computer and bring in the footage digitally. However, sometimes the DV cable connection between a DVD recorder and a computer can be unreliable, resulting in stuttering images and audio breakups. If you've ever done any non-linear editing, I'm sure you've tried to import the Video_TS files straight from a DVD into the computer. However, all you get for your trouble is the video with no accompanying audio, because TS files combine the audio with the video stream, and non-linear editing software such as Avid or Final Cut Pro does not have the capability to separate the two streams.
A good option that I recommend to keep everything digital (and that actually takes less than "real time" to do), is to use a software program like DVDxDV, which works with both Mac and PC (www.dvdxdv.com). You can download it for as low as $25, and you can try it out before you buy to make sure it works for your particular situation. Basically, it converts the Video_TS files into a Quicktime format that you can then import into your non-linear editing system. It also takes about half the time as "real time" capturing, and keeps everything completely digital.
When editing your reel or any project, you definitely want to have the highest quality source material possible, so make sure that you or your editor has the capability to bring in your footage with as little loss in quality as possible. Good luck, and better editing!
Copyright 2006
We've arrived to the great new digital age, right? Your VCR is gathering dust in the garage while you use your DVD recorder or Tevo to grab air checks of all of your fabulous productions for your reel. So what do you do with all of this great digital material once you have it?
If you use good quality DVDs and those special "CD-safe" Sharpies, the discs should last for several decades, unlike all of those tapes you have sitting in a closet that are slowly but surely shedding their oxide particles and bits of your precious past works with each one. But what do you do when you want to edit those DVD clips into your snazzy new reel?
One way is to hook up the S-video and RCA outputs of your DVD player into the analog inputs of an editing system's capture card. Another way is to pass the DVD player's analog signal through a DV deck or camera by using the DV firewire spigot to get the material into the computer. Either of these methods requires passing the digital signal through analog cables at some point.
So why be digital, right? Another option is that some DVD recorders have DV outputs so that you can just connect the DVD deck to your computer and bring in the footage digitally. However, sometimes the DV cable connection between a DVD recorder and a computer can be unreliable, resulting in stuttering images and audio breakups. If you've ever done any non-linear editing, I'm sure you've tried to import the Video_TS files straight from a DVD into the computer. However, all you get for your trouble is the video with no accompanying audio, because TS files combine the audio with the video stream, and non-linear editing software such as Avid or Final Cut Pro does not have the capability to separate the two streams.
A good option that I recommend to keep everything digital (and that actually takes less than "real time" to do), is to use a software program like DVDxDV, which works with both Mac and PC (www.dvdxdv.com). You can download it for as low as $25, and you can try it out before you buy to make sure it works for your particular situation. Basically, it converts the Video_TS files into a Quicktime format that you can then import into your non-linear editing system. It also takes about half the time as "real time" capturing, and keeps everything completely digital.
When editing your reel or any project, you definitely want to have the highest quality source material possible, so make sure that you or your editor has the capability to bring in your footage with as little loss in quality as possible. Good luck, and better editing!
