How to Get Media Into the Computer for Editing I

How to Get Media Into the Computer for Editing I - Edius Tutorial

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In order to edit video we must send it from our camera to the computer. In days past, we used to call this task "digitizing" our footage. But in today's world of digital video cameras that use not only tape, but hard drives, flash cards, and discs, sometimes it is more of a case of "transferring" video from your camera, to the hard drives of your computer. In fact, some cameras come with their own proprietary software or system of getting the video files from the camera to the computer and you may need to use that, instead of using the capture tools that are built into Edius. If you can't get Edius to recognize your camera, or capture your media, consult your camera manual to see how it recommends getting media into a computer for editing. If you can get video files from your camera to your computer using some method that your camera provides, then all you will need to do, once your video has been transferred to your computer, is "Import" the media from your hard drive, into your Edius project.

You can import media into your project in several ways. At the top of your bin is a file folder icon.

Or, if you click on the Edius logo in the very left hand corner of your bin window, you will see that there is a drop down menu hidden under there. One of the many options to discover there is import, or "Add File".

If you are a keyboard shortcut junkie, you will notice that the suggested keyboard shortcut to use for this operation is Ctrl/O. However, this is also the same keyboard shortcut that is used to "Open New Project" In order for Ctrl/O to work as the shortcut for "Adding a file" or Importing media, your "focus" needs to be in the bin window. In other words, make sure that you have clicked once into the bin window, so Edius knows that you are working with the bin window, before you use this keyboard shortcut to import media. Confused? I just usually use the first method, clicking on the icon. It's Easy!

Once you have the import file window open, you can navigate to your media, much the same way you would navigate to find file folders using your operating system's "windows explorer". Once you have found the media on your hard drive, select the files, or clips that you want to import (You can "select all" with Ctrl/A, or keeping the control key held down, select multiple files from within the folder. Using the shift key, you can select a large range of files in a sequence. Once you have selected your files, click the "open" button and your media will be imported into your project, and be represented in the bin window.

Media from a Disc

If the media that you want to import is on a CD, DVD Data disc, or even a DVD video disc, Edius has a tool that you can use to capture this material. Check under the menu option, Capture/DISCcapture. Keep in mind that using copyrighted material in your project can expose you or your client to severe penalties, fines and litigation fees. Always used licensed material in your projects!

Capturing Media from Tape-based Cameras

If you have a more traditional tape-based camera that can connect to your computer through a "fire-wire" connection, you should be able to use the Edius Capture tool.

Go ahead and plug your deck or camera into your computer. If you are using your camera, make sure that it is turned on and set to the play mode, rather than the record mode.
Go to the menu option Capture and select your appropriate input.

If you have a Canopus Video card installed in your computer, you will see it also listed as one of the options here and if your camera or deck is plugged into it, then select that. Otherwise you need to choose one of the generic OHCI inputs - but which one?

If the tape that you are bringing in is standard definition video (SD video), choose the Generic OHCI input. If your tapes are HDV, select the Generic HDV Input. This may be a little confusing as both SD video and HD video use the same "fire wire" or OHCI "input" on your computer, so don't go looking for a second fire wire input on your computer, camera or deck, that is to be used only for HDV. I believe what the "input" referred to here is trying to say is, "what type of signal are you sending (or inputting) from your camera to the computer. If you have your camera or deck set to HDV, for example, it will be sending a HDV reference signal, and if you select the Generic OHCI input, Edius will not recognize your deck or camera. Select the HDV input and you should be good to go. If you are having trouble getting Edius to "shake hands" with your camera or deck, this is usually the reason why. For example, if you are trying to capture some tapes that were shot in standard definition video and you are using a HDV camera as your deck, you may have to switch your HDV camera to SD with a menu setting, (Check your camera manual to find out how to do that) and then choose the Generic OHCI-input, even though you are using an HDV camera as your player. Even though your player or "Input" device is HDV, the signal you are now sending, and the only one that Edius will recognize is a SD video "Input" signal.

If you are working with Standard Definition DV, the next window that pops up should be an easy choice. If you are working with NTSC tapes, choose the input format of DV 59.94i, if you are working in PAL choose 50i. However, if you are working with HDV, things get more interesting. Here is what you will be faced with:

As you can see the options are many. Which one to choose? There are four things going on here. Resolution, TV standard, frame rate, and file format. (Because I have a HDV camera that is designed to work with the NTSC TV standard, and shoots in the HDV resolution of 1440x1080, and I have shot my material in the interlaced mode, I have pointed out the two options that will work with my camera with a red arrow.)

Resolution: You may need to consult your camera manual to be sure what resolution your camera shoots at. Most HDV cameras shoot at a resolution of 1440x1080 but there are some exceptions so check it out if you are unsure, and choose accordingly.

TV Standard: If you have an NTSC camera, it will likely have the capability of shooting in the following frame rates: 59.94i, 29.97P, or 23.98P. If your camera is a PAL camera, it will shoot in 50i or 25p

Frame rate: I leave it up to you to figure out what frame rate your camera was set at when it shot the tapes you are about to transfer. Most cameras are set to shoot in the "interlaced" format by default, which is represented by the "i" designation. It usually takes a menu setting to switch a camera to shoot in the "progressive" mode, which is represented by the "p" designation.

File Format: Should you choose to capture your video in the Canopus HQ file format or the MPEG TS file formats? There are tradeoffs. Both formats require fast computers, but at different points in time.

Canopus HQ Pros: If your computer is capable of capturing in the HQ file format, you will have files that are much easier to edit with and are able to play back in real time with no stuttering and less strain on your computer processors. Ironically, once you have HQ files on your hard drives, the speed of the computer need not be as fast.

Canopus HQ Cons: Requires a fast computer with with fast striped drives to capture to this file format. If they are not fast enough your capture will stop and you will see a box that says, "Hard drives too slow". The file sizes are extremely large and they eat up hard drive space very quickly.

MPEG TS Pros: File sizes are small, about the size of SD DV video. You don't need a super fast computer to capture them, nor do you need striped drives.

MPEG TS Cons: In order to play MPEG TS files on the timeline, Edius needs to convert them to Canopus HQ HDV on the fly, as you play them. This requires a very fast computer.

The good news is that most of the new computers being sold today are fast by default. I recently bought an ASUS laptop for about $1200 that plays these MPEG files on the timeline with virtually no stuttering. With this computer, and a simple $100 USB powered 500G hard drive, I can now edit my projects on the road.

However, if you are stuck with an older computer, there is a little trick that you can do to combine the "pros" of both file formats. Capture your video using the MPEG TS file format and then have Edius batch "convert" them to Canopus HQ files, overnight. Here's how:

1. Select the appropriate MPEG TS Setting and capture your footage.

2. Go to your bin, where your media shows up and select all of the clips you want to convert to Canopus HQ. (You can use "Select all" - Ctrl/A, just be sure to deselect the one sequence file that is probably at the top of your bin)

3. Right click on any of your selected clips to reveal a drop down menu.

4. Choose Convert/File(batch)

You will be presented with a file-save window which will give you the opportunity to tell Edius where to save the converted files. Make sure that it is a drive with LOTS of space! It also gives you some options as to what kind of files you want them to be converted to. Check out the very bottom of the window and be sure that it is set to "Canopus HQ Online Quality".

When you sit down the next morning, you will be able to work with the Canopus HQ files, that are not nearly as demanding on your computer's processors and will give you much more real time capability.

With that little aside, lets get back to the principles of capturing video. After you chose your "input format", Edius should recognize your camera or deck, and the "Play" monitor in your "Preview Window" will light up and you should now be able to control your deck or camera using the control buttons just beneath the Play monitor. The Time Code of your tape should appear in the lower left corner, and the video signal coming from your camera should be visible in your play monitor.

Now, how to go about the process of capturing video. Edius gives you a couple of options. For quick, "down and dirty" captures, simply hit the capture icon, indicated by the red arrow. For more serious capturing, we need to take a look at the" Batch Capture" tool of Edius, EVEN IF YOU INTEND TO CAPTURE YOUR WHOLE TAPE.
For those of you new to video, in days gone by, editors use to "log" their tapes, carefully going through their footage, marking the best shots with an "in" and an "out" point, using the "time code" that is electronically marked on tapes during the recording process. Then, when it was time to capture the footage, they could simply have the software automatically capture the segments they had chosen, using the "Batch Capture" tool. They would need only check in once and a while and insert the next tape, in a ritual that I came to cal, "feeding the beast".
I use to be a diligent logger and spent many hours tediously going through all my tapes. I have since found it to be a whole lot easier to bypass the logging and batch capturing process altogether and simply capture the whole tape. Edius can be set up to break up up your capture into individual clips for each time your camera was paused when you were filming. I pop in a tape, set the capture going and turn my attention to other tasks. An hour later I return to Edius and find that I have on average, about 160 individual video clips. There are several reasons why I switched methods.
1. Huge hard drives are now cheap!
2. HDV video, by nature of its compression scheme, is harder to log.
3. Capturing the tape in one pass puts less wear and tear on tapes as well as the deck or camera.
4. It is less tedious and time consuming.
Yes, I may end up with a lot of unusable clips in my bin, but as I sort my clips into folders, I simply throw the unusable clips into a folder called "Trash" and once a day I "take out the trash".
(By the way, once you get used of working this way it is hard to go back. I have had a few occasions where I have had to do a edit in Premier Pro. As of CS4, PPro is not capable of automatically dividing clips at timecode breaks with HDV tapes. It was very frustrating to go back to the old method!)
For the purposes of this tutorial, lets take a look at both methods.
Logging Tapes and Batch Capturing
There are a couple of ways that you can log tapes, but by far the easiest is to use key board shortcuts. Once you have confirmed that Edius is communicating with your camera or deck, and you can control your player device with the buttons under the "Play" monitor, you should also be able to control your deck, using your keyboard. The "space bar" can be used to start and pause the tape. The "K" key also acts as a pause button. Hitting the "L" key once acts as a play button. Hitting it a couple of times scans your tape in the forward direction. The "J" key plays your tape in reverse, hitting it a couple of times makes your tape scan backwards. Once you get the hang of controlling your deck with the key board, you can start to log tapes. Play or scan your tape looking for good shots. When you see one that you would like to include in your project, mark the segment with an in and an out mark, using the "I" and "O" keys ("I" for the in mark and "O" for the out mark). When you are happy with your "in and out point, you can add your clip to the batch capture window by pressing "Ctrl/P". These default keyboard shortcuts in Edius are very similar to other NLE software, so if you are an old hand at logging tapes, you should feel right at home. If you are brand new to video, you may find this a little awkward at first, but in no time you will develop that muscle memory and you will be shuttling your tape back and forth, logging like a pro.
One keyboard shortcut that I changed was the "Add to Batch capture" (Ctrl/P). I set that to the "enter" key to keep it a one hand operation, as well as emulate what I was used to in Premier. In order for your computer to work like mine for this tutorial, go ahead and make this change as well. Go to Settings/Application Settings/ find the keyboard shortcut option, sort on Operation, and look for Add to batch capture list, and change the Assignment to the Enter Key. (If you are unsure how to do this, check out the tutorial on How to Change Your Keyboard Settings) One important thing to note, if you are using the keyboard shortcuts, is that in order for them to work properly, especially the "Enter" key, your "focus" needs to be in the Batch Capture window. Hit F10 to open the batch capture window and click once inside the window, to let Edius know that you want to work with the Batch Capture Window. Now all of the keyboard shortcuts will work as expected, in association with this batch operation.

With this window moved a little to the side of your "play" monitor you can watch as your selections are added to the batch capture list. After some time your batch capture window should look something like this ...