Techniques for Capturing Video

This tutorial describes the steps needed to capture video digitally.

If you already have video captured and wish to insert it in a PowerPoint presentation, click here.

To capture video, the easiest method involves the use of a digital video camera. For the purposes of this tutorial, I’ll be using a Sony Handycam. The cables for this camera are located in the zippered side pouch of the camcorder bag.

You may capture video from either a tape, using a VCR, or a DVD, using a DVD player.

Making the Connections

Locate the RCA to 3/8” cables
- this is the cable goes from three plugs (yellow, white and red) to a headphone sized/shaped plug.
Connect the yellow, white and red plugs into the appropriately colored “out” jacks on either the VCR or DVD player, whichever device you are trying to capture video from.
- The “Video Cart” in the T3 Center mini lab contains
  - a TV with built-in VCR and DVD player
  - and a standalone DVD player
  - and a standalone VCR
- you may connect to any one of these!
Connect the headphone sized/shaped end of the cable into the “audio/video” port located on the lens end of the left side of the camera, under a protective plastic flap.
Turn the camera to the VCR position (the switch on the rear right of the camera).

Record Your Video Segment

Insert your DVD/tape
Fast forward to the part you wish to capture.
- NOTE: you will want to begin recording (on the camcorder) slightly AHEAD of the clip you wish to capture, as it takes the camcorder tape a few seconds to begin recording.
- Also, you should be seeing the video through the viewfinder of the camcorder (or on the LCD, if you’re using that).
Once you have gotten to the part of the video you wish to capture …
- simultaneously press the unmarked button and the Record button
- both of which are located on the top of the camcorder and are linked with a thin black line to let you know they need to be used in conjunction.
- NOTE if you are capturing from a DVD
  - If yellow words flash on the camcorder’s LCD, then the DVD is copyright protected. Try using the TV’s DVD player and the TV’s output plugs. If that doesn’t work, then there is no legal way to capture video from that DVD.
Once you have captured the clip you want, press the Stop button on the top of the camcorder to stop the recording process, then take the camcorder over to a computer.

Transferring the Video Segment to Your Computer

Connect the Handycam to the Computer

Hook the camcorder to the computer using the included Firewire cable.
- This cable is dark gray in color, with purple on the ends.
- The jacks are very small, as compared to the USB cable.
- The Firewire port on the camera is located to the right of the “audio/video” port that was used earlier.
- The Firewire port on the T3 mini-lab computers is located to the left of the floppy disk drive.
- No software is needed to interface the two devices, simply plug them in, and turn the camcorder to the “VCR” position.
- The computer will automatically recognize that you have made the connection.
- Click cancel if a window pops up asking which action you’d like to take.

Using Adobe Premiere

The software I used for this process was Adobe Premiere. Pinnacle Studio will also work, but I have more experience with the Adobe line!

Open Adobe Premiere.
If a window pops up asking you to choose between Single Track Editing and A/B Editing, pick Single Track Editing, the one on the right.
On the project settings window that first pops up, choose the very top selection; Category DV – NTSC Real-time Preview, selection Standard 32 kHz. The 32 kHz refers to the quality of the audio, which when captured using the above method is 32 kHz.
Once Premiere opens the editing windows (it’s not as complex as it seems, I promise) then choose FileCaptureMovie Capture.
- NOTE: the camcorder must be hooked up and turned on at this point, so if you haven’t already done so, do it now.
If a window pops up asking you to configure the Scratch Disk and Device Control, simply click Cancel.
At this point, there should be a black box in the window on the left (if the camcorder is hooked up and turned on to the VCR position). This will change to the captured video if you hit Play on the camcorder.
Rewind the camcorder to the beginning of the clip you captured.
You may then wish to hit Play and immediately pause it, so that you can verify that Premiere is properly receiving the video.
Press “Record” on the bottom left of the Movie Capture window in Premiere, and then begin playing the recorded clip on the camcorder. You should see the video playing in the left of the Movie Capture window.
- If not, Premiere isn’t getting anything. Check your connections, and repeat the above steps.
- DO NOT perform any other actions on the computer while you are recording, as this will stop the recording process.
Once the clip has played all the way through, press the Escape key to stop Premiere recording.
Stop the camcorder using the “stop” button located on the top. You may turn the camcorder off at this point; you’re finished with it.
Once you stop the Premiere recording process, you are asked to give your clip a name. The comment section is unnecessary.
Once you choose a name and press “OK” you may close the Movie Capture window.
You will now notice that in the upper left corner of the screen, in the Project window, there is now one item. This is your video clip.
Click and drag the film icon (to the immediate left of your clip name) into the left window of the Monitor window (labeled “Source”). You should now see the first frame of your clip displayed in the source window.
Directly under the movie frame, in the center, is a row of six buttons, with the “Stop” button being depressed.
- You may move forward in the clip by using the frame-by-frame buttons to the left of the stop button, or by using the play button to the right of the stop button.
- You may also drag the tiny blue “progress triangle” located immediately below the movie frame. You will notice this triangle move if you use either the frame or play buttons.
Using one or more of the methods just listed, move to where you want your clip to begin
- you should have excess movie on the beginning and end of your clip, because you started the camcorder recording before the VCR or DVD player got to the spot you wished to capture, and you let it run just a bit past where you wanted to stop the clip
Once you have moved to the beginning of the clip, locate the Left Curly Brace button located in the bottom right of the source window (labeled “mark in” if you hover your mouse over it). Press this button once to mark the beginning of your clip.
Now move to where you wish the clip to end, and press the Right Curly Brace button (labeled “mark out”) to signify where you wish the clip to end. Almost done.
Now that everything has been marked, choose FileExport ClipMovie.
- This will bring up a box asking where you wish to save the movie.
- DO NOT click save yet, there are more settings to be adjusted.
- Pick a location (I recommend the desktop so you can easily find your video) and a name, BUT DO NOT CLICK SAVE.
  - If you accidentally clicked save, all is not lost, but your movie will average about 300 megabytes for a 2 minute clip, which is about half the capacity of a CD
- Instead, click the “Settings” button.
  - In the settings box, change the file type from Microsoft DV AVI to simply Microsoft AVI
  - Uncheck the “Open When Finished” box, as the movie it opens isn’t representative of the final product.
  - Click the Next button in the bottom right corner
  - Change the compressor from Cinepak Codec by Radius to Microsoft MPEG-4 Video Codec V2
    - if your video seems to be poor quality when you finish, click the configure tab and change the keyframe rate from once every 8 seconds to something lower
    - conversely, if the file size is too big when you finish, change the keyframe rate to something larger than 8 seconds
  - Leave the Frame Size as the default 720 h 480 v
  - Leave the Frame Rate as the default 29.97
  - Leave the Pixel Aspect Ratio as the default D1/DV NTSC (0.9)
    - If your video seems to be squashed horizontally when you finish, you may need to change this setting to the D1/DV NTSC Widescreen 16:9 (1.2) setting.
  - Check the “Recompress” box
  - Click OK
  - You may now click the Save button, assuming you have already chosen a location and filename as was suggested earlier.
  - If all those instructions were followed appropriately, saving your file should take less than five minutes and be reasonably sized when finished. If they were not followed, it may take upwards of thirty minutes, and be a huge file when it completes.
  - If Premiere says that it will take longer than five minutes to save your clip, and it is a short clip, I recommend you stop the save process and double check all the settings.
  - Once the clip has finished saving, check it’s size by right clicking it (you’ll have to browse to wherever you saved it, which is as simple as minimizing Premiere if you saved it to the desktop) and selecting Properties.
    - Student Y drives have a capacity of 40 megabytes, and CDs have a capacity of 650 or 700 megabytes. Using those sizes as guides, judge if your file is too large.
    - If so, go back into Premiere and re-export it, using a larger keyframe time delay as indicated above.
  - An entire two-hour movie can be made to fit on a single CD and still look like DVD quality if the compression is done correctly.
  - Once you are satisfied with the exported video clip, you may close Premiere (no, it is not necessary to save the project when it asks) or you may capture another clip from the camcorder and repeat the process.