How to Capture

Capturing is the moving of video and/or audio from a video camera to the computer (where usually it will be further processed). There are two kinds of video camera and each kind has a slightly different initial step to capturing.

Connecting the Camera to the PC

Digital camera video is captured to the PCs via a single cable called a Firewire (or 1394).

Analog video cameras (e.g. Hi8) require a bridge be used for capturing. The bridge is a small box with lots of jacks on the outside. Cords from the camera and cords from the computer go into this box. (The box is converting the analog camera signal into digital which then goes into the PC.)  Connect an analog camera by connecting the Firewire (1394) cable from the PC to the bridge. Connect the camera to the bridge’s input jacks for two audio channels and a video signal via either s-video jack or the composite video (RCA jack).

Once the camera is connected to the PC, turn the camera on and put it in VCR mode.

Capturing the video

Capturing:

The capturing is done from the video editing program Premiere Pro 2.0. Start by going to File-->Capture-->Movie Capture. This should bring up a dialog box which has a Image Window on the left, some VCR control signals below the image Window, and two areas on the right under the Settings tab. In the capture settings area, make sure it is set for DV Capture. And in the Preferences section, make sure the Capture Location is local and not on the network. If your camera is properly connected, the Image Window will be black. If it is gray, something is wrong--see Troubleshooting below.

Premiere can control the camera's tape mechanism with digital cameras and capturing can be entirely under the control of Premiere. An analog camera has to be controlled by hand. With a digital camera, start playing the tape with the VCR controls below the Image Window. When you are at a place in the tape that you wish to capture, click on the red record button below Premiere's Image Window. At the end of the capture portion, click on the stop button below the Image Window. With an analog camera, you have to start the tape rolling on the camera prior to clicking on the play button in Premiere and you have to stop the camera by hand after you have stopped the capturing in Premiere.

Once a portion of the tape has been captured and you have clicked on the stop button in Premiere, a dialog box will come up asking you the name of the file that will contain your capture. Additional sections of tape can be captured by moving forwards and backwards in the tape and clicking on the record and stop buttons for the sections you want to capture. As each section is captured, the clips will be placed in the Project bin in Premiere.

When finished with all the sections of tape you wish to capture, close the capture window. You are now ready to edit the clips into a final video.

Troubleshooting. Sometimes the capturing doesn't go smoothly. If the Image Window in the capture dialog box is gray or if it appears that the video is not being captured, try the following troubleshooting steps: (1) reboot the PC. (2) Plug in the firewire cord before you go to File-->Capture Movie, (3)  Plug in the firewire cord after you go to File-->Capture Movie, (4) Is the camera in VCR mode? 

* When Premiere starts up, sometimes it will ask what Project Settings you want. This will depend on the destination of the video. If your video is going back to DV tape, set your project to CA Project Preset.