uh...duh...how do I capture w ADVC?

[akcorcoran]

OK - thanks for help elsewhere but have a silly question - I've got an ADVC300 - can use Picture Controller 300 just fine - but how am I capturing? I'm assuming I use Final Cut Express somehow in tandem? I can see it in the preview. Or, maybe it's a button for capture. Sorry for idiotic question -

Also, for any ADVC users out there, any tips on surefire settings? I'm just going with standards for all these little switches and then just altering with Picture Controller but wondering if you've got tips. There are a lot of settings - and I'm kind of lost!

Thx -
Alexa

[Paul LS]

I have the ADVC100, no Picture Controller so not sure what it is (I assume it is for setting the picture adjustments for the unit). But when capture using PE I just hook up the DV cable and capture as if I was capturing from a DV-camcorder... ie just hit the Record button in the PE Capture Window.

[akcorcoran]

Thanks (assuming you mean by PE, Premiere Elements - on a PC)? I think I can just open iMovie or FCE - it just wasn't clear that the settings from Picture Controller 300 "held" for that capture... But, I'm assuming it controls the canopus, and makes those adjustments *before* the capture with the video editor...

Thx for your help -
Alexa

[Dave McElderry]

Alexa,

I have the ADVC 300. The picture controller processes on the fly, so any adjustments that you make with it will be applied directly to your video.

Here are the switch settings that have always worked for me. This assumes a 4:3 aspect ratio.

Mode Switch Selector 1:
1 thru 4 OFF
5 ON
6 and 7 OFF
8 ON

Mode Switch Selector 2:
1 thru 8 OFF

[akcorcoran]

Awesome. That's super helpful. I just couldn't figure out if the PC300 software stayed connected with the video when you're capturing in the other program. Perfect. And, thanks for the settings. I know I can experiment with what improves the picture, but I didn't know about all those little switches!

One last question - can the ADVC help with bad video quality in terms of tracking - lines running through the video horizontally or bands at the bottom? Or, is that left in the hands of the VCR with which you're playing OR an editor like FCE to crop if you have a band at the bottom or edges?

thanks -
Alexa

[Dave McElderry]

Glad to have helped. Regarding the tracking problems, or overscan (the band at the bottom), the ADVC is not going to be able to help out there. You're correct...it's something you'll have to deal with either by addressing it on the VCR during the recording process, or after the fact with your editing software. I'm not familiar with FCE, but with PrEl I know that overscan can be cut out by either oversizing the whole picture just enough that it pushes the overscan off screen, or you can crop it off the bottom of the picture.

EDIT: Oops! You already said crop, didn't you. Remember that nearly all TVs won't show the overscan because they already crop the edges of the picture. Overscan usually is only a problem on computer monitors, which show all of the picture.

[akcorcoran]

Thanks and thanks.

That makes sense on the overscan. I spent two hours last night trying to figure out why it was *not* showing in the preview of the final movie in FCE but did show up when I played the QT movie. Never tried burning it and watching on a TV to see what happened. Ended up cropping it anyway, but now I'll know.

Thanks!

[Ken Jarstad]

The noise at the bottom of the edit window video is the analog VCR head switching noise. It is always there on analog sources and is always masked by the normal overscan of a TV.

Some people claim that cropping the noise will result in a more efficient DVD but the extra digitizing overhead is probably not significant.

[akcorcoran]

Thanks for the additional information. In this case, my customer was getting a DVD for viewing on TV and he wanted a computer/web-sharing version (for Vimeo). The problem is that it *does* stay in the latter. So, should I produce TV-version as is without worry about the noise, but then crop if possible for the "digital-only" version? That's where I ran into trouble. What would you do?

Thanks -
Alexa

[Ken Jarstad]

In that case it seems most efficient to crop and have just one resulting master version. Don't crop too much though or the TV version will lose too much action area.

[akcorcoran]

Great - thanks. That's what I ended up doing because I didn't know it wouldn't show on a TV - and the content of this video fortunately wouldn't' be affected, even when going to the TV. But, now I know for next time - thanks! Maybe I'll check with a few of the websites - wondering if the size of the "player" might also cut it off - or if I size just over their window, if it will be reduced - or if it will similarly cut it off. I suppose I could try with a few super short videos.

At any rate, thanks for the help on this one. I appreciate it!

Alexa

[Ken Jarstad]

Digital video is quite different than analog video. Once you digitize your analog video it has a pixel array which represents the picture. The 'Safe Action' overlay will usually show you the resulting digitized picture area and all extra picture information will be discarded.

Therefore, all PC based video players will simply show the pixel array presented to it. That's assuming the pixel array is presented in a recognized digital standard such as DV-AVI. Another way of saying it is - that overscan is an analog phenomenon.

Interestingly, and not particularly related to this response - I have been making conventional NTSC DVDs in a DV 4:3 project from an HDV camcorder by down-converting during capture. A conventional TV simply throws away the extended sides of the original picture (because of overscan) but using an upconverting DVD player connected to a wide-screen HDTV I found, much to my surprise, that the extra width is still there and shows - not completely full width - but mostly. Fun stuff.