Keeping Track of Video Content

[DocB1973]

I am a video hobbiest that is underway with importing video from VHS tapes and Hi8 to digital. My process is to convert the video to DV tape and then create DVD's from the tapes. My problem is knowing what video is on which tape. Right now all I've done is number the DV tapes but that gets me no where when I want to include a scene I've captured and don't know which tape it is on. Does anyone have any suggestions of how to do this better?

Thanks,
Doc

[Paul LS]

A big warm welcome to the forum.

Here ya go:
http://paul.glagla.free.fr/cassettedv_en.htm

What it does:
CassetteDV is a software that will delight all digital video hobbyists having dozens of cassettes without remembering what's on them. Its main goal is to create a database of all cassettes, and of all their scenes. One can then find easily one or several scenes by browsing through the thumbnails, and recapture when needed a selection of scenes to a video clip.

EDIT... oops I see you are capturing from VHS and Hi8 so the utility will not work as it reles on the timecode on the DV tape. And there will not be a timecode when you cature from VHS/Hi8... sorry.

[Dave McElderry]

I'm sure you'll hear from a number of people regarding this. I think some people use the Organizer for this sort of thing. I've done a fair amount of exactly what you describe. Personally, after I've captured the video I like to put it in a project (it can be a temporary project that you use just for this), and then it's easy to just scrub the timeline, making notes of what's in the video. Unless you have an awful lot of different very small clips, it's usually pretty easy to do. You can also make note of what the start/stop time is for each clip, so later you can get to it easily.

[DocB1973]

Paul - I am copying the analog stuff onto a DV tape for archive so wouldn't it have the time code from the DV tape?

[Bobby]

Hi Doc, and welcome.

I hate to admit it (being a techie type) but I just did it the old fashioned way - manually. I built a spreadsheet, and then actually played every tape through. Oh, I did fast forward a lot when I could, but I took notes on each scene and put them in the spreadsheet - numbering the tapes of course.

Every time I was ready to work on a DVD I would go into the spreadsheet and decide what to do next. My DVDs were not created in chronological order because the family likes to see a mix of old vs. new roll out over time.

Hope this helps...

[Paul LS]

CassetteDV uses the timecode from when the DV camorder recording is stopped and started, so unfortunately you would not get this when you capture analog to DV tape.

[Helen]

Thanks for the heads up about this programme, it will be so handy when I want to catalogue all my tapes.

[dlgilbert]

Wow... I feel like I'm behind the curve here!

I usually take my video from the camera very soon after shooting and I have an external hard drive with a "Video Source" folder. In that folder, I have subfolders in the format "yyyy-mm-dd_topic" and I just copy all the footage into that folder for that topic.

Above that, I don't do anything.

I think my saving grace is that I don't shoot that much video yet. LOL!

(I have the same system for photos, too, though I've started using the Elements Organizer to catalog them all)

[RJ Johnston]

Although Premiere Elements 8 comes with the Organizer, I've been looking at other software that catalogs videos. I came upon CatDV 8.1 Standard at http://www.squarebox.co.uk/products.html.

There's a standard version for about $89 US, and then there's an expensive Pro version.

It looks like it started out just for the MAC, and is now being adapted for the PC. It relies heavily on Quicktime. The standard version will detect scenes optically (but you have no control) or by timecode breaks. The scenes aren't stored as individual clips, although you can export a scene to a separate file using one of the Quicktime formats, such as DV.

The trial version is a pain to work with, as there are a few things that nag you.

You can group scenes or clips by tape or whatever you want to name it.