Pinnacle Systems NewsCutter - 6.x User's Guide

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Avid® NewsCutter® Products

Input and Output Guide

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Product specifications are subject to change without notice and do not represent a commitment on the part of Avid Technology, Inc.

The software described in this document is furnished under a license agreement. You can obtain a copy of that license by visiting Avid's Web site at www.avid.com. The terms of that license are also available in the product in the same directory as the software. The software may not be reverse assembled and may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of the license agreement. It is against the law to copy the software on any medium except as specifically allowed in the license agreement.

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their TIFF library:

Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell this software [i.e., the TIFF library] and its documentation for any purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that (i) the above copyright notices and this permission notice appear in all copies of the software and related documentation, and (ii) the names of Sam Leffler and Silicon Graphics may not be used in any advertising or publicity relating to the software without the specific, prior written permission of Sam Leffler and Silicon Graphics.

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IN NO EVENT SHALL SAM LEFFLER OR SILICON GRAPHICS BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER OR NOT ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF DAMAGE, AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

The following disclaimer is required by the Independent JPEG Group:

Portions of this software are based on work of the Independent JPEG Group.

The following disclaimer is required by Paradigm Matrix:

Portions of this software licensed from Paradigm Matrix.

The following disclaimer is required by Ray Sauers Associates, Inc.:

“Install-It” is licensed from Ray Sauers Associates, Inc. End-User is prohibited from taking any action to derive a source code equivalent of “Install-It,” including by reverse assembly or reverse compilation, Ray Sauers Associates, Inc. shall in no event be liable for any damages resulting from reseller’s failure to perform reseller’s obligation; or any damages arising from use or operation of reseller’s products or the software; or any other damages, including but not limited to, incidental, direct, indirect, special or consequential Damages including lost profits, or damages resulting from loss of use or inability to use reseller’s products or the software for any reason including copyright or patent infringement, or lost data, even if Ray Sauers Associates has been advised, knew or should have known of the possibility of such damages.

The following disclaimer is required by Videomedia, Inc.:

“Videomedia, Inc. makes no warranties whatsoever, either express or implied, regarding this product, including warranties with respect to its merchantability or its fitness for any particular purpose.”

“This software contains V-LAN ver. 3.0 Command Protocols which communicate with V-LAN ver. 3.0 products developed by Videomedia, Inc. and V-LAN ver. 3.0 compatible products developed by third parties under license from Videomedia, Inc. Use of this software will allow “frame accurate” editing control of applicable videotape recorder decks, videodisc recorders/players and the like.”

The following disclaimer is required by Altura Software, Inc. for the use of its Mac2Win software and Sample Source Code:

The following disclaimer is required by Ultimatte Corporation:

Certain real-time compositing capabilities are provided under a license of such technology from Ultimatte Corporation and are subject to copyright protection.

The following disclaimer is required by 3Prong.com Inc.:

Certain waveform and vector monitoring capabilities are provided under a license from 3Prong.com Inc.

Attn. Government User(s). Restricted Rights Legend

U.S. GOVERNMENT RESTRICTED RIGHTS. This Software and its documentation are “commercial computer software” or “commercial computer software documentation.” In the event that such Software or documentation is acquired by or on behalf of a unit or agency of the U.S. Government, all rights with respect to this Software and documentation are subject to the terms of the License Agreement, pursuant to FAR §12.212(a) and/or DFARS §227.7202-1(a), as applicable.

Trademarks

888 I/O, Adrenaline, AirPlay, AirSPACE, AirSPACE HD, AirSpeed, AniMatte, AudioSuite, AudioVision, AutoSync, Avid, Avid DNA, Avid DNxcel, Avid DNxHD, AVIDdrive, AVIDdrive Towers, Avid Mojo, AvidNet, AvidNetwork, AVIDstripe, Avid Unity, Avid Xpress, AVoption, AVX, CamCutter, ChromaCurve, ChromaWheel, DAE, D-Fi, D-fx, Digidesign, Digidesign Audio Engine, Digidesign Intelligent Noise Reduction, DigiDrive, Digital Nonlinear Accelerator, DigiTranslator, DINR, D-Verb, Equinox, ExpertRender, FieldPak, Film Composer, FilmScribe, FluidMotion, HIIP, HyperSPACE, HyperSPACE HDCAM, IllusionFX, Image Independence, Intraframe, iS9, iS18, iS23, iS36, LaunchPad, Lo-Fi, Magic Mask, make manage move | media, Marquee, Matador, Maxim, MCXpress, Media Composer, MediaDock, MediaDock Shuttle, Media Fusion, Media Illusion, MediaLog, Media Reader, Media Recorder, MEDIArray, MediaShare, Meridien, MetaSync, MissionControl, NaturalMatch, Nearchive, NetReview, NewsCutter, Nitris, OMF, OMF Interchange, OMM, Open Media Framework, Open Media Management, ProEncode, Pro Tools, QuietDrive, Recti-Fi, RetroLoop, rS9, rS18, Sci-Fi, Softimage, Sound Designer II, SPACE, SPACEShift, SpectraGraph, SpectraMatte, Symphony, Trilligent, UnityRAID, Vari-Fi, Video Slave Driver, VideoSPACE, and Xdeck are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.

iNEWS, iNEWS ControlAir, and Media Browse are trademarks of iNews, LLC.

Aaton is a registered trademark of Aaton S.A. Abekas is a registered trademark of Accom, Inc. Acrobat, Acrobat Reader, Adobe, After Effects, and Photoshop are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems, Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. Inc. Apple, FireWire, and Macintosh are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Betacam, Betacam SP, HDCAM, Hi8, I-LINK, and Sony are trademarks and/or service marks of Sony Corporation. DVCPRO HD is a registered trademark of Matsushita Electric Corporation of America. DVDit! is a trademark of Sonic Solutions. Express, V-LAN, and VLXi are registered trademark of Videomedia, Inc. FaderMaster Pro is a trademark of JL Cooper, a division of Sound Technology. IEEE is a registered trademark of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Ikegami is a registered trademark and Editcam is a trademark of Ikegami Tsushinki Co., LTD. Microsoft, Windows, and Windows Media, are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Panasonic is a registered trademark of Matsushita Electric Industrial Company, Limited. QuickTime and the QuickTime logo are trademarks used under license from Apple Computer, Inc. RealSystem is either a registered trademark or trademark of Real Networks, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Silicon Graphics is a registered trademark of Silicon Graphics, Inc. Sound Forge is a registered trademark of Sonic Foundry, Inc. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

Footage

Arizona Images — KNTV Production — Courtesy of Granite Broadcasting, Inc., Editor/Producer Bryan Foote. Canyonlands — Courtesy of the National Park Service/Department of the Interior. Tornados + Belle Isle footage — Courtesy of KWTV News 9. WCAU Fire Story — Courtesy of NBC-10, Philadelphia, PA. Women in Sports – Paragliding — Courtesy of Legendary Entertainment, Inc.

GOT FOOTAGE?

Editors — Filmmakers — Special Effects Artists — Game Developers — Animators — Educators — Broadcasters — Content creators of every genre — Just finished an incredible project and want to share it with the world?

Send us your reels and we may use your footage in our show reel or demo!*

For a copy of our release and Avid’s mailing address, go to www.avid.com/footage.

*Note: Avid cannot guarantee the use of materials submitted.

Avid NewsCutter Products Input and Output Guide • 0130-06889-01 • March 2005

Using This Guide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Symbols and Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

If You Need Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Accessing the Online Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

How to Order Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Avid Educational Services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Chapter 1 Planning a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Types of Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Working in a 23.976p NTSC Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Capturing with Advanced Pulldown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Project Resolutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Working with Mixed-Resolution Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

NTSC and PAL Image Sizes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Software-Only Avid Editing Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Sample Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Chapter 2 Logging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Logging Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Logging Preroll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Logging Timecode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Naming Tapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Double-Checking the Logs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Adding a Memory Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Preparing Logs for Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Creating Avid Logs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Importing Shot Log Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Setting the Pulldown Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Converting Log Files with Avid Log Exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Converting Log Files with Avid Log Exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Using Drag-and-Drop Conversion for Log Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Compatible Log Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Logging Directly to a Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Logging with an Avid-Controlled Camera or Deck. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Pausing a Deck While Logging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Logging with a Non-Avid-Controlled Camera or Deck. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Modifying Clip Information Before Capturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

The Modify Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Using the Modify Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Options for Modifying Bin Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Modifying in the Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Exporting Shot Log Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Chapter 3 Preparing to Capture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Understanding Digital Video (DV) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

What Is IEEE Standard 1394?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

What Is OHCI? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Preparing the Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Selecting Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Using General Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Transfer Settings for Film Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Selecting Capture Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Creating a GPI Trigger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Deleting a GPI Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Editing an Existing GPI Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Configuring Decks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Deck Settings Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Deleting Deck Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Setting Deck Preferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Understanding Drop-Frame and Non-Drop-Frame Timecode. . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Setting Up the Capture Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Opening the Capture Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Changing the Power Scheme. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Setting the Video and Audio Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Selecting Video Input. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Saving a Custom Default Setting for the Video Input Tool . . . . . . . 88

Selecting Audio Input. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Selecting a Deck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Selecting a Tape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Selecting Source Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Detecting Valid or Locked Capture Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Selecting a Resolution in the Capture Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Selecting a Format in the Capture Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Setting Media Creation Resolutions and Selecting Drives . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Selecting a Media Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Disabling Editor Resolutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Selecting a Draft Resolution for DV Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Selecting a Target Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Selecting the Target Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Targeting a Single Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Targeting Separate Drives for Audio and Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Interpreting the Time Remaining Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Capturing to Multiple Media Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Selecting the Preroll Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Capturing Across Timecode Breaks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Preparing for Audio Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Selecting the Audio File Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Establishing Sync for Audio-Only Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Checking for a Valid Digital Sync Signal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Adjusting Audio Project Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Configuring the Sound Card (Software-Only Systems) . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Sound Card Configuration with Surround Sound Capabilities

(Software-Only Systems) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Using the Audio Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Resizing the Audio Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Adjusting the Reference Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Selecting a Peak Hold Option. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Adjusting Audio Input Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Creating Tone Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Calibrating Input Channels for the Audio I/O Device . . . . . . . . . . 124

Calibrating Output Channels for the Audio I/O Device . . . . . . . . . 125

Using the Passthrough Mix Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Resizing the Passthrough Mix Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Monitoring Audio with the Passthrough Mix Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Changing an Audio Level in the Passthrough Mix Tool . . . . . . . . 129

Adjusting Pan Values in the Passthrough Mix Tool . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Audio Meters in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Using the Meter Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Adjusting Volume Control in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Using the Console Window to Check Audio Levels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Calibrating for Video Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Manually Calibrating for Video Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Limitations When Using Consumer Decks or Decks Without

Time-Base Correctors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Capturing from Unstable Time-Base Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Green Line in VHS Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Saving Video Input Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Saving a Custom Default Setting for the Video Input Tool . . . . . . . . . 142

Adjusting Video Levels Without Color Bars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Chapter 4 Capturing Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Before You Begin Capturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Adding Clip Names and Comments On-the-Fly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Adding Extra Text Fields in the Capture Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Adding Locators On-the-Fly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Creating Subclips While Capturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

DV Capture Offset. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Capturing DV 50 and DVCPRO HD Media Directly from a DV Device . . . . 155

Delaying Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Capturing and Logging at the Same Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Capturing from One Point to Another . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Capturing from an IN Point to an OUT Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Setting Both Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Setting Only One Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Capturing On-the-Fly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Autocapture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Capturing with Time-of-Day Timecode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Capturing in Satellite Mode or No Device Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Remote Play and Capture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Selecting Remote Play and Capture Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

Enabling Remote Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Enabling Remote Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Changing the Serial Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Setting a Timed Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Capturing Audio from a Music CD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Capturing to the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Patching When Capturing to the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

Batch Capturing from Logged Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Preparing to Batch Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Batch Capturing Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Modifying the Pulldown Phase After Capturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

DV Scene Extraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Setting Up DV Scene Extraction Before Capturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Setting Up DV Scene Extraction After Capturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Recapturing Your Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Recapturing Master Clips and Subclips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Recapturing Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Saving Two Versions of a Sequence When Recapturing. . . . . . . 191

Using Decompose When Recapturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Recapturing the Sequence Without Using Decompose . . . . . . . . 193

Other Capture Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Working in Quick Record Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Controlling Decks from the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

Changing Function Key Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

Naming a New Tape from the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Ejecting Tapes with a Button or Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Returning to the Previous Place in the Select Tape Dialog Box . . . . . 199

Chapter 5 Importing Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Preparing to Import Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Working with Mixed-Resolution Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Creating and Using Import Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Importing Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Using the Drag-and-Drop Method to Import Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Importing Photoshop Graphics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Importing Single-Layer Photoshop Graphics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Importing Multilayered Photoshop Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Understanding Multilayered Graphics Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Importing Multilayered Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

Importing Media from XDCAM Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Connecting the XDCAM Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

Setting the XDCAM Import Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Importing XDCAM Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Automatically Importing Proxy Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

Importing All Proxy Media from an XDCAM Disc . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Copying XDCAM Proxy Media to a Local Drive or a Server . . . . . 223

Manually Importing XDCAM Media from the XDCAM Disc . . . . . . 224

Importing Essence Marks as Locators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Editing the Proxy Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

Batch Importing High-Resolution Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Editing and Finishing High-Resolution Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Importing Editcam Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Reimporting Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

The Batch Import Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Selected Clips Section. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Import Target Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Import Options Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Starting the Reimport Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

Chapter 6 Output Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Preparing for Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Selecting Video Output. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

Establishing Sync for Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

Selecting Sync for HD Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Using LTC Timecode for Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Calibrating for Video Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Using the Factory Preset Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

Basic Video Output Calibration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

Using Test Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

Adjusting Phase Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

Calibrating the System with Passthrough Signals . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

Preparing for Audio Output. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

Calibrating for Audio Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

Setting the Calibration Tone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

Calibrating Global Output Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

Adjusting Audio Output. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

Preparing Record Tapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

Frame-Accurate Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

Recording Bars and Tone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Enabling Assemble-Edit Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Crossconverting and Downconverting for HD Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

Using the Digital Cut Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

Selecting a Deck in the Digital Cut Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Using ExpertRender to Prepare Effects for a Digital Cut. . . . . . . . . . . 262

Previewing a Digital Cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

Outputting DV 50 DVCPRO HD Media Directly to a DV Device . . . . . 265

Selecting Output and Timecode Formats for 23.976p and

25p Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266

Selecting Output Formats for 23.976p and 25p Projects . . . . . . . 266

Selecting Output Formats for 23.976p Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Selecting the Timecode Format for Output. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Outputting Drop-Frame and Non-Drop-Frame Timecode

Simultaneously for Downstream Encoding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

Indicating the Destination Timecode Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

Performing a Digital Cut to Tape (Remote Mode) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

Crash Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

Performing a Digital Cut to Tape (Local Mode) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

Output Mode Resolution Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

Output Mode Resolutions with Progressive Projects . . . . . . . . . . 280

DV Digital Cut Offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

Understanding Passthrough. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Using EDL Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Chapter 7 Exporting and Exchanging Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Exporting Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

Preparing to Export a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

Mixing Down Video Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

Exporting Frames, Clips, or Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Using the Drag-and-Drop Method for Export . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

Using Distributed Media Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

ProEncode Services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Media Browse Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Configuring a DMS Broker Client on an Avid Editing Application. . . . . 294

Using the DMS Broker Services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

Additional Tasks Performed by the Media Browse Services . . . . . . . . 296

Using ProEncode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

Improving Workflow Using Send To . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Send To Digidesign Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

Send To DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

Send To Sorenson Squeeze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304

Send To Avid DS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

Send To Third-Party Applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

Exporting Video in DV Stream Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

Customizing Export Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312

Preset Export Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312

Creating a New Export Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313

Exporting OMFI and AAF Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314

Exporting Through OMF Interchange. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

Exporting Through AAF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

Selecting an OMFI or an AAF Transfer Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Exporting OMFI or AAF Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Exchanging Titles in OMFI Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

QuickTime Reference Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319

Exporting as a QuickTime Reference Movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

Exporting as a QuickTime Movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322

Selecting QuickTime Codecs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325

Avid Codecs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

Using the Avid Codecs for QuickTime. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

Exporting with Avid QuickTime Codecs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328

Exporting As an AVI File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

Installing an Avid Codec on Other Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334

Copying an Avid Codec for QuickTime to a Windows System . . . 334

Exporting from a Third-Party Application. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

Exporting as Windows Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

Exporting Using an Avid Supplied Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

Exporting Using an Existing Windows Media Profile. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338

Exporting Using a Custom Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

Creating a Custom Video Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

Creating a Custom Audio Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342

Exporting Tracks As Audio Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

Exporting As a Graphics File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

Transferring a Project Between Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346

Methods for Transferring Files Between Avid Editing Systems. . . . . . 347

Compatibility Requirements for Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347

Transferring a Project and Associated Media Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348

Transferring Projects, User Profiles, and Site Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . 349

Transferring Projects and Bins Using AFE Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350

Transferring Media to and from a Video Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352

Setting Up a Video Server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352

Configuring the Video Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353

Configuring the Video Server As a Deck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353

Transferring from the Avid Editing System to the Video Server . . . . . 354

Transferring from the Video Server to the Avid Editing System . . . . . 356

Chapter 8 Using the NRCS Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357

Configuring the NRCS Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358

Configuring the ENPS Server for Avid Clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358

Configuring the NRCS Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360

Starting the NRCS Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364

Understanding the NRCS Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365

Using the Directory Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368

Opening a Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368

Creating a Shortcut to a Directory (iNEWS Only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369

Removing a Shortcut to a Directory (iNEWS Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370

Deleting a Story (iNEWS Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370

Changing the Text Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370

Editing Story Text (iNEWS Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371

Rearranging Text in a Story (iNEWS Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372

Marking Text As Presenter Instructions (iNEWS Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . 372

Marking Text As Closed Caption (iNEWS Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372

Adding a Production Cue (iNEWS Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373

Deleting a Production Cue (iNEWS Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374

Marking Text As Machine Control (iNEWS Only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374

Formatting Text (iNEWS Only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374

Marking Text As Normal (iNEWS Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375

Adding a Loaded Cue (iNEWS Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375

Using a Loaded Cue (iNEWS Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377

Deleting a Loaded Cue (iNEWS Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377

Finding the Read Time of a Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378

Building a Sequence from a Story. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379

Script-Based IN and OUT Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382

Setting Timeline IN and OUT Points Based on Story Timing . . . . . . . . 382

Adjusting the Story Timing (iNEWS Only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384

Adjusting the Story Timing with a Time Marker (iNEWS Only) . . . . . . 385

Adjusting the Story Timing with a Time Pad (iNEWS Only) . . . . . . . . 386

Using Associated Sequences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388

Saving Changes to a Story (iNEWS Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390

Using the Post to Web Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391

Processing the Script. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391

Creating a Web Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391

Linking Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393

Using Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395

The Story Tag. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396

The Text Tag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396

The Clip Tag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398

The Videoformat Tag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400

The Hyperclip Tag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402

Using a Template with Post to Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403

Posting a Story to the Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405

Sending and Receiving NRCS Mail (iNEWS Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408

Sending NRCS Tool Mail (iNEWS only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408

Receiving NRCS Tool Mail (iNEWS only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408

Disconnecting from Your NRCS Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409

Appendix A Working with HD Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411

High-Definition Television. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412

HDTV Workflows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414

Film-Based Television Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414

Video-Based Television Workflow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418

Broadcast Graphics Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421

Starting an HD Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422

Capturing HD Video and Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423

HD Resolutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423

HD Video and Audio Input. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426

Video Input Tool for HD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427

True 24 FPS Timecode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428

Playback Modes for HD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428

Video Color Space for HD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428

Changing the Project Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429

Editing in HD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431

Modifying the Format of a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431

Mixing SD and HD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433

Displaying Formats in a Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434

Displaying 16:9 HD Video in Monitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434

Editing at 60 fps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435

Transcoding HD Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435

Setting Video Output for HD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436

Output Menu (HD Tab). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437

HD Crossconvert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437

SD Downconvert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438

Test Patterns for HD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440

OutputLock for HD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441

Recording a Digital Cut for HD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441

Video Import and Export for HD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445

Tables

Supported Resolutions and Hardware Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Compatible Log Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Options for Modifying Bin Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

GPI Settings Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

GPI Node Settings Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Deck Settings Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Audio Tool Components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Audio Meter Menu Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Luminance Settings for Video Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Video Level Adjustment Criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Scheduled Capture Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Quick Record Condition Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Support for Photoshop Layer Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Support for Photoshop Special Layer Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

XDCAM Resolutions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Output Sync Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Video Format Output Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

Luminance Settings for Video Output. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

DV 50 and DVCPRO HD Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

23.976p and 25p Project Output Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

Audio Play Rates for 23.976p and 25p Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

Audio Play Rates for 23.976p Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Output Mode Resolution Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

Progressive Project Output Mode Resolution Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

Devices for Transferring Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347

Default Folder and File Locations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349

NRCS Tool Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366

Supported HDTV Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412

HD Online Formats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422

HD Resolutions: 1080 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424

HD Resolutions: 720 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425

Avid HD Formats and Other HD Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425

Offline Formats for HD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429

Choices for Modifying Sequences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432

Output Sync Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441

Using This Guide

The Avid® NewsCutter® products help editors, journalists, Web authors, and other professionals create broadcast-quality output. Users can incorporate production elements from full-speed, high-resolution footage, to multimedia artwork and animation, to computer-generated effects and titling.

This documentation describes the features and hardware of all the NewsCutter products. Therefore, your system might not contain certain features and hardware that are covered in the documentation.

Symbols and Conventions

Avid documentation uses the following symbols and conventions:

Symbol or Convention Meaning or Action

> This symbol indicates menu commands (and

A note provides important related information, reminders, recommendations, and strong suggestions.

A caution means that a specific action you take could cause harm to your computer or cause you to lose data.

A warning describes an action that could cause you physical harm. Follow the guidelines in this document or on the unit itself when handling electrical equipment.

subcommands) in the order you select them. For example, File > Import means to open the File menu and then select the Import command.

Using This Guide

Symbol or Convention Meaning or Action

Margin tips

Italic font Italic font is used to emphasize certain words and to

Courier Bold font

Ctrl+key or mouse action Press and hold the first key while you press the last

If You Need Help

If you are having trouble using your Avid editing system, you should:

1. Retry the action, carefully following the instructions given for that task in this guide. It is especially important to check each step of your workflow.

2. Check for the latest information that might have become available after the documentation was published in one of two locations:

This symbol indicates a single-step procedure. Multiple arrows in a list indicate that you perform one of the actions listed.

In the margin, you will find tips that help you perform tasks more easily and efficiently.

indicate variables.

Courier Bold font identifies text that you type.

key or perform the mouse action. For example, Ctrl+drag.

- If release notes are available, they ship with your application.

- If ReadMe files are available, they are supplied in your Avid

application folder. ReadMe files are also available from the Help.

Release notes and ReadMe files are also available on the Avid Knowledge Base.

3. Check the documentation that came with your Avid application or your hardware for maintenance or hardware-related issues.

4. Visit the online Knowledge Base at www.avid.com/onlinesupport. Online services are available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Search this online Knowledge Base to find answers, to view error messages, to access troubleshooting tips, to download updates, and to read/join online message-board discussions.

Accessing the Online Library

The Avid NewsCutter Products Online Library CD-ROM contains all the product documentation in PDF format. You can access the library from the Online Library CD-ROM or from the Help menu.

Accessing the Online Library

You will need Adobe® Reader® installed to view the documentation online. The Acrobat folder on the CD-ROM contains an installer for Acrobat Reader. The [tutorial and the] effects reference guide require[s] Apple’s QuickTime application to view the QuickTime movies. You can download the latest version of QuickTime from the Apple

To access the online library from the Online Library CD-ROM:

1. Insert the Online Library CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive.

2. Double-click the Mainmenu file.

To access the online library from the Help:

1. Insert the Online Library CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive.

2. In your Avid application, select Help > Online Library.

How to Order Documentation

To order additional copies of this documentation from within the United States, call Avid Sales at 800-949-AVID (800-949-2843). If you are placing an order from outside the United States, contact your local Avid representative.

Web site.

Avid Educational Services

For information on courses/schedules, training centers, certifications, courseware, and books, please visit www.avid.com/training or call Avid Sales at 800-949-AVID (800-949-2843).

Using This Guide

Chapter 1

Planning a Project

This chapter gives a brief description of video formats and resolutions supported by your Avid editing application, and other information that can help you plan your project. This chapter includes the following topics:

• Types of Projects

• Project Resolutions

• Working with Mixed-Resolution Projects

• NTSC and PAL Image Sizes

• Software-Only Avid Editing Systems

• Sample Workflow

Types of Projects

When you start a project on your Avid editing application, you need to decide on a project type. Select your project type based on your source footage. You can select one of the following options from the New Project dialog box:

• 23.976p NTSC: For footage that has been shot at 23.976-fps with advanced pulldown, or for film-originated footage in which you want to use digital audio. See “Working in a 23.976p NTSC Project” on page 26 and “Capturing with Advanced Pulldown” on page 27.

• 30i NTSC: For NTSC video-originated footage (30 fps)

• 25p PAL: For 25-fps footage, transferred to PAL videotape

• 25i PAL: For PAL video-originated footage (25 fps)

• 720p/59.94: For HD broadcast

Chapter 1 Planning a Project

• 1080p/23.976: For HD online editing. Film-originated material can be

• 1080p/25: For HD online editing. Film-originated material can be

• 1080i/50: For HD broadcast

• 1080i/59.94: For HD broadcast

In the 30i NTSC and 25i PAL options, the i represents interlaced frames played at 30 fps or 25 fps. An interlaced frame consists of two fields, each of which contains one-half the scan lines of the frame. Interlaced frames are standard for NTSC and PAL video media.

transferred to this format for editing and effects.

Not all project types and resolutions are available on all Avid editors. Therefore, your system might not support certain project types or resolutions that are covered in the documentation.

For more information on 23.976 projects, see “Working in a 23.976p NTSC

Project” on page 26 and “Capturing with Advanced Pulldown” on page 6.

Working in a 23.976p NTSC Project

Avid editing systems include a 23.976p NTSC project type. This project type is especially designed for capture and output of digital audio that has been transferred or recorded at 48 kHz, in sync with picture at 23.976 fps. A 23.976 project lets you maintain digital standards for all NTSC input and output at

23.976 fps. This rate can be downconverted to standard NTSC without further audio slowdown. Audio captured at 48 kHz can remain at 48 kHz throughout the project.

Select this project type for one of the following reasons:

• Your audio and video sources have been shot at a camera rate of 23.976 fps using Advanced Pulldown (see “Capturing with Advanced Pulldown”

on page 27). This frame rate, sometimes referred to as 24p by

video-equipment manufacturers, is a DV-based standard-definition format, with media being recorded and played back at 23.976 fps. Your Avid editing application takes full advantage of the high-quality progressive nature of this media, as you work in a 1:1 relationship with the frame rate at which you captured your media.

Types of Projects

• This rate is also used for film (film-based television) or 24p HD video (television or feature film). These sources can be downconverted to standard NTSC without further audio slowdown. Audio captured at 48 kHz can remain at 48 kHz throughout the project.

n n

• Your film and audio sources have been synced in the telecine process and transferred to Digital Betacam

The 23.976 fps frame rate is sometimes referred to as 23.97 fps or 23.98 fps.

The 23.976 fps frame rate is in direct proportion to the NTSC broadcast frame rate of 23.97 fps, which is used for film-to-tape transfer to the Avid editing system.

Be aware of the following considerations:

• For film projects shot at 24fps, audio must be “pulled down” or “slowed down” before it can be captured into a 23.976p project. The user does not have the choice of capturing non-pulled-down audio. Unlike 24p NTSC projects, where the audio pulldown switch can be set to 1.0 or 0.99 to support either 24 fps or 23.976 fps, 23.976p projects do not use the audio pulldown switch. These 23.976p projects can only support 48 kHz audio that is in sync with 23.976-fps picture on a 29.97-fps transfer tape.

• OMF (Open Media Framework

23.976p project look slightly different from those from a 24p project. The edit rates will show up as 23.976 fps in these files.

Because of the way project information is stored, previous versions of Avid editing systems do not recognize 23.976p projects as being different from 24p projects. You can open 23.976p projects in previous versions, however, none of the media can play because of the different internal edit rates. Projects are not corrupted by opening them in older versions of the software (unless you try to modify clips or edit sequences). If necessary, you can recapture the media in the 24p project.

or other digital videotape formats.

) and AAF files that are output from a

Capturing with Advanced Pulldown

When you capture NTSC footage with a mini-DV camera over an IEEE®1394 connection, you can choose to capture with Advanced pulldown. This allows native DV editing applications such as your Avid application to create 23.976p media. Advanced pulldown is set automatically when you capture and requires no further adjustment in your Avid editing application.

Chapter 1 Planning a Project

The following figure illustrates the difference between Standard pulldown and Advanced pulldown.

24p Standard pulldown (2:3:2:3)

24p frame capture

24p Advanced pulldown (2:3:3:2)

11 1 1 122222

A1 A2 B1 B2 B3 C1 C2 D1 D2 D3

AB CD

A1 A2 B1 B2 B3 C1 C2 C3 D1 D2

11 1 1 122222

To capture with Advanced pulldown:

t Select the Advanced pulldown setting on your mini-DV camera.

Captured fields indicated with bold lines

Project Resolutions

You must capture media to begin a project. Connect your media device to the Avid Adrenaline DNA. If you have a software-only application, you can connect a DV camera or deck directly to your Avid editing system. For information on connecting your equipment, see the documentation for your system.

Alternatively, you can use a Media Station XL system or an Avid Xdeck recorder in an Avid Unity more information about these products, contact your Avid representative or visit the Avid Web site.

™

Digital Nonlinear Accelerator (DNA) or the Avid Mojo®

™

MediaNetwork environment to capture media. For

™

Project Resolutions

Project formats are described as follows:

• Avid video projects capture and store 30i-fps NTSC or 25i-fps PAL media as digital video that conforms to the ITU-R 601 standard (SDTV or standard-definition TV).

• Avid film projects capture and store 23.976p-fps NTSC media. You do your offline editing in an Avid editing application and finishing on a

™

Symphony

or Avid DS system.

• Digital video (DV) is an international standard created by a consortium of 10 companies to serve as a consumer digital video format. Avid editing applications support two DV resolutions: DV 25 and DV 50.

DV, originally known as DVC (Digital Video Cassette), uses a 1/4-inch tape to record very-high-quality digital video. The video is sampled at the

same rate as D1, D5, or Digital Betacam

video (720 pixels per scan line). The color information in DV 25 is sampled at the D1 rate 4:1:1 in 525-line (NTSC) and 4:2:0 in 625-line (PAL) formats. DV 50 is defined as 720 x 480, 50-megabit-per-second (Mb/s) 4:2:2 DV.

• MPEG 30, MPEG 40, and MPEG 50 are resolutions specifically intended to support the SMPTE Type D-10 bit stream produced and recorded by

devices such as Sony

MPEG IMX™ VTRs.

• HD projects capture and store HD media as digital video that conforms to the ITU-R 709 standard. You can complete both offline and online editing on an Avid Adrenaline HD system.

• HD projects store HD media as digital video that conforms to the ITU-R 709 standard. Avid exiting systems let you capture and output

DVCPRO HD 8-bit DNxHD

media. Avid NewsCutter XP also lets you play and render

™

media, but you cannot capture or output DNxHD media.

Your Avid editing application provides two ways to capture and playback media. You can capture and playback through the Avid DNA hardware or you can capture and playback through a separate 1394 card. For additional information see “Capturing DV 50 and DVCPRO HD Media Directly from a

DV Device” on page 155.

Chapter 1 Planning a Project

• 10-bit resolutions are available for Render, Import, Capture,

Avid editing applications allow you to capture, edit, and play back in the resolution listed in the following table.

Some Avid editing applications support DV 50, MPEG 30, MPEG 40, and MPEG 50 media, but not all models can capture them in their native formats. To capture DV 50 or an MPEG resolution, use the Avid Adrenaline DNA. You can then share the media using an Avid Unity MediaNetwork to access and edit the media.

You can select resolutions in the Media Creation dialog box (Capturing, Titles, Import, Mixdown, Motion Effects, and Render tabs).

Consolidate/Transcode, and Video Mixdown.You must be connected to Adrenaline hardware to capture and play back 10-bit video. 10-bit resolutions are available for both standard definition (SD) and high definition (HD) projects.

When working with HD projects, the 10-bit resolutions appear as DNxHD 220X, DNxHD 185X, or DNxHD 175. When working with an SD project, the 10-bit resolution appears as 1:1 10b MXF. The 10-bit resolutions are available in MXF format, not OMF format.

Your Avid editing applications also support Avid Video Resolutions (AVR). These media resolutions cannot be captured but, if you have access to the media, you can edit them using this Avid editing application.

Avid editing applications allow you to capture, edit, and play back in the resolution listed in the following table.

Supported Resolutions and Hardware Configurations

Resolution Hardware Configuration

DV 25 411 Avid Adrenaline, Avid Mojo, or separate 1394 card

DV 25p 411 Avid Adrenaline, Avid Mojo, or separate 1394 card

DV 25 420 Avid Adrenaline, Avid Mojo, or separate 1394 card

DV 25p 420 Avid Adrenaline, Avid Mojo, or separate 1394 card

DV 50 422 Separate 1394 card

Project Resolutions

Supported Resolutions and Hardware Configurations (Continued)

Resolution Hardware Configuration

DVCPRO HD Separate 1394 card

MPEG 30 Avid Adrenaline and editing and playback only with Avid Mojo

MPEG 40 Avid Adrenaline and editing and playback only with Avid Mojo

MPEG 50 Avid Adrenaline and editing and playback only with Avid Mojo

35:1 Avid Adrenaline

28:1 Avid Adrenaline, Avid Mojo, or separate 1394 card

20:1 Avid Adrenaline

14:1 Avid Adrenaline

10:1 Avid Adrenaline

3:1 Avid Adrenaline

2:1 Avid Adrenaline

1:1 (Uncompressed) Avid Adrenaline or Avid Mojo

10:1m Avid Adrenaline

8:1m Avid Adrenaline

4:1m Avid Adrenaline

3:1m Avid Adrenaline

35:1p Avid Adrenaline

28:1p Avid Adrenaline or Avid Mojo

14:1p Avid Adrenaline

3:1p Avid Adrenaline

2:1p Avid Adrenaline

1:1p Avid Adrenaline or Avid Mojo

15:1s Avid Adrenaline, Avid Mojo, or separate 1394 card

4:1s Avid Adrenaline

2:1s Avid Adrenaline

Chapter 1 Planning a Project

Supported Resolutions and Hardware Configurations (Continued)

Resolution Hardware Configuration

1:1 10b MXF Avid Adrenaline or Avid Mojo

DNxHD 220X - (10 bit)

DNxHD 220 - (8 bit)

DNxHD 145 - (8 bit)

DNxHD 185X - (10 bit)

DNxHD 185 - (8 bit)

DNxHD 120 (8 bit)

DNxHD 175X - (10 bit)

DNxHD 175 - (8 bit)

DNxHD 115 - (8 bit)

These resolutions appear, along with other Avid resolutions, wherever a list of resolutions appears (for example, in the Video Resolution pop-up menu of the Media Creation dialog box). The exact list depends on the project format (NTSC or PAL).

If you have an Avid Meridien system, see the documentation or the Help that came with your Avid editing application for more information on available resolutions.

For information about input and output, see the following sections:

Avid Adrenaline

• “Configuring Decks” on page 76

• “Setting Up the Capture Tool” on page 86

• “Using the Digital Cut Tool” on page 259

Working with Mixed-Resolution Projects

The Avid editing system allows you to work with mixed resolutions in the same sequence. However, you cannot mix NTSC with PAL.

Avid recommends you do not mix interlaced resolutions with progressive resolutions. Mixing interlaced resolutions with progressive resolutions might result in problems with scrolling titles, exporting, and performing digital cuts.

For more information on mixing resolutions, see “Resolutions and Storage” in the Help.

NTSC and PAL Image Sizes

The Universal Mastering capabilities of your Avid editing application let you create both NTSC and PAL master tapes from the same project. If you plan to output both formats, consider the following information.

In the Avid editing application, NTSC video uses a 4:3 aspect ratio with a screen display of 720 x 486 pixels. DV and MPEG footage uses a screen display of 720 x 480 pixels. PAL video uses the same aspect ratio, but includes an additional 90 horizontal lines for a total screen display of 720 x 576. During the process of creating a digital cut, the Avid editing application resizes the video image to the appropriate screen dimensions. For example, if you are working in an NTSC project and want to output PAL video, the Avid editing application resizes the NTSC video image to the larger PAL screen dimensions. This is the same process used in other standalone standards converters.

Because PAL has more horizontal lines of resolution than NTSC, resizing from PAL to NTSC results in better quality, especially for imported graphics. If you plan to output both NTSC and PAL versions of a sequence, consider using PAL film-to-video transfer and graphics sized for PAL. Your choice depends on other production requirements, such as audio workflow and hardware availability.

Chapter 1 Planning a Project

Software-Only Avid Editing Systems

When you configure Avid editing systems that do not use an external Avid Adrenaline or Avid Mojo for a DV camera or deck, you need to select OHCI (Open Host Controller Interface) (for example, from the Video pop-up menu in the Capture tool). The OHCI specification is a standardized way of interacting with the 1394 bus. The IEEE 1394 interface that conforms to the specification can provide a connection between a computer and a DV camera or deck that will operate in a standard way.

The video compression format can be transferred through equipment that conforms to IEEE 1394. This equipment (cameras, video and audio decks, cables, connectors, and processing boards) is sometimes referred to as FireWire (both video and audio) directly from a DV camera or deck to an Avid editing system with no conversion loss.

The Avid editing application does not use the default Microsoft® OHCI driver, but instead uses a custom OHCI driver. Whenever you connect a new DV device (camera or deck), the Avid editing application automatically links the device to the custom OHCI driver. For more information on linking a DV device, see “Using the Avid Adrenaline” or “Using the Avid Mojo” in the Help.

or i.LINK®. IEEE 1394 connections let you transfer digital data

DV resolutions and OHCI input and output are not available in progressive projects.

Sample Workflow

the following figure shows a possible workflow using a standalone configuration. If you are in a workgroup environment, media can be brought in from, and sent back to, shared storage.

Project Workflow

Sample Workflow

1. (Option) Import a log file to create a bin.

2. Connect your equipment. For analog video, use the Avid Adrenaline or Avid Mojo. For the software only model, use the 1394 connection on the Avid editing system.

3. Capture the media in the resolution you want. If you imported a log file, batch capture. Otherwise, log and capture or capture on-the-fly.

4. Perform edits and create a final sequence.

5. Output an analog or digital, NTSC or PAL, master tape.

In a workgroup environment you can send to air or post to Web.

Software-only models

Log

DV deck or camera

1394 connection

DV deck or camera

Betacam

Source footage: NTSC 30 fps or PAL 25 fps

Betacam, Digital Betacam, or other VTR, DV deck or camera

Adrenaline device or Avid Mojo device

Avid editing system

Adrenaline DNA or Mojo DNA

Betacam, Digital Betacam, or other VTR, DV deck or camera

25-fps or 30-fps master

Chapter 1 Planning a Project

Chapter 2

Logging

When you log with a deck or import shot log files, you provide the Avid editing system with frame-accurate clip information used to capture the source footage. The logs you create form the foundation for organizing, tracking, storing, retrieving, and generating lists of edit information throughout your project. The following sections provide techniques for preparing log information prior to capturing:

• Logging Tips

• Preparing Logs for Import

• Setting the Pulldown Phase

• Converting Log Files with Avid Log Exchange

• Logging Directly to a Bin

• Modifying Clip Information Before Capturing

• Exporting Shot Log Files

Logging Tips

The following sections provide important guidelines for preroll, timecode formats, and naming of tapes when logging prior to capturing.

Logging Preroll

Be sure to leave adequate preroll with continuous timecode prior to IN points when logging your tapes. The recommended minimum preroll is 2 or 3 seconds for Betacam playback, 5 seconds for 3/4-inch U-matic playback, and 6 seconds for DV playback.

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To set the default preroll for tape playback:

1. Open the Deck Settings dialog box by doing one of the following:

t If no deck currently exists, double-click Deck Configuration in the

Settings scroll list to open the Deck Configuration dialog box, click Add Channel, and then click Add Deck.

t If a deck already exists, double-click Deck Configuration in the

Settings scroll list to open the Deck Configuration dialog box, and then double-click the deck name.

t Select Tools > Capture to open the Capture tool, and then click the

Deck Selection pop-up menu, and select Adjust Deck.

2. Click the Preroll pop-up menu, and select a preroll time.

Preroll setting

Logging Timecode

Within an NTSC project, check the timecode format of each tape (drop-frame versus non-drop-frame timecode) when you are logging without a tape in the deck.

Drop-frame timecode and non-drop-frame timecode exist only in NTSC projects.

To log drop-frame timecode when there is no tape in the deck:

1. Double-click Deck Preferences in the Settings scroll list.

The Deck Preferences dialog box opens.

Log As pop-up menu

Logging Tips

2. Click the Log As pop-up menu, and select Drop Frame. When you are bringing in a bin created outside of the Avid editing system, use semicolons (;) between the hours, minutes, seconds, and frames.

To log non-drop-frame timecode when there is no tape in the deck:

1. Double-click Deck Preferences in the Settings scroll list.

The Deck Preferences dialog box opens.

2. Click the Log As pop-up menu, and select Non-drop Frame. When you are bringing in a bin created outside of the Avid editing system, use colons (:) between the hours, minutes, seconds, and frames.

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Naming Tapes

When you type tape names in the Capture tool, consider the following:

• It is important that you devise a naming scheme for your tapes. For example, tapes with similar names can be easily sorted and viewed together in a bin. However, it might be difficult to distinguish among tapes with similar names when you try to locate a specific tape quickly. Name tapes based upon the amount and complexity of your source material.

• Tape names must be alphanumeric characters (A–Z, 0–9), with no spaces before the name. They can include uppercase and lowercase letters. Bin names are now limited to 27 characters (not including the 4 characters reserved for the file name extension).

• It is possible to have a single tape listed as several different tapes if you alter the case of the letters. This can cause significant problems in keeping track of clips. Choose a case convention and maintain it throughout a project.

• If you are planning to generate an edit decision list (EDL) for import into an edit controller for online editing, double-check the controller’s specifications beforehand. Some edit controllers will truncate source tape names to as few as six characters, while others will eliminate characters and truncate to three numbers.

Double-Checking the Logs

When importing shot logs for video, the Avid editing system compares the video duration to the video out minus the video in. When importing film shot logs, the system compares the key number out minus the key number in.

If the Avid editing application detects a discrepancy, it reports the error and does not bring the clip into the bin.

To ensure that clips are not discarded on import:

t Double-check the logs for discrepancies in duration and marks.

Adding a Memory Mark

You can add a memory mark to a particular location on a tape. The Mark Memory button in the Capture tool allows you to add one mark per tape. The Go to Memory button allows you to move through the tape to the marked location. You can clear the memory mark by using the Clear Memory button.

The memory mark is not stored on the tape. When you remove the tape from the deck, the mark is cleared.

Logging Tips

Go to Memory button

Clear Memory button

Mark Memory button

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Preparing Logs for Import

For Avid Log Exchange information, see “Avid Log Specifications” in the Help.

Avid editing applications provide many useful tools to help you prepare frame-accurate log information for import to the bin from any number of sources. This process might involve using a word processor or standard text editor to create and import logs, including those using the Avid Log Exchange (ALE) format.

Creating Avid Logs

You can prepare an Avid log on any Windows® or Macintosh® computer by using a word processing application or a text editor. To ensure accuracy, you must follow the Avid log specifications.

You can use any text editor to create Avid logs. However, you must save the file as a text document (ASCII format).

Your Windows system ships with a text editor called WordPad. WordPad can handle large files, and it allows you to save the files as text documents.

To start WordPad:

t Click the Start button, and select All Programs > Accessories > WordPad.

To create Avid logs by using a word processor:

1. Enter shot log information according to the specifications.

For Avid log specification information, see “Avid Log Specifications” in the Help.

2. Save your file as a text file in the Save As dialog box.

Avid editing applications accept only text files (ASCII format).

When you are logging manually, document the following information:

• Identify the source tape for each shot.

• Document each clip’s name, start timecode, and end timecode.

This is the minimum information required to capture successfully. You can also add other information such as comments or auxiliary timecodes. You can make a separate log file for each videotape, or you can log clips from several different videotapes into one log.

Importing Shot Log Files

You can import any log created or converted to meet Avid log specifications. You can also combine or merge events while importing a log so that fewer master tapes require capturing. The system imports any additional information logged with each clip.

To import shot log files into a bin:

1. Open a bin, click anywhere in an open bin to select it, or create a new bin for the shot log import.

2. Select File > Import.

The Select Files to Import dialog box opens.

Preparing Logs for Import

Up One Level button

Files of type pop-up menu

Options button

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3. Do one of the following:

t Click the Files of type pop-up menu, and select Shot Log.

The system displays file types that belong to the selected category only.

t Click the Files of type pop-up menu, and select All Files.

The system displays all files in a selected folder, regardless of file type. Use this option if you want to batch import multiple file types.

When batch importing multiple files and file types, you should establish global Import settings in advance. See “Creating and Using Import Settings” on

page 202.

4. Click Options to open the Import Settings dialog box if you want to select options for combining events on import from the Import settings.

5. Click the Shot Log tab. For more information about shot log options, see

“Import Settings” in the Help.

6. After selecting the appropriate options, click OK to return to the Select Files to Import dialog box.

7. Use the Up One Level button to locate the folder containing the source file.

8. Select the file.

9. Click Open.

When the system finishes importing the file, the clips appear in the selected bin.

Setting the Pulldown Phase

For information about the pulldown process, see “Transferring 24-fps Film” in the Help.

Set Pulldown Phase option

If you are logging or capturing 24-fps sources (film-to-tape transfers, media downconverted from 1080p/24 footage, or both), you can set the pulldown-to-timecode relationship for a transferred tape in the 24P Settings dialog box.

You set this relationship by selecting the pulldown phase (sometimes called the pulldown frame or pullin frame), which is the video frame at which the master clip starts. The pulldown phase is designated A, B, X, C, or D. Film labs and transfer houses typically use the A frame to start the transfer.

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The following illustration shows the relationship between film frames and video frames.

Four film frames

Five NTSC video frames (ten fields) an odd and an even

odd

even

odd

even

odd

even

odd

even

odd

even

The Set Pulldown Phase setting lets you log, batch capture, and capture on-the-fly more easily, because the correct pulldown phase of any IN point for a particular tape is automatically determined. Setting the correct pulldown phase prevents inaccuracies in cut lists and matchback EDLs. It also prevents incorrectly captured clips that appear to stutter when played in 24p NTSC projects.

For example, if you set the pulldown phase of 00:00:00:00 as A (indicating that the A frame is located at timecodes ending in 0 or 5), any timecode you log will calculate its pulldown phase based on the same sync point, regardless of where you set the IN point. If you use the Capture tool to log a clip that starts at 01:00:10:01, the Avid system automatically enters B in the Pullin column of the bin. If you capture on-the-fly starting at 01:00:10:01 (a B frame), the system begins to capture at the next A frame, in this case, 01:00:10:05.

The Set Pulldown Phase feature does not work if you capture from a mark IN.

Converting Log Files with Avid Log Exchange

For information about fixing an incorrectly logged sync point, see

“Modifying the Pulldown Phase After Capturing” on page 184.

The pulldown-to-timecode relationship might vary from tape to tape, or within the same tape, depending on how the footage was transferred. If you find that a tape requires a different pulldown phase, you can change the setting in the 24P Settings dialog box, or use the Modify Pulldown Phase dialog box before capturing (see “Modifying the Pulldown Phase After Capturing” on page 184).

To set the pulldown phase:

1. Determine the correct pulldown phase for 00:00:00:00 in one of the following ways:

t If you are capturing film-to-tape transfers, check the transfer log.

t If you are capturing tapes that have been downconverted from

1080p/24, check what pulldown frame was set for 00:00:00:00 on the deck that performed the conversion.

2. Double-click 24P in the Settings scroll list of the Project window.

3. Select the option Set Pulldown Phase of Timecode 00:00:00:00 and then click the pop-up menu, and select the correct pulldown phase (A, B, X, C, D).

4. Click OK.

Converting Log Files with Avid Log Exchange

You can use the ALE utility included with your system to quickly convert shot log files created by other sources:

The ALE utility allows you to:

• Modify the text in a log file.

• Convert log files of different formats to ALE files (see “Compatible Log

Formats” on page 54).

• Convert an ALE file to either an ATN or FLX file.

Any options you set in the ALE utility are saved each time you close the ALE utility.

When you are converting an ATN file that contains multiple sections to an ALE file, multiple ALE files are created. The Avid Log Exchange window displays only the first ALE file created. The succeeding ALE files are given the same file name with incremental numbering. For example, the file

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Nations1.atn is converted to Nations001.ale, Nations002.ale, Nations003.ale, and so on. The converted output files are stored in the folder containing the original input file.

Converting Log Files with Avid Log Exchange

To convert a log file to an ALE file:

1. Click the Start button, and select All Programs >Avid > Avid Log Exchange.

The Avid Log Exchange window opens.

2. Perform one of the following:

t If the log file is a Final Cut Pro

, Cinema Tools™, or a Tabbed shot

log file, select File > Import > file type.

t If the log file is another file type, such as .flx or .atn, select File >

Open.

The Open dialog box opens.

Converting Log Files with Avid Log Exchange

3. Double-click the file you want to convert.

The Import Header options box appears.

4. Select the information you want to appear in the global settings of the .ale file. The global settings appear at the top of the .ale file.

5. Click OK.

6. Depending on the type of file you are opening, one of the following occurs:

- If the file type is recognized by the ALE utility, the file appears in the

Avid Log Exchange window.

- If the file does not contain the Windows line-ending format, then the

Line Endings dialog box opens. Select an option from the following table.

Click To

Display & Save Open the file in the Avid Log Exchange window and change

the file to the Windows format.

Display Only Open the file in the Avid Log Exchange window, but not

change the file.

Ignore Display the file as is without changes.

The file appears in the Avid Log Exchange window.

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- If the file type is not recognized, the Select File Type dialog box opens. Select the type of file you are converting and click OK.

The file appears in the Avid Log Exchange window.

For specific information on the various file types, see “Compatible Log

Formats” on page 54.

7. Use the Options menu to select the tracks to include in the Tracks column of the log. The default track selections are Log V, Log A1, and Log A2.

After you import the log into an Avid bin, the system captures all tracks shown in this column when batch capturing.

The Track selection only works on non-ALE files being converted to ALE format. When ALE is the incoming format, Track selection does not work.

8. Select Options > Clean if you want ALE to clean the ALE output file to eliminate overlapping timecodes for clips. By default, Clean is selected.

When you select Clean, the utility changes the end timecode of a previous event to be less than the following event.

Converting Log Files with Avid Log Exchange

9. If you selected Clean, you can also select Options > Relaxed to prevent the deleting of events that come earlier in the transfer. Relaxed is not set by default.

For example, if you transfer film footage with a timecode of 2:00:00:00 and then add some clips at the end with a timecode of 1:00:00:00, Relaxed prevents the deleting of events that come earlier in the transfer. This occurs when you shoot footage across the midnight hour and the first half of the film has 24 hours and the second half has 0 hours.

10. Select Convert > ALE.

The default output selection is the ALE format. This is the required format for import into an Avid bin.

The Avid Log Exchange window displays the converted ALE file. The converted file has the same file name as the original file, except the file name extension matches the converted file format.

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11. (Option) Select the original file from the Window menu if you want to convert the file again using different options.

12. Select File > Close.

If you made changes in the editor, a message box opens.

13. Click Yes.

The converted file is stored in the same folder as the original log file.

Using Drag-and-Drop Conversion for Log Files

Use this shortcut to convert files into an ALE file.

If the log file is a Final Cut Pro, Cinema Tools, or a Tabbed shot log file, you cannot use drag-and-drop conversion. Use the procedure in “Converting Log

Files with Avid Log Exchange” on page 48) to convert files of this type.

To convert a log file by using drag-and-drop conversion:

1. Check the options that are set in the ALE utility (see “Converting Log

Files with Avid Log Exchange” on page 48). The current options are used

when you perform drag-and-drop conversion.

2. Create a shortcut for the ALE utility.

3. Open the folder that contains the files you want to convert, positioning the folder so the Shortcut icon for the ALE utility is visible.

4. Select the files you want to convert.

Converting Log Files with Avid Log Exchange

Avid Log Exchange Shortcut icon

5. Drag the selected files to the Shortcut icon for the ALE utility, and release the mouse button.

6. Depending on the type of files you are converting, one of the following occurs:

- If the file type is recognized by the ALE utility, a message box opens,

indicating the conversion was successful.

- If the file type is not recognized, the Select File Type dialog box

opens. Select the type of file you are converting and click OK.

A message box opens, indicating the conversion was successful.

- If the file type is an ALE file, the ALE Convert Type dialog box

opens. Select a file type for the converted output file and click OK.

A message box opens, indicating the conversion was successful.

7. Click OK to close the message box.

The converted files have the same file names as the original files, except the file name extension matches the converted file format.

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For example, the .ale file name extension is added to the new file names for the Avid format. The converted files are stored in the folder containing the original log files.

Compatible Log Formats

The following table lists the log formats that can be imported directly or converted for import using Avid Log Exchange (ALE).

Compatible Log Formats

Log Format Requirements File Name Extension

AatonBase Conversion required .atn or .atl

Avid Log Import directly .ale

Cinema Tools Conversion required .txt

CMX EDL Conversion required .cmx

Evertz Conversion required .ftl

Excalibur Conversion required .ale or .flx

Final Cut Pro Conversion required .txt

FLEx Conversion required .flx

Keyscope Conversion required .ksl

Log Producer Conversion required .llp

Log right Import directly .ale

OLE Conversion required .odb

Shotlister Import directly .ale

Tab Delimited Conversion required .txt

Logging Directly to a Bin

You can log clips directly to a bin by using the Capture tool in one of two ways described in this section:

Logging Directly to a Bin

For complete information on working with bin columns and clip information, see

“Organizing Bin Information” in the Help.

• Log directly to a bin with an Avid-controlled deck for semiautomated data entry.

• Log manually during or after viewing of footage offline with a non-Avidcontrolled deck or other source.

Logging with an Avid-Controlled Camera or Deck

When you log with a DV camera or compatible video deck controlled from within your Avid editing application, you can automate part of the logging process by using buttons to enter frame-accurate timecode information from the camera or deck. This method is more accurate than manual entry because timecodes are transferred directly from tape to the bin.

To log clips to a bin by using the Capture tool:

1. Make sure the camera or deck is properly connected, and turn on power to the video deck.

2. Open the bin in which you want to store the clips.

3. Select Tools > Capture.

The Capture tool opens.

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Mark IN button

Channel Selection buttons

Deck Selection pop-up menu

Source Tape Display button

Capture/Log Mode button

4. To select a deck or device, click the Deck Selection pop-up menu, select Autoconfigure or Adjust Deck, and then load your tape into the deck.

The Select Tape dialog box opens.

Logging Directly to a Bin

5. Do one of the following:

t Click Cancel to stop the process at any time.

t Select “Show other projects” to display the tape names and associated

project names for all bins that have been opened in the current session.

t Click “Scan for tapes” to scan the system and display tape names and

associated project names for all media files that are currently online (drives that are currently mounted on the system).

6. Click the Capture/Log Mode button in the Capture tool until the LOG icon appears.

7. Click the Source Tape Display button.

A dialog box opens.

8. Click Yes to open the Select Tape dialog box.

9. Double-click the name of the tape in the dialog box, or click New and type the name of the tape. Click OK.

A message that the system is waiting for you to mark an IN point is displayed in the message bar.

Mark IN

Mark OUT

Go to IN

Go to OUT

Mark OUT and Log

10. Set the first point by using one of the following methods: t Click the Mark IN button in the upper left corner of the Capture tool

or press F4.

t Use the deck controls in the Capture tool to cue your source tape to

the start or end point, and click the Mark IN or the Mark OUT button.

t If the footage starts at a known IN point or ends at a known OUT

point, type the timecode in the text box next to the Mark IN or the Mark OUT button. Then enter the mark by pressing the Go to IN or the Go to OUT button, which scans the tape forward to the mark, or by pressing Enter.

After you set the point, the Mark IN button changes to either the Mark OUT and Log or the Mark IN and Log button.

If you want to pause the deck while you enter a clip name and comments, see

“Pausing a Deck While Logging” on page 58.

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11. To finish logging the clip, do one of the following:

t Set the remaining IN or OUT point on-the-fly by using the Mark IN

or Mark OUT buttons, or by pressing F4.

t Type a timecode for the clip’s IN point, OUT point, or duration in the

timecode text boxes next to the corresponding icon, and press Enter.

The system automatically calculates the appropriate timecode for the remaining IN point, OUT point, or duration, and enters the clip into the bin. The clip name, which is automatically numbered by the system, is highlighted and ready to be changed.

You must enter two of the three timecode marks (IN point, OUT point, or duration) to complete the log entry.

12. Name the clip by typing a new name before clicking any of the buttons in the Capture tool.

Consider changing the clip name immediately because it is easy to forget the contents of each clip if you are logging many clips. You can, if necessary, accept the clip name, proceed with the logging process, and then change the clip names in the bin at a later time.

13. Repeat these steps until you have logged all your clips.

While viewing the footage, you can continuously update your marks on-the-fly by clicking the Mark IN or the Mark OUT button repeatedly before entering the second mark.

Pausing a Deck While Logging

If the deck is playing while you log clips, you can direct the Avid editing application to pause the deck automatically after you select an IN point and an OUT point. While the deck is paused, you can enter the name and a comment for the clip you want to log.

To pause the deck while logging:

1. Double-click Capture in the Settings scroll list.

The Capture Settings dialog box opens.

2. Select the “Pause deck while logging” option.

Mark IN button

Logging Directly to a Bin

3. Set up the deck and the Capture tool as described in “Logging with an

Avid-Controlled Camera or Deck” on page 55.

4. Start the deck.

5. When you reach the point where you want to start the clip, click the Mark IN button in the upper left corner of the Capture tool (or press the F4 key). The Mark IN button changes to the Mark OUT button, and the deck continues to play.

6. When you reach the point where you want to end the clip, click the Mark OUT button in the upper left corner of the Capture tool (or press F4 again). The Mark OUT button changes to the Log Clip button, and the deck pauses.

7. (Option) Type a clip name and comment.

8. Click the Log Clip button (or press F4).

The system logs the clip in a bin, and the deck starts playing again.

Chapter 2 Logging

Logging with a Non-Avid-Controlled Camera or Deck

You can use the Capture tool to log clips directly to a bin from a source that is not Avid-controlled. For example, you can log clips from a camera or deck that is not connected to the system or from handwritten or printed log information for a tape that was previously logged but is not currently available.

When logging with the Capture tool, you should leave the deck empty. If a tape remains in the deck, the system determines drop-frame or non-drop-frame from that tape, whether or not it matches your tape’s timecode format.

To log with a non-Avid-controlled camera or deck:

1. If there is a camera or deck connected to the system, eject the tape from the deck.

2. Double-click Deck Preferences in the Settings scroll list.

The Deck Preferences dialog box opens.

3. For NTSC projects, click the “When no tape in deck log as” pop-up menu, and select Non-Drop-Frame or Drop-Frame.

4. Click OK to close the dialog box.

5. Open the bin where you want to store the clips.

6. Select Tools > Capture.

The Capture tool opens.

7. Click the Capture/Log Mode button in the Capture tool until the LOG icon appears.

8. Click the Source Tape Display button.

A dialog box opens.

9. Click Yes to open the Select Tape dialog box.

10. Double-click the name of the tape in the dialog box, or click New and type the name of the tape. Click OK.

11. Select the tracks that you want to log, using the Channel Selection buttons.

12. Type the start and end timecodes in the Mark IN and Mark OUT text boxes.

13. Click the Log Clip button.

The clip is logged to the bin.

Modifying Clip Information Before Capturing

The following conditions apply to modifying clip information:

• When you modify a clip’s information, related objects are automatically updated to reflect the new data. For example, if you change the name of a clip, the updated name appears in the sequences that use the clip.

• Some data cannot be modified after capturing because changes would prevent you from playing back and editing the material successfully.

• Sequence information cannot be changed even though it appears in your bin. The only way to modify sequence information is to edit the sequence itself. You can, however, change the name and start time for the master timecode track.

You can modify some data directly for master clips, subclips, and other objects stored in a bin.

The Modify Command

The Modify command gives you specialized control over groups of clip information. For example, you can use the Modify command to change the name of source tapes for some or all of your clips, to change the timecode format from drop-frame to non-drop-frame, or to increment or decrement the start and end timecodes by a specified length of time for one or several clips at once.

You can apply changes with the Modify command to master clips only; subclips and sequences cannot be altered in this way. In addition, you can perform only modifications that alter the end timecodes or the tracks before capturing.

Using the Modify Command

To modify selected clips:

1. Open the bin.

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Selected clip is highlighted.

Pop-up menu

2. Click a clip icon to select it. Ctrl+click each additional clip you want to modify.

3. Select Clip > Modify.

The Modify dialog box opens.

4. Click the pop-up menu, and select an option (for example, Set Timecode By Field).

Depending on the modification you select, different options appear in the dialog box that allow you to establish the specific modification, as described in “Options for Modifying Bin Information” on page 63.

5. After selecting the type of modification, select an option or type information in the text boxes (for example, timecode values) when they appear.

6. Click OK.

The modification takes effect.

Modifying Clip Information Before Capturing

Options for Modifying Bin Information

The following table describes the options available from the pop-up menu in the Modify dialog box.

Options for Modifying Bin Information

Type of Modification Options Description

Set Timecode Drop/Non-drop

Set Timecode By Field Start or End Changes either the start or end timecode. Only

Increment Timecode Start or End Changes either the start or end timecode.

Decrement Timecode Start or End Changes either the start or end timecode.

Set Tracks V, A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6,

Drop, Non-drop Changes the timecode format between drop-

frame and non-drop-frame. Setting must match the timecode format of the tape.

start timecode can be altered after capturing.

Hour, Minutes, Seconds, Frames

Timecode entry field Allows you to enter custom incremental

Timecode entry field Allows you to enter new decremental timecode.

A7, A8 track selector

Allows you to enter custom timecode.

Incrementing the start timecode automatically modifies the end timecode by the same amount. Only start timecode can be incremented after capturing.

timecode.

Decrementing the start timecode automatically modifies the end timecode by the same amount. Only start timecode can be decremented after capturing.

Changes the clip’s configuration of tracks.

The number of audio tracks varies

depending on the hardware that is connected to your system.

Set Source None Opens the Select Tape dialog box. Selects

another source tape name for the clips. Should match the original source tape name.

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Modifying in the Bin

You can modify the start and end timecodes in the bin before a clip is captured.

To modify clip information in the bin:

1. Set the bin to display Start and End. For more information about setting bin headings, see “Showing and Hiding Columns” in the Help.

2. Select the clip you want to modify.

3. Type the timecode numbers you want.

Exporting Shot Log Files

You can export a shot log file from the Avid editing system in either Tab Delimited or Avid Log Exchange format for making adjustments in a text editor or for importing to another system.

To export a shot log based on clip information in a bin:

1. Open the bin containing the clips you want to export, and switch to Text view.

2. Click a clip icon to select it. Ctrl+click each additional clip you want to export.

3. Select File > Export.

The Export As dialog box opens.

4. Do one of the following:

Exporting Shot Log Files

t If you have previously created an Export setting for exporting shot log

files, click the Export Setting pop-up menu, and select the setting. Then go to step 11.

For information on creating Export settings, see “Customizing Export

Settings” on page 312.

t If you want to create a new Export setting, go to step 5.

5. Click Options.

The Export Settings dialog box opens.

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6. Click the Export As pop-up menu, and select either Avid Log Exchange or Tab Delimited as the file type.

7. Click Save As.

8. Type a name in the Setting Name text box.

The export setting name is added to the list of formats available from the Export dialog box.

9. Click OK.

You are returned to the Export As dialog box.

10. (Option) Change the file name, but keep the default file name extension.

11. Select the destination folder for the file, and click Save.

The file is exported and appears at the selected destination.

To export an entire bin:

1. Ctrl+click selected clips to deselect them, so that nothing is selected in the bin.

2. Select File > Export.

The Export Bin As dialog box opens.

3. Click the Export Bin As pop-up menu, select the appropriate option, and click OK.

A shot log of only the master clips in the bin is created.

Chapter 3

Preparing to Capture

Capture is the process of creating digital media from videotape or audio input. Before you begin the capturing process in Chapter 4, you need to prepare for it as described in the following sections:

• Understanding Digital Video (DV)

• Preparing the Hardware

• Selecting Settings

• Configuring Decks

• Understanding Drop-Frame and Non-Drop-Frame Timecode

• Setting Up the Capture Tool

• Preparing for Audio Input

• Audio Meters in the Timeline

• Calibrating for Video Input

Before capturing, see “Using the Avid Adrenaline” or “Using the Avid Mojo” in the Help to ensure you have properly connected your recording equipment such as a camera or deck.

Chapter 3 Preparing to Capture

Understanding Digital Video (DV)

DV refers to digital video that is transferred through equipment conforming to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Standard 1394. This equipment (cameras, decks, cables, connectors, and processing boards) is sometimes referred to as FireWire or i.LINK.

DV connections let you transfer digital data (both video and audio) directly from a DV camera to a digital nonlinear editing system with no conversion losses. DV technology simplifies the process of bringing footage from your camera into your Avid editing application, and gives you high-quality video at low lost.

For more information, see the following topics:

• What Is IEEE Standard 1394?

• What Is OHCI?

What Is IEEE Standard 1394?

What Is OHCI?

IEEE 1394 is an internationally standardized, low-cost digital interface that integrates entertainment, communication, and computing electronics into consumer multimedia. IEEE 1394 is a hardware and software standard for transporting data at 100, 200, or 300 megabits per second (Mb/s). Because it’s a digital interface, there is no need to convert digital data into analog, resulting in a loss of data integrity.

The Open Host Controller Interface (OHCI) specification gives the operating system a standardized way of interacting with the 1394 bus. An IEEE 1394 interface that conforms to this specification can provide a connection between a computer and a DV camcorder that will operate in a standard way, using driver software that is included with the latest version of the Windows XP operating system.

Avid software-only editing systems use a custom OHCI driver, rather than the default Microsoft OHCI driver. Whenever you connect a new DV device (camera or deck), Avid editing applications automatically link the device to the custom OHCI driver.

Preparing the Hardware

Before you begin capturing, check the following:

• Remote switch. The deck control switch on the front of the source deck must be set to Remote rather than Local to control the deck with the Capture tool.

Preparing the Hardware

The deck should be turned on and the control switch set to Remote before you start the Avid editing application.

• Striped drives. If you are capturing high-resolution media, you must use striped drives.

• Digital Audiotape (DAT). If you want to capture music or audio from a DAT deck, check the documentation supplied with your equipment to determine whether your model requires VLX

Selecting Settings

A number of settings have a direct bearing on the capturing process. Before you capture, review the following options:

• Using General Settings

• Selecting Capture Settings

• Creating a GPI Trigger

Using General Settings

The General Settings dialog box (accessed through the Settings scroll list) includes the following options that are important for capture.

i for video deck control.

• Project Type: The top portion of the dialog box displays the project type (NTSC or PAL) and other useful information such as the type of source media.

• NTSC Has Setup: This option applies to standard NTSC format and is selected by default. If the source footage is in the NTSC-EIAJ format standard (used primarily in Japan), deselect NTSC Has Setup.

Chapter 3 Preparing to Capture

For more information about General settings, see “General Settings” in the Help.

The Avid editing system does not prevent you from using non-Avid drives, but their reliability cannot be guaranteed.

Transfer Settings for Film Projects

The following settings are important for transferring media in a film project. You should set the transfer settings for film projects immediately after you create a new project and before capturing. For information about other film settings, see “24p Settings” in the Help.

• Video Pulldown Cadence: allows you to specify the type of film-to-tape transfer that you capture:

- Video rate, no pulldown: Select this option when working with 24-fps

footage that has been transferred MOS (roughly translated as “without sound”) to 30 fps by speeding up the film, and the audio has been brought into the Avid system separately at 100 percent of the actual speed.

Selecting Settings

- Standard 2:3:2:3 pulldown: Select this option when working with 24-fps footage that has been transferred to 30 fps by duplicating frames (pulldown) and the audio has been synchronized to the picture.

- Advanced 2:3:3:2 pulldown: Select this option when using native DV editing with capture over Firewire.

If you are capturing sound that has been created during an NTSC film-totape transfer, you need to set the pulldown switch before you begin capturing. See “Setting the Pulldown Phase” on page 45.

For NTSC projects, you can mix footage transferred with pulldown and footage transferred without pulldown (video rate). You can also mix sound transferred at 0.99 (with pulldown) and 1.00 (without pulldown).

For information about film-to-tape transfer methods, see Film to Tape Transfer Methods in the Help

• (PAL only) You define the Audio Transfer Rate in the New Project dialog box when you create a 23.976p PAL film project. (It is not needed for a 25p PAL project because there is no film speedup during the transfer.) It is important to keep the audio transfer rate constant for the project. However, if there is a specific element that you need to capture at a different rate, you can use the Film and 24p Settings dialog box to change the rate. The following options are available:

- Film Rate (100%): Select this option when your 24-fps film footage

has been transferred MOS to 25 fps by speeding up the film, and the audio comes in separately at 100 percent of the actual speed (PAL Method 2).

- Video Rate (100%+): Select this option when your 24-fps film

footage has been transferred to 25 fps by speeding up the film, and the audio is synchronized to the video picture. This means that the audio speed is increased by 4.1 percent (PAL Method 1).

For PAL 24p projects, you can mix audio that has been transferred at 4.1 percent speedup (video rate, PAL Method 1) with audio that has not been transferred (film rate, PAL Method 2). However, Avid does not recommend this.

The Info tab in the Project window allows you to view the audio transfer rate you selected when you created the project. The actual audio transfer rate might be different from the display if you used the Film and 24p Settings dialog box to change the audio transfer rate.

Chapter 3 Preparing to Capture

• Audio Source Tape TC Rate allows you to specify the digital audiotape (DAT) timecode format: either 30 fps or 29.97 fps (NTSC only). This timecode format must conform to the timecode format on your original DAT tapes. This setting is active when capturing audio only.

This setting does not appear in 23.976p projects.

• Set Pulldown-to-Timecode Relationship allows you to set a default pulldown phase for a 24p NTSC project. See “Setting the Pulldown

Phase” on page 45.

Selecting Capture Settings

Capture settings include essential options for capturing, batch capturing, autocapturing, capturing to multiple media files, DV scene extraction, and setting key commands.

To open the Capture Settings dialog box:

t Double-click Capture in the Settings scroll list.

For more information on Capture Settings tabs, see “Capture Settings” in the Help.

Creating a GPI Trigger

You can define and save custom general-purpose interface (GPI) settings. After you create a GPI setting, you can use it repeatedly. For example, you can create two GPIs: one to start capturing and one to stop capturing.

To access the GPI Settings dialog box, you must have a V-LAN VLXi (GPI) connected to your system.

V-LAN VLXi is not compatible with the V-LAN Express® single-device controller. For device connectivity information, refer to your V-LAN documentation.

To create a GPI trigger:

1. Double-click Deck Configuration in the Setting scroll list.

The Deck Configuration dialog box appears.

Selecting Settings

2. Click Add Channel.

A Channel dialog box appears.

3. Click the Channel Type pop-up menu, and select VLAN VLX.

4. Click the Port pop-up menu, and select COM1 or COM2.

5. Click OK.

A dialog box appears, asking if you want to automatically configure the channel now.

6. Click Yes.

The connected GPI is automatically detected and appears in the Deck Configuration dialog box.

7. Double-click the VLAN VLXi-GT device name in the Deck Configuration dialog box.

The GPI Settings dialog box appears.

8. Select the appropriate settings. For more information on GPI settings options, see the following table.

9. Click Add.

The GPI Node Settings dialog box appears. For a description of GPI node settings options, see the “GPI Node Settings Options” on page 74.

10. Select the appropriate settings.

11. Click OK.

The GPI Settings dialog box appears.

12. Click OK to set the GPI.

13. Click Apply in the Deck Configuration dialog box.

GPI Settings Options

Option Description

Name The V-LAN VLXi name appears. Keep the default or type a new name.

Description (Option) Add a description of the GPI trigger.

Device Type Select V-LAN, the Avid-supported device type.

Address Valid addresses on the V-LAN network are 16 through 19. This address must match

the internal V-LAN address.

Chapter 3 Preparing to Capture

GPI Settings Options (Continued)

Option Description

Pulse Duration Pulse durations are expressed in milliseconds.

GPI Control Enable When you deselect this option, you disable the GPI but keep the GPI settings. This is

useful for troubleshooting purposes.

Edit Click to edit an existing GPI node.

Delete Click to delete an existing GPI node.

Add Click to add another GPI node.

GPI Node Settings Options

Option Description

Function Select a function for a particular node:

• Capture in (Satellite mode)

• Play in

• Cue to first frame

• Stop in

• Capture out (Satellite mode)

• Play out

• Stop out

Node Click the Node pop-up menu, and select a Node. The options are node 1 through 6. These

correspond to the physical connectors on the back of the V-LAN VLXi box.

Action Select an action:

• Set activates a command.

• Reset deactivates a command.

• Pulse switches the state for the amount of time set in Pulse Duration in the GPI Settings dialog box.

Deleting a GPI Setting

You can delete a GPI setting that you have defined so it no longer appears as an option in your GPI Settings dialog box.

To delete a GPI setting:

1. Double-click Deck Configuration in the Setting scroll list.

The Deck Configuration dialog box appears.

2. Click the VLXi-GT text box.

3. Select the name of the GPI you want to delete.

4. Click Delete.

5. Click OK.

6. Click Apply.

The GPI setting is deleted.

Editing an Existing GPI Setting

Selecting Settings

To edit a GPI setting:

1. Double-click Deck Configuration in the Setting scroll list.

The Deck Configuration dialog box appears.

2. Click the VLXi-GT text box.

3. Select the name of the existing GPI you want to edit.

4. Click Edit.

5. Make the applicable changes.

6. Click OK.

7. Click Apply.

The GPI setting is updated.

Chapter 3 Preparing to Capture

Configuring Decks

Deck Configuration settings allow you to establish deck control parameters for a single deck or for multiple decks. As with all settings, you can create multiple versions, allowing you to select among them for frequent changes in hardware configurations.

Deck Configuration settings and global Deck Preferences settings appear as separate items in the Settings scroll list of the Project window.

Deck control settings

You must manually configure the appropriate hardware connections before Deck Configuration settings can take effect. For more information, see Using

the Avid Adrenaline DNA Installation Instructions for the Windows XP Operating System or Using the Avid Mojo DNA Installation Instructions for the Windows XP Operating System.

Configuring Decks

For more information about Deck Configuration settings, see “Deck Configuration Settings” in the Help.

To configure a deck or multiple decks:

1. Double-click Deck Configuration in the Settings scroll list.

The Deck Configuration dialog box opens.

2. If you are configuring your system for the first time, click Add Channel to add a new channel box on the left side of the Deck Configuration dialog box and automatically open the Channel dialog box.

3. Depending on your system configuration, click the Channel Type pop-up menu, and select one of the following items:

- Direct, if you are connecting a deck directly to the serial port

- FireWire, if you are connecting a deck by means of a FireWire

connection

- VLAN VLX, if you are controlling decks through a V-LAN/VLXi

connection

4. Click the Port pop-up menu, and select the port to which you are connecting the deck.

Chapter 3 Preparing to Capture

If you are not sure which port to select, check the 9-pin serial port connectors on the back of the system. If the ports are not labeled, see the hardware documentation supplied with your system.

5. Click OK to close the Channel dialog box.

A dialog box opens asking if you want to automatically configure the channel now.

6. Click Yes if you want to automatically configure the channel.

A new channel appears in the display area of the Deck Configuration dialog box, along with the autoconfigured deck.

Channels appear on the left side.

Decks appear on the right side.

You can reopen the Channel settings to change the options at any time by double-clicking the channel box.

Configuring Decks

7. If you did not auto-configure the deck, click the channel box to select it.

8. Click Add Deck to open the Deck Settings dialog box.

With a deck already connected to the system, you can click Auto-configure to bypass the Deck Settings dialog box and automatically configure a deck with the default settings.

Not all DV devices respond to the Auto-configure command. Due to this limitation, Auto-configure will select only the generic devices. When a digital camera is attached to your system, click the Device pop-up menu, and select the proper device. When a deck with a transcoder is attached, click the Device pop-up menu, and select the applicable transcoder.

Chapter 3 Preparing to Capture

9. Select settings based on your device. For information on Deck settings, see “Deck Settings Options” on page 81.

10. Click OK to close the Deck Settings dialog box and to return to the Deck Configuration dialog box.

You can reopen the Deck Settings dialog box to change the options at any time by double-clicking the deck box in the Deck Configuration dialog box.

11. Repeat steps 1 through 10 for each additional channel or deck you want to configure.

12. (Option) Select “Verify configuration against actual decks” if you want the system to check the deck configuration against the devices physically connected to the system.

The system checks the deck configuration after you click Apply in the Deck Configuration dialog box and when you start the Avid editing application. A message warns you if the configuration does not match the deck.

13. Type a name in the Configuration Name text box to name the deck configuration. The new deck configuration will appear in the Settings scroll list.

14. Click Apply to complete the configurations and close the Deck Configuration dialog box.

15. If necessary, double-click Deck Preferences in the Settings scroll list to adjust global deck preferences.

For more information about Deck Preferences, see “Deck Preferences Settings” in the Help.

Deck Settings Options

To open the Deck Settings dialog box, do one of the following:

t Click Add Deck in the Deck Configuration dialog box.

t In the Deck Controls area of the Capture tool, click the Deck Selection

pop-up menu and select Adjust Deck.

t Double-click the deck box in the Deck Configuration dialog box.

The Deck Settings dialog box opens.

Notes field

Configuring Decks

Model pop-up menu

Manufacturer pop-up menu

Chapter 3 Preparing to Capture

The following table describes the Deck Settings options.

Deck Settings Options

Option Suboption Description

Name — Type your custom name for the tape deck. The default name matches the

deck type.

Description — Enter notes about the deck.

Notes — Displays configuration information, supplied by Avid, about the deck you

have selected. Not all decks include this information.

Device — Select your model and manufacturer from the pop-up menus.

Address — For VLXi use only (see your VLXi documentation). If you are using direct

serial port deck control, this option is unavailable.

Preroll — Specifies how many seconds the tape rolls before a record or digital cut

starts. The default is based on the type of videotape recorder (VTR).

Fast Cue — Speeds up long searches if your decks can read timecode in fast forward or

rewind mode. Otherwise, this option is not useful.

Switch to ff/rew (seconds): n

Switch to search (seconds): n

Select this option if you want the Avid editing application to switch to fast forward or rewind if the target timecode is beyond the specified number of seconds from your current location on the tape.

By default, the deck switches to fast forward or rewind to reach a target timecode that is more than 60 seconds away.

If your deck shuttles very quickly, you can increase this number so the system uses fast cue only for long searches.

Select this option if you want the Avid editing application to switch out of fast forward or rewind when it is within the specified number of seconds of the target timecode. By default, the system switches to search mode when it is 60 seconds from the target timecode.

Deleting Deck Configurations

To delete a deck configuration:

1. Double-click Deck Configuration in the Settings scroll list.

The Deck Configuration dialog box opens.

Configuring Decks

Delete button

2. Click the names of the currently configured channel and deck in the display area. The entire display area should have a red border.

3. Click Delete.

4. Click Apply to complete the changes and close the dialog box.

Chapter 3 Preparing to Capture

Setting Deck Preferences

Deck preferences are global settings for basic deck control. These settings apply to all decks connected to your system, regardless of your deck configuration. You can open the Deck Preferences dialog box from the Settings scroll list.

For more information about Deck Preferences, see “Deck Preferences Settings” in the Help.

Understanding Drop-Frame and Non-Drop-Frame Timecode

Timecode is an electronic indexing method that denotes hours, minutes, seconds, and frames that have elapsed on a videotape. For example, a timecode of 01:03:30:10 denotes a frame that is marked at 1 hour, 3 minutes, 30 seconds, and 10 frames.

NTSC video (the video format used mainly in the United States) uses one of two formats: drop-frame timecode and non-drop-frame timecode. Drop-frame (DF) timecode is designed to match the NTSC scan rate of 29.97 frames per second (fps). Two frames of timecode are dropped every minute except for the tenth minute. No video frames are actually dropped. Drop-frame timecode is indicated by semicolons between the digits; for example, 01;00;00;00.

Non-drop-frame (NDF) timecode tracks NTSC video at a rate of 30 fps and is indicated by colons between the digits; for example, 01:00:00:00. Non-dropframe timecode can be easier to work with, but does not provide accurate timing for NTSC broadcast.

For example, a typical 1-hour show uses 52 minutes of video. If your program ends at 01:52:00:00 (non-drop-frame), and it is broadcast at 29.97 fps, it will last 94 frames too long (approximately 3 seconds). The final credits could be cut off.

PAL video (the video format used in many countries other than the United States) uses a scan rate of 25 fps. Timecode is indicated by colons. There is no need for drop-frame timecode in PAL video.

You set the default timecode format for logging clips in the Deck Preferences dialog box (see “Setting Deck Preferences” on page 84). You set the default starting timecode in the General Settings dialog box (see “General Settings” in the Help). In both cases, you can select drop or non-drop.

You can change the starting timecode of a sequence or, for NTSC projects, the type of timecode. See “Changing the Sequence Info” in the Help.

Chapter 3 Preparing to Capture

Setting Up the Capture Tool

The Capture tool provides controls for cueing, marking, and logging footage, and specifies capturing parameters such as source and target locations.

Opening the Capture Tool

To open the Capture tool:

t Select Tools > Capture.

The Capture tool opens.

Deck Selection pop-up menu

Changing the Power Scheme

If you install your Avid editing application on a laptop computer, an Incompatible Power Scheme warning button might appear in the top right corner of the Capture tool. Some of the standard power schemes available to laptops running Windows XP might affect the performance of editing functions, including capturing media. Avid recommends you use the “Always On” power scheme when working with Avid applications. If you select “Always On,” the warning button does not appear.

You can select a new power scheme by accessing the Power Options Properties dialog box from the Control Panel. For more information on changing power schemes, see the Windows documentation.

Setting the Video and Audio Input

The Video and Audio pop-up menus show you the current input settings for the Video Input tool and the Input tab in the Audio Project Settings dialog box. The pop-up menus also provide a convenient way to change the settings if necessary.

Setting Up the Capture Tool

The Video Input tool is not available on all models. If your model does not have the Video Input tool, the Avid editing application sets the default input options automatically.

The choices are as follows (depending on your model):

• Video input: Composite, Component, S-video, SDI, HD-SDI, and DV

Software-only models include: OHCI

• Audio input: XLR (+4dBu), RCA (–10dBu), AES/EBU, DV, Optical (ADAT), Optical (S/PDIF), and SDI

Software-only models include: Aux, Video, CD Player, Line In, Microphone, Phone Line, and OHCI

For more information, see “Preparing for Audio Input” on page 112.

If you change the settings, the settings in the Video Input tool or in the Audio Project Settings dialog box change automatically.

Chapter 3 Preparing to Capture

Selecting Video Input

You select video input from either the Capture tool or the Video Input tool. The options for video input might be different form those listed here, depending on the model of your Avid editing system.

To select video input from the Capture tool:

t Click the Video pop-up menu, and select one of the following:

- Composite

- Component

-S-Video

-SDI

- DNA – 1394

- OHCI (software-only models)

To select video input from the Video Input tool:

Saving a Custom Default Setting for the Video Input Tool

The Video Input tool is not present in software-only models.

1. Select Tools > Video Input Tool.

The Video Input tool opens.

2. Click the Input pop-up menu, and select the appropriate input channel:

t Composite

t Component

t S-Video

t SDI

t DNA – 1394

You can save the video input selection in the Video Input tool as a setting.

The Video Input tool is not present in software-only models.

Setting Up the Capture Tool

To create a customized default Video Input Tool setting:

1. Select Tools > Video Input Tool.

The Video Input tool opens.

2. Select the video input as described in “Selecting Video Input” on page 88.

3. Click the Settings pop-up menu in the Video Input tool, and select Save As.

A dialog box opens.

4. Type Default in the dialog box and click OK. (You must use this spelling and initial capitalization.)

Selecting Audio Input

Whenever you mount a new tape that has no setting, the system recalls these default settings.

Tape settings and the default setting are Project settings and are available to the current project only.

To select audio input:

Your audio input selections depend on what you have installed or connected to your Avid editing system. If your project uses an HD resolution, you cannot select SDI as an audio input.

t Click the Audio pop-up menu, and select one of the following:

-XLR (+4dBu)

- RCA (–10dBu)

- DNA – 1394

-AES/EBU

-S/PDIF

-Optical(ADAT)

- Optical (S/PDIF)

-SDI

- OHCI (software-only models)

- CD Player (software-only models)

Chapter 3 Preparing to Capture

- Line In (software-only models)

- Microphone (software-only models)

- Phone Line (software-only models)

Selecting a Deck

The Deck Selection pop-up menu in the Capture tool contains a list of decks or cameras that were connected to the system, powered up, and initialized when you entered Capture mode. The first deck or camera in the list is selected by default, unless all decks or cameras are offline.

Predefined machine templates have been created for you based on your specific DV device. If your DV device does not appear in the Deck Selection pop-up menu, select the Generic DV Device template.

Device templates from older Avid systems are not compatible with Avid Mojo systems and Avid Adrenaline systems. Do not copy Meridien templates to Avid Mojo systems or Avid Adrenaline systems, and do not copy the newer machine templates to Meridien systems.

The Deck Selection pop-up menu also lists three commands:

• Adjust Deck opens the Deck Settings dialog box. Changes you make apply to the selected deck. For information on Deck settings, see “Deck

Settings Options” on page 81.

• Auto-configure allows you to automatically configure the selected deck with the default deck settings for that deck.

• Check Decks helps to reestablish deck control if the power to your decks was turned off or the decks were disconnected when you first entered Capture mode.

If the words “No Deck” appear in the pop-up menu, you need to configure a deck in the Deck Configuration dialog box. See “Configuring Decks” on

page 76.

Setting Up the Capture Tool

If a deck name appears in italics in the pop-up menu, the deck has lost power or has been disconnected. To reestablish deck control, click the pop-up menu, and select Check Decks.

You must have V-LAN VLXi hardware to manage more than one deck at a time. For more information on V-LAN equipment, contact your Avid sales representative.

Once deck control has been properly initialized, it remains active for all deck controllers throughout the session until you quit the application.

To activate playback from an available deck or camera, do one of the following:

t Select the name of a previously configured deck or camera.

t Select Auto-configure to automatically establish the default deck settings

for a VTR that is currently connected to the system.

Not all DV devices respond to the Auto-configure command. Due to this limitation, Auto-configure selects only the generic devices. When a digital camera is attached to your software-only system, click the Deck Selection pop-up menu, and select the proper device. When a deck with a transcoder is attached, click the Deck Selection pop-up menu, and select the applicable deck.

If you forgot to turn on or connect a deck or camera prior to entering Capture mode:

1. Make sure the deck is connected and the power is turned on.

2. Select Check Decks to reestablish deck control.

Chapter 3 Preparing to Capture

Selecting a Tape

To select a source tape:

1. Insert a tape into your deck.

The Select Tape dialog box opens.

For information on tape naming conventions, see “Naming Tapes” on

page 40.

2. In an NTSC project, play the tape briefly so the system can detect the timecode format of the tape (drop-frame or non-drop-frame). Otherwise, the system maintains the timecode format set in the Deck Preferences dialog box regardless of the format on the tape, and you might receive a message indicating a wrong tape.

Drop-frame timecode appears in the Timecode indicator with semicolons between hours, minutes, seconds, and frames. Non-drop-frame timecode appears with colons. (Drop-frame timecode and non-drop-frame timecode exist only in NTSC projects.)

3. Provide the system with a tape name in one of the following ways:

t Select the name of the tape from the list displayed in the Select Tape

dialog box, and click OK.

t Click New if the tape is not in the list. Type the new name in the

dialog box, and click OK.

Selecting Source Tracks

You can select the tracks to capture from the source tape.

To select only those tracks that you want to capture:

t Click the Channel Selection buttons in the Capture tool.

The TC (timecode) track is selected by default.

Channel Selection buttons

Setting Up the Capture Tool

If you are not seeing the source video or hearing source audio in Capture mode, click the Channel Selection buttons to make sure the correct tracks have been selected.

To select or deselect all tracks at once:

t Press and hold the Alt key, and click any Channel Selection button.

Chapter 3 Preparing to Capture

Detecting Valid or Locked Capture Input

On systems with an Avid Adrenaline or an Avid Mojo, the Capture tool indicates the kind of signal you have selected to capture, and if the signal you want to capture is valid or locked.

For more information about selecting tracks in the Capture tool, see

“Selecting Source Tracks” on page 93.

When you select a video track you want to capture, the Video Lock icon appears in the Comment area of the Capture tool. If the current source has a valid video signal and the Avid Adrenaline or Avid Mojo can lock to it, the icon displays in green.

Video Lock icon

When you select only Audio tracks, the icon changes to the Ref (Reference) Lock icon and displays as an unfilled circle. The Avid system checks for a reference signal (for more information about reference signals, see “Using the Avid Adrenaline” or “Using the Avid Mojo” in the Help). If the system is locked to the reference signal, the icon displays in green.

If you select both video and audio tracks, the Vid (Video) Lock icon displays.

Selecting a Resolution in the Capture Tool

Click the Capture Tool Resolution (Res) pop-up menu, and select a video resolution. Depending on the video format of your project, your selections vary. See “Project Resolutions” on page 28 for a complete list of resolutions.

Bin pop-up menu

Setting Up the Capture Tool

Resolution pop-up menu

You can also set the resolution in the Media Creation dialog box, which you access through the Settings scroll list.

To select a resolution in the Capture tool:

t Click the Res (Resolution) pop-up menu, and select a resolution.

The Resolution list contains a list of the available resolutions, depending on the model of your Avid editing application. For 25-fps and 30-fps projects, the list shows single-field and two-field interlaced resolutions and DV resolutions. For 23.976p and 25p projects, the list shows progressive, full-frame resolutions. Select 1:1 for uncompressed media. For HD projects, the list shows Avid DNxHD resolutions, DVCPRO HD, or no resolution depending

Chapter 3 Preparing to Capture

on your video input and your Avid editing system. For more information, see

“Capturing DV 50 and DVCPRO HD Media Directly from a DV Device” on page 155.

Selecting a Format in the Capture Tool

You can select either the OMF® or MXF format in the Media Type tab of the Media Creation dialog box. You can also select a specific video resolution in the Capture tool or in the Media Creation dialog box (accessed through the Settings scroll list). See “Setting Media Creation Resolutions and Selecting

Drives” on page 96. For information on OMF and MXF, see “File Format

Specifications” in the Help.

If your project uses an HD resolution, you cannot select OMF as a file format. MXF is selected by default.

Setting Media Creation Resolutions and Selecting Drives

The Media Creation dialog box allows you to set the video resolution and to select drives for capturing, creating titles, importing, performing audio and video mixdowns, and creating motion effects. Because media files are very large, you can remove from the list of available drives the drive where your operating system is located and the drive where the Avid editing system is located. This allows you to choose to store media only on drives with sufficient space.

You can also select a video resolution and select drives directly in the Capture tool, the Save Title dialog box, the Select Files to Import dialog box, the Audio Mixdown dialog box, and the Video Mixdown dialog box.

To select a video resolution and drives in the Media Creation dialog box:

1. Do one of the following:

t Double-click Media Creation in the Settings scroll list.

t Select Tools > Media Creation.

The Media Creation dialog box opens.

Setting Up the Capture Tool

2. Click the Drive Filtering tab.

You can remove from the list of available drives the drive where your operating system is located and the drive where the Avid editing system is located. This allows you to choose to store media only on drives with sufficient space.

3. Select a drive to filter out:

t Select Filter Based on Resolution to remove as a storage choice the

drives that cannot support the selected resolution. This option causes the Avid editing system to utilize only Avid MediaDrives.

t Select Filter Out System Drive to remove as a storage choice the drive

on which the operating system resides.

t Select Filter Out Launch Drive to remove as a storage choice the drive

on which the Avid editing system resides.

The drive or drives you select do not appear in the other Media Creation tabs as possible locations where you can store media. They also do not appear in other drive selection menus in the application except for the Import, Export, and Relink dialog boxes.

4. Click the Media Type tab, and select either OMF or MXF file format.

Video Resolution pop-up menu

If your project uses an HD resolution, you cannot select OMF as a file format. MXF is selected by default.

5. Click the tab for the area in which you want to work.

Chapter 3 Preparing to Capture

6. Click the Video Resolution pop-up menu, and select a video resolution.

The Video Resolution pop-up menu contains a list of the available resolutions.

Avid editing applications have the ability to play back and edit media that has been captured using a Meridien-based Avid editing system or an Editcam when in a shared storage workgroup. For more information on supported resolutions, see “Project Resolutions” on page 28.

Clicking Apply to All sets your selected video resolution for all applicable tabs in the Media Creation dialog box. Your settings are not saved until you click OK.

7. Select a video drive and an audio drive. To select the same drive for both audio and video, click the Single/Dual Drives Mode button until only a single drive pop-up menu opens.

The drive that appears in boldface type has the most available space.

8. (Option) If you are in the Capture tab, you can select a drive group. Click the Target Drive pop-up menu, and select Change Group. For more information on selecting a drive group, see “Capturing to Multiple Media

Files” on page 105.

Because there is no audio associated with titles or motion effects, you can select only a video drive in the Titles or the Motion Effects tab of the Media Creation dialog box.

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9. To apply your drive selection to all the Media Creation tabs and the rest of the application, click Apply to All.

This sets your selected video and audio drives for all the Media Creation tabs. It also sets them for any place in the application where you select drives.

Your settings are not saved until you click OK.

10. Click OK to save your settings.

For more information about options, see “Media Creation Settings” in the Help.

Selecting a Media Type

To select a media type in the Media Creation dialog box:

1. Do one of the following:

t Double-click Media Creation in the Settings scroll list.

t Select Tools > Media Creation.

The Media Creation dialog box opens.For information about options, see “Media Creation Settings” in the Help.

2. Click the Media Type tab.

3. Select OMF or MXF from the Video File Format pop-up menu, and then click OK.

Setting Up the Capture Tool

If you are working in an HD project, MXF is your only choice.

If you select OMF, a tab in the Capture Settings dialog box is labeled OMF Media Files. If you select MXF, the Capture Settings tab is labeled MXF Media Files.

Disabling Editor Resolutions

If you want to restrict the resolutions your Avid editing application can create by capturing, rendering, or importing, you need to type the restricted resolutions into a file. If you disable resolutions for creation, you can still play, export, or perform a digital cut in those resolutions.

To disable resolutions:

1. Select Tools > Media Creation.

The Media Creation dialog box opens.

2. Click one of the tabs that includes a Video Resolutions menu (the Capture tab, for example), and note the exact spelling of each resolution you want to disable.

Chapter 3 Preparing to Capture

3. On the desktop, click the Start menu, and then select All Programs > Accessories > Notepad.

100

Do not use Wordpad. It introduces characters that the application cannot recognize.

4. Type each resolution you want to disable on a separate line. Do not include OMF or MXF.

Pinnacle Systems NewsCutter - 6.x User's Guide

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Contents

Using This Guide

Symbols and Conventions

If You Need Help

Accessing the Online Library

How to Order Documentation

Avid Educational Services

Planning a Project

Types of Projects

Working in a 23.976p NTSC Project

Capturing with Advanced Pulldown

Project Resolutions

Working with Mixed-Resolution Projects

NTSC and PAL Image Sizes

Software-Only Avid Editing Systems

Sample Workflow

Logging

Logging Tips

Logging Preroll

Logging Timecode

Naming Tapes

Double-Checking the Logs

Adding a Memory Mark

Preparing Logs for Import

Creating Avid Logs

Importing Shot Log Files

Setting the Pulldown Phase

Converting Log Files with Avid Log Exchange

Converting Log Files with Avid Log Exchange

Using Drag-and-Drop Conversion for Log Files

Compatible Log Formats

Logging Directly to a Bin

Logging with an Avid-Controlled Camera or Deck

Pausing a Deck While Logging

Logging with a Non-Avid-Controlled Camera or Deck

Modifying Clip Information Before Capturing

The Modify Command

Using the Modify Command

Options for Modifying Bin Information

Modifying in the Bin

Exporting Shot Log Files

Preparing to Capture

Understanding Digital Video (DV)

What Is IEEE Standard 1394?

What Is OHCI?

Preparing the Hardware

Selecting Settings

Using General Settings

Transfer Settings for Film Projects

Selecting Capture Settings

Creating a GPI Trigger

Deleting a GPI Setting

Editing an Existing GPI Setting

Configuring Decks

Deck Settings Options

Deleting Deck Configurations

Setting Deck Preferences

Understanding Drop-Frame and Non-Drop-Frame Timecode

Setting Up the Capture Tool

Opening the Capture Tool

Changing the Power Scheme

Setting the Video and Audio Input

Selecting Video Input

Saving a Custom Default Setting for the Video Input Tool

Selecting Audio Input

Selecting a Deck

Selecting a Tape

Selecting Source Tracks

Detecting Valid or Locked Capture Input

Selecting a Resolution in the Capture Tool

Selecting a Format in the Capture Tool

Setting Media Creation Resolutions and Selecting Drives

Selecting a Media Type

Disabling Editor Resolutions