Automated way to process LowerThirds? (Video verité of a meeting)

Question

I recently recorded an important business meeting onto MiniDV. The raw footage took up all of one 60 minute tape and most of a second one. I have received requests to make a DVD of the meeting.
I use:
Final Cut Pro 4.5
DVD Studio Pro 2
Toast 7.1
I envision the project being somewhat like a C-SPAN-style "video verité" taping of a government meeting or hearing; this was a single camera operation, so there was a brief break in the footage where I had to load the second tape. (For the DVD project, I am also thinking about adding markers to the footage so I could have chapter markers on the DVD for key portions of the event.)
I want to capture the footage into Final Cut and add lower-thirds to identify the people who speak during the meeting. I might also want to add an upper-corner bug to remind the DVD's viewers of when the meeting took place. C-SPAN style dictates that there is almost always a lower third visible throughout a proceeding, even if it is simply to explain the nature of the event. I like that.
I expect some natural repetition of lower-thirds titles because some specific personalities speak repeatedly during the meeting. I also expect to change the content of some individuals' lower-third titles, because not all of their title will fit onto an NTSC screen at once.
Is there a way to automate this so it will be easier to insert the lower-thirds?
Most of the footage is unbroken. Will there be any problem using Batch Capture to load such long segments onto the hard drive? (I have plenty of room.)
I have a LaCie Big Disk Extreme triple interface hard disk (500GB, high performance, USB/FireWire) which I was thinking of using as the Scratch Disk, as opposed to my startup volume. (I know from experience that using the startup volume does work, but I've been advised to use a different volume if possible.) If I go this route, I will connect the camcorder via FireWire and the LaCie via USB. (USB 2.0, Hi-Speed, that is.) Any suggestions or warnings of how to proceed here?
iMac 17 1.25 GHz/300GB HD/ 2 GB RAM   Mac OS X (10.4.7)   FCP 4.5, DVDSP 2, Toast 7.1, LaCie Big Disk Extreme 500GB

Answer 1

Will there be any problem using Batch Capture to load such long segments onto the hard drive?<<</div>
As long as you have unbroken timecode, it shouldn't be a problem. Although, it can depend on your playback device, the FW drive you're using and how both are connected to your Mac. For example, using Canon devices for playback has been known to be problematic, especially if it's connect to the same Firewire bus as your FW drive (unavoidable on an iMac) and even more so if it's daisy-chained through the drive. If you do have problems, capturing to the system drive then transferring the footage to the external drive before editing may be the way to go. Just make sure your logging includes enough pre and post-roll.
I've captured almost full DVCam 184 tapes of training sessions without any problems, but always to a second internal drive or to an external SATA RAID - I do not use FW drives for capturing.
-DH