Good camcorder for capturing

hello, i am interested in doing editing work but cannot afford the $1500 decks to capture footage - at least for now. if i can make decent money i will upgrade to a prof. deck. but for now i was curious if anyone can recommend a good consumer camera i can get so i can capture footage. a friend told me he uses a sony handycam and it cost him $300. what are some essentials i should have on a camera, etc?
thx

If you are using mac with iLife '06 and older, then you should follow Da Nam advise for getting camera with iLink or firewire interface, but if you using iMovie from iLife suite '08, you can also consider tapeless camcorder that record movie to flash memory / Hard Disk / DVD.
And here is the link to the compatibility list:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306171
I think camcorder below $500 will served you well to begin with, but if you really need a good clarity footage captured, I would say you stick with mini DV camcorder for tapeless camcorder do more "compression" to the movie and therefor less quality (even thought the quality is not bad).
Good Luck

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Need a good GUI app for capturing a watching TV

kdetv and tvtime are very good for watching TV, but both can't capture in the broadcast.
do you know a good app or frontend for capturing?

i tried XDTV, but i didn't like it, it has an ugly interface (and was wery wery slow on my A64 too!), crashed sometimes...
I tried then G4vl, its a GUI frontent to transcode, and uses the config files of xawtv, so you have to generate the channels with xawtv, then here you go...
You have to recompille transcode with --enable-v4l option in order to work with Gv4l. It much better then xdtv imho, worked pretty good 4 me.
I submitted a pkg in AUR, try it, vote for it
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BDC for Goods Issue for movement 261 MIGO, Capturing Mat Doc No.

Hi All
I want to post Goods Mvmt for order fir mvmt 261 using BDC ( transaction MIGO ). However I need to get back the material Document no. which is generated after this posting and store it in Z table.
Can I get that material in BDC recording or do I need to add a select statement for this. Material document no is displayed just on status line below. How to get that ?
Amol

capture the MESSAGE after the BDC , there u will get the MAT.DOC.
<b> call transaction 'MIGO' using bdctab
                                    mode 'E'
                                    update 'S'
                                  messages into msgtab .</b>
Regards
Prabhu

Analog to Digital Converter-- What's A Good Product For My System?

What would be a good analog to digital converter for Final Cut Express HD 3.5 on a Mac OSX 10.4 system? I've used a Canopus on a MacPro with Final Cut Pro before and liked it, but wasn't sure what would be a good product for my macbook. I've looked at the Canopus advc-110 and 55 but am not clear on the difference and if it would work with what I have.

The ADVC-55 is capture only. It includes composite & s-video inputs and stereo audio inputs. Firewire output.
The ADVC-110 is bidirectional (meaning you can both capture and output through it - this is a very good way to monitor your video during production as you can see the actual quality on a monitor/TV rather than just your computer screen, which has limited capability to show you the actual video quality.) It includes composite & s-video inputs and outputs; stereo audio inputs & outputs; Firewire input & output.
The ADVC-300 is also bidirectional and includes composite, s-video and component video i/o (D1 connector) inputs & outputs; stereo audio inputs & outputs; Firewire input & output; and software that enables you to tweak its video settings. Helpful in cleaning up particularly bad analog videos.
I've used these things for years and they all work great. I do not believe there is any difference in the internal conversion hardware ... The primary differences are support for one-way vs. bidirectional conversion; input/output connectors; and the software that comes with the ADVC-300.
If you have basically clean analog video, any of these units will be fine. You can use any analog source (VHS deck, camcorder, DVD player, etc.) and would typically use iMovie or Final Cut Express to capture your video on a Mac.

8mm and Canopus or Digital 8 for capturing 8mm tapes?

I have a Canopus 300 that I've been using for capturing VHS tapes. I also have an 8mm camcorder. Will that camcorder + Canopus do as good a job as a Digital 8 camcorder or Digital 8 playback deck?
Thanks!
MikeR

Probably only a side-by-side comparison using the same test footage would provide a definitive answer as to which path produced the better result.
The data stream on a Digital8 tape is the same DV stream that is on a miniDV tape. The data is identical, it's just the physical tape that is different. You can only get 1 hour of DV onto a 2-hour Hi-8 tape, because the Digital8 camcorder runs the tape at approximately twice the speed.
My Sony DCR-TRV460 is smart enough to recognize the signal and switch between modes. I even have a few tapes which have regular analog 8mm video on part of the tape and Digital8 on a later part of the same tape. When it reaches one of these changes, the camera automatically stops and switches mode, then starts rolling again.
Not all DV is exactly identical, I have found out. There is a small discrepancy between the way Panasonic cameras record DV and the way Sony cameras record DV. I found this out when a colleague sent me a miniDV tape recorded on a Panasonic camera. I took it to a video shop to have it copied over to a Digital8 tape, which should have been a direct digital copy. But at the shop they told me Panasonic records DV in a slightly different way. The result is that there were some glitches and artifacts on the copy, and some audio problems as well. If you stick with all one manufacturer you should probably not run into that problem.
The downside is that I have found Sony camcorders to suddenly fail to operate at the worst possible moments, and for no apparent reason. This has happened to me several times, in fact my TRV460 died a couple of weeks ago. It is always wise to have an expert repairman who is knowlegeable about Sony available at all times.
I think that the Sony deck (GV-D200) might be exactly what you need for your project, but at $500 for a new one (or maybe $250-$300 for a used one on eBay) that would be a significant cost.
Message was edited by: Bob Weaver

Alternatives to using camera for capture

I've been lucky enough to be designated the "official" videographer for our high school basketball teams. I am cranking out anywhere between 2 and 8 videos a week, plus a few more events in between. I use IM to IDVD, burn the image, delete the projects and start over again. I use a rather expensive camera and would prefer to keep it in good shape for a few years. Between the shooting, rewinding, capturing and rewinding again (yes I do reuse my tapes several times)I am concerned about the wear and tear on my camera. What are my options here? I can find minidv player/recorders but they are over a $1000 and I'm not sure if they would be any more longlasting than a camera or if they are compatible with capturing on IM. I am leaning towards buying a more inexpensive minidv camera.
Your thoughts?
If you know of a better place to post this question, I'm all ears.

If you want to save wear and tear on your expensive (shooting) camera, then as long as it's in good condition, and the head and transport alignment isn't out of kilter you should be able to use a cheap miniDV camcorder (with a FireWire connection) to import your tapes into iMovie.
Shoot with your expensive camcorder, and edit (..i.e; play and rewind tapes..) with a cheaper bottom-of-the-range camcorder ..after all, it's only the tape transport and playback heads which you'll need, and not the expensive optics and video-capture circuitry.
If all's aligned correctly, then any Standard Play miniDV tape should play back on any other miniDV camcorder.
CAUTION: Anything recorded at Long Play speed might NOT play back on another camcorder or deck, as tolerances (track widths) are so fine at LP speed than no manufacturer guarantees LP recordings' compatibility when played back on other equipment.

Best camcorder for use with iMovie 08?

Yes. I have done a search.
I would like to find a good quality camcorder, preferably hard drive, that I can also use to record directly onto iMovie 08 (like you can with the built-in camera).
Help. Any ideas would be welcome.
Sadly I bought a Sony DCR SR85 60GB HDD Camcorder because my videographer friends told me not to buy anything but a Sony.
I was astounded to find out that I was unable to record directly onto iMovie. Oh well. Further iMovie has to convert the file after it is downloaded from the camera's HD. I'm disappointed. It's on eBay now.
PS: I have now seen the list http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1014#2 Thanks.

You can do that with any FireWire camcorder - well, certainly in iMovie HD 6 and previous ..I haven't tested that in iMovie '08.
Sony aren't really in direct competition with Apple, as Apple don't make camcorders ..and you may remember that the head honcho from Sony burst onto the stage during SJ's MacWorld address the other year (2005..?) and was introduced by Steve as he announced iMovie HD, because Sony was overwhelming happy that iMovie could import hi-def material from Sony's new hi-def Z1 and FX1 cameras. Apple and Sony worked together to ensure that iMovie could handle hi-def video shot with Sony camcorders.
But perhaps I'm not the best person to respond here, as I don't think much of hard disc camcorders; the compression's higher than with miniDV tape, a head crash can mean that you lose your entire discful of video, it's often more finicky to import ..the only time I use a hard disc for recording video is if I use a 'FireStore' piggy-backed onto a miniDV camcorder.
A computer with a spinning hard disc inside is a fragile thing to use as a monitor, if your rig has to be moved: it's only sensible if you're in one fixed spot while you're recording. If I'm shooting with the camcorder on the end of a pole, I just run a video-out cable from the camera to a mini monitor (..or even to video glasses!..) so that I can see what I'm shooting with the remote camera: drop your Mac and you're really in trouble!
To use your Mac as a monitor, you should also first calibrate the Mac's screen so that its colours and brightness ("gamma") match that of the camcorder, otherwise you might adjust the camera to match what you see on the Mac, and end up with over-exposure, or the wrong colours.
So maybe you might rethink why you want to use your Mac as a monitor. And continuous capture to a Mac's internal disc while shooting may put too much strain on the system (..as the Mac will want to do various 'housekeeping' jobs while the video's coming in, such as indexing files, swapping memory to and from disc, etc). It may be better to capture to an external disc ..which Canons don't like to do: they like to be the only FireWire device in the circuit. But as you want to capture to a hard disc camcorder, maybe capture straight onto the Mac isn't what you have in mind.
So, all in all, why not think again about what exactly you want to do, and why. And Sonys work perfectly well with Macs, in my experience..
P.S: Any hi-def camcorder will need to have its video 'converted' during import into iMovie, as hi-def video is severely 'compressed' into a non-editable format, and it has to be uncompressed during import so that it can be edited. That's not just Sony camcorders; that's every type of hi-def. The conversion takes a lot of 'horse-power' during import, so shooting hi-def and simultaneously importing it in real time into iMovie can be difficult.
(..Maybe that's what you're trying to do, as you said "..I was astounded to find out that I was unable to record directly onto iMovie. Oh well. Further iMovie has to convert the file after it is downloaded from the camera's HD. I'm disappointed.." ..all hi-def has to be 'converted', standard-def miniDV tape doesn't, but standard-def AVCHD, as from a hard disc camcorder or a camcorder which records to internal memory chips or onto a miniDVD, does need conversion during import..)

Best Low Cost Camcorder for FCP?

I'm going to take back a Samsung D453 camcorder because it has time code breaks during capture. Does anyone have any recommendations for a low cost DV camcorder that is supported by Final Cut Pro?

Actually, recording timecode on a tape might have been a good idea with analog crash recording, but it does not make sense on DV camcorders. If nothing else you end up recording twice on the tape which increases wear on the camera heads and doesn't do much for the tape either.
As an alternative to blacking tapes, simply record the first 30 seconds or so of the tape without images. Use a bars and tone if the camera can generate one. Otherwise use the FCP version. This gives you enough preroll area for capturing all material after this point.
Once into the tape, just make sure when you stop recording, the heads are in a position that will allow them to pick up the timecode and continue on. As long as you do not rewind and review the footage you are good to go. If you must rewind & review, stop the play back a few seconds short of the end of the previous shot.
So to recap. Generate bars and tone for the first 30 seconds of the tape then give your self enough preroll on each shot as well as an additional few seconds at the end of each shot.
If you must review a shot/scene in camera, stop the tape before the end of the scene so the camera can pick up the timecode as it moves on.
Good luck.
x

Settings for capture excise invoice in MIGO and other settings

Hi,
For excise invoice capture and post procedure which we are following is as follow
1 : For Local Excise invoice
     After receving goods from Vendor first we are Doing J1IEX Part 1, Capture excise invoice after saving this we are getting part 1 number, then we are making GR with MB01 ref. to part 1 number , then qyuality inspection then updating material in Unrestricted stock from quality afetr that we are doing J1IEX poat PART 2 here we are getting part 2 number then invoice verification,
2 : For import PO
      First MIRO for custom delivery cost we are getting MIRO number, then J1IEX part 1 ref. to MIRO number and year then MB01, ref. to part 1 of J1IEX then quality quality to store then J1IEX Part 2 then MIRO for vendor.
now in many thread i read about capture invoice in MIGO   so i want to know the detail settings which required to be made so that we can perform our ruoutin in short time.
regards,
zafar

hi
>is there will be any effect in our existing procedure We want to follow both for some time , after that we will do only in MIGO,
yes u can use both simultniously
but in MIGO if u capture, the step of updation J1i5 will be ommited (it will take palce automatically)
like currently ur doing capture >update >post
in migo only capture and then post
>second think is that now while posting the capture excise invoice in J1IEX we rae entering part 1 number, so can we do woth >this while capturing it thorugh migo or we have to post with vendor excise invoice number only.
You can do capture and post simultaniously in migo only
the separate transaction is given as persons or users may be diffrent for GR and excise
if the same user want to do the GR and cap and posting then yes he can
for capture and posting u also have to tick Post Excise Invoice Captured in MIGO in excise grp settings
regards
kunal

How can I use an external hard drive for capturing? I don't have enough mem

I'm new at this...I have a Powerbook G4 and not nearly enough memory for capturing a full size video. Is there some way to send it to an external hard drive- for capturing, then burn it in my laptop? Would that external hard drive have to have IDVD loaded on it?

Hi artdrake
Just to add to the already good advice posted above.
Another possible approach which works for me, assuming the ext. FireWire HD is large and fast enough (I recommend at least 120GB and 7200rpm) is to format the the ext. HD as stated above (journaled) and then clone your existing startup volume (using Carbon Copy Cloner) to the ext. Hard Drive. This will circumvent installing a fresh OS as well as all the iLife apps to the ext. device. You will simply make an exact copy of your laptops HD to the ext. volume. It takes me all of 30-40 mins. on my G4 system to do this procedure whereas installing everything from scratch may take several hours.
Click Here for example/s:
Once this is completed and assuming the ext. drive is connected securely via Firewire, Restart the computer while holding down the option key. Select the ext. FW HD. Once your G4 laptop is booted to external drive, use it as you would the primary drive. The only difference is that you now have plenty of room to capture to or to burn a DVD. This saves you from consuming much needed HD space on the G4 laptop plus it also serves as a fully operative backup hard drive for your G4.
Hope this suggestion works as well for you as it does for me. Feel free to post back with additional questions/concerns.
(3) G4 PM's/(3) S-Drives/Sony TRV900/Nikons/6FWHD's/PS7/iLife06/FCPHD/DVDSP/etc. Mac OS X (10.4.8) My ichatav AIM account is: SDMacuser1 (Please use Text chat prior to video)

Can I use a Bluetooth headphone/microphone for capture sound instead of normal iPhone mic when shooting video?

Can I use a Bluetooth headphone/microphone for capture sound instead of normal iPhone mic when shooting video?
The sound when I record video is not so good, so I'm trying to use the Bluetooth headphone/microphone to capture a person voice but not know which setting to use.

Hi Robert
Thanks for answering. I didn't know where to post other than the bluetooth forum which is relatively quiet and had no answers forthcoming.
Yes the voice isn't reaching the amp although it is registering on the input bar in the Sound System Prefs, just won't "play through" as it were. I can't see how it could be done I was just hoping someone might see something I am missing.
It seems a shame that you can't do it as iTunes on an old iBook makes a good juke box for DJ'ing and with everything becoming wireless these days it seems sensible that you could cut that one last wire.
Mike

One good use for a PC

Found one good use for my vaio laptop.
I had a problem that went like this:
Adventures in Sony Mini DVD land....
Original Message ( Posted Oct 11, 05 7:49 am )
OK...
I've read & digested all the good advice 'round here regarding getting DVD into FCE.
SCENE 1, Act 1:
Customer gives me Sony Mini DVD's recorded on an NTSC cam, and wants an edit deleiverd in DVD NTSC. I live in a PAL country. And I own a cheap camera that doesn't appear to have any kind of NTSC playback or recording option. I use this to digitize. So recording the analogue output of my DVD player is out.
Paid my money and got DVDxDV..
YAY! working well EXCEPT!!!......
SCENE 2: ...these DVD's are dual sided. the contents of side 1 show up as what I assume are chapters. These I converted to NTSC for Final Cut and everything is rosy. However the final chapter thingy seems to be an fast forward silent montage of the contents of side 2 of the disc.
The other side of the disc placed upwards in the DVD tray gives me no joy in either DVDxDV or in Macs DVD player. The superdrive won't touch it.. Both sides play on my domestic player.
Anyone got any experience/advice/ideas/condolences to share?
Tearing my hair out, and if you've seen my picture (think Yoda but pink) you'll understand why that can't be a good thing...
Pete
Then..
UPDATE:
the superfast forward montage thing is stills captured to the disc.
I used disc utulity to make a new disc image (.cdr) which has a ts_video folder and a DCIM folder which has stills in it.
No idea of whether or not I'm getting anything from side two in amongst all those chaptery thingos I converted.
Now I have a Video TS folder I might try opening THAT with DVDxDV.....
+ + + + +
Well no joy with side 2 till I had this flash...
Sony Laptop, sony proprietary stupid format. Maybe if I...
Then bingo! The vaio recognized the files, I copied them to a cdr, and i carried the disc over to my uncooperative mac.
So the whole thing is laid out here for anyone who ever gets lumped with this kid of edit job.
BTW Google was totally useless on this topic (where the dual sided version of these dumb sony 8cm DVD's was concerned)
So, as it turns out, this info could be worth somethin'...to someone...

Thanks for the feedback Master Y.
PCs do come in handy. I use one every day for various duties.
I still love my Mac, even thoug hit's done quite a few laps.
Al

Goods receipt for import material

Dear all,
The excise tab does not appear during goods receipt of imported material. But when are doing the goods receipt for domestic material the tab does appear.
Even after posting goods receipt and while trying to capture excise details in J1IEX i.e. incase of imports CVD, CVD-Ecess, CVD-HEcess and additional duty, the system asks for the invoice number and then throws a message that PO does not contain any selectable items. We have defined as separate pricing procedure for imports.Have maintained the material and vendor details in J1ID.
Request to kindly suggest any settings that we need to check so that the excise tab appears for imported material also.
regards,
mahesh.

Hi,
Import Process: -
1. ME21N - Create Import PO
2. MIRO - Customs Invoice
3. J1IEX - Capture Bill of Entry
4. MIGO - Goods Receipt
5. J1IEX - Post Bill of Entry
6. MIRO - LIV for Vendor Invoice
7. MIRO - LIV for Clearing Agent
Following condition types to be used in MM Pricing.
JCDB     IN:Basic Custom Duty
JCV1     IN : CVD
JECV     IN : Ed Cess on CVD
J1CV     IN : H&SECess on CVD
JEDB     IN : Ed Cess on BCD
JSDB     IN : H&SECess on BCD
JADC     Addnl Duty of Custom
Mandatorily, use a Zero % Tax Code in Import PO.
Import Duties will not come from J1ID, in J1ID only you have to mainatin material and Vendor (Customs Office and Import both) excise details.
Above all, check the Excise Defaults for CVD conditions in SPRO > LO > Tax on Goods Movement > India > Basic Settings > Mainatin Excise Deafults

Goods receipt without capture excise invoice

Hi all
I wanted to do the goods receipt for which the vendor will submit the excise invoice later. How to capture this process in sap
I need step by step process
Pls help
Suresh

HI,
Check the link
Re: MIGO for Excisable material without entering Excise details in MIGO
Regards
KK

HQ vs standard pro res 422 for capture Help!

This is my last question (I think).
Would standard printed out on hdsr essentially look the same in this situation that I shouldn't bother with the HQ?
A gentleman made a comment that I don't need HQ for capture but I am reading a lot of commentary on this.
My feature film has a lot of effects, it is prepared for conversion from a 10bit digibeta sd file that was rendered out from an sd file.
My end delivery is going to be cable broadcast and hdsr master, (though I know just for hdcam standard would be ok).
I read different comments on here and on the web...and some of it comments if your end goal is broadcast you should have an HQ file if it comes from a 10-bit source and as well that more compression will happen down the road and taking that into consideration, as I'll be doing another render, I'd like this verified.
And NOWHERE does it differentiate if that source is the file it's being converted from or the original footage it came from.
And I will be effecting this last capture pro res file before another render to a final QT.
I just want verification that standard will be ok as the individual who commented that it is I hadn't stated for sure what my delivery and end use would be and may have assumed I'd only be concerned with hdcam.
Thanks.

Nobody calls me a gentleman and gets away with it!
There are many resources to heop you decide on a ProRes codec appropriate for your task. However, youmust weigh the processing cost of inadequate hardware against the possibly indiscernible difference in the HUGE difference in file sizes and heavy lifting.
http://16x9cinema.com/blog/2009/7/31/sorting-out-the-apple-prores-family.html
ProRes 422 (HQ)
Visually lossless - highest-quality professional HD video that a (single-link) HD-SDI signal can carry.
Supports full-width, 4:2:2 video sources at 10-bit pixel depths, while retaining its visually lossless characteristic through many generations of decoding and re-encoding.
Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) can be used both as an intermediate codec to accelerate workflows for complex, compressed video sources and as an affordable, high-performance alternative to uncompressed 4:2:2 video.
Has some subsampling of chroma, but retains very high quality.
Supports 4:2:2 sources like DCVPRO HD, AVC-Intra,/100, XDCAM HD422/50.
Data rate about 220 Mbps.
ProRes 422
Visually lossless, full-width 10-bit, 4:2:2 at lower data rate than ProRes (HQ)
Offers better multi-stream RT editing performance. For most video applications, 422 is "good enough."
Data rate about 147 Mbps
The comparison in data density between HQ and vanilla 422 is 220/147.
If you have the chops to KNOW you need to maintain this kind of image integrity then you have the hardware to accommodate the chore. If you have the chops but not the rig, forget it, you can't afford the time. If you have the rig but not the knowledge, forget it, you can't realize the benefits. It's a pretty simple decision matrix and, while you will get some recommendations, you're the only one who can pull this trigger. It's going to cost you time or money or both.
Types of Apple ProRes Codecs
The Apple ProRes format comes in five versions: Apple ProRes 4444, Apple ProRes 422 (HQ), Apple ProRes 422, Apple ProRes 422 (LT), and Apple ProRes 422 (Proxy). The following list describes the features of each version. For a complete comparison of the relative data rates of the Apple ProRes codecs, see Apple ProRes Format Specifications.
Apple ProRes 4444
The Apple ProRes 4444 codec offers the utmost possible quality for 4:4:4 sources and for workflows involving alpha channels. It includes the following features:
Full-resolution, mastering-quality 4:4:4:4 RGBA color (an online-quality codec for editing and finishing 4:4:4 material, such as that originating from Sony HDCAM SR or digital cinema cameras such as RED ONE, Thomson Viper FilmStream, and Panavision Genesis cameras). The R, G, and B channels are lightly compressed, with an emphasis on being perceptually indistinguishable from the original material.
Lossless alpha channel with real-time playback
High-quality solution for storing and exchanging motion graphics and composites
For 4:4:4 sources, a data rate that is roughly 50 percent higher than the data rate of Apple ProRes 422 (HQ)
Direct encoding of, and decoding to, RGB pixel formats
Support for any resolution, including SD, HD, 2K, 4K, and other resolutions
A Gamma Correction setting in the codec’s advanced compression settings pane, which allows you to disable the 1.8 to 2.2 gamma adjustment that can occur if RGB material at 2.2 gamma is misinterpreted as 1.8. This setting is also available with the Apple ProRes 422 codec.
Apple ProRes 422 (HQ)The Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) codec offers the utmost possible quality for 4:2:2 or 4:2:0 sources (without an alpha channel) and provides the following:
Target data rate of approximately 220 Mbps (1920 x 1080 at 60i)
Higher quality than Apple ProRes 422
Apple ProRes 422The Apple ProRes 422 codec provides the following:
Target data rate of approximately 145 Mbps (1920 x 1080 at 60i)
Higher quality than Apple ProRes 422 (LT)
Apple ProRes 422 (LT)The Apple ProRes 422 (LT) codec provides the following:
Roughly 70 percent of the data rate of Apple ProRes 422 (thus, smaller file sizes than Apple ProRes 422)
Higher quality than Apple ProRes 422 (Proxy)
bogiesan

Good camcorder for capturing

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