Using HDVSplit to "log" tapes for reuse

[bighaircarey]

Hello,
I'm not sure if my title is going to make sense with what I want to try to do but I couldn't describe it much better.

I have a HV30 and a older Pent 4 w/HT 3.0 GHz 1.0 Gig ram, computer that I edit with, probably ganna get a new one soon. I edit using CS3 mainly Premiere with a little After Effects. Anyway I was wondering about a workflow that I had been thinking about for a while.

Say I had a project and had 2 full tapes of stuff that I was going to be using. So first I capture both tapes with scene split with HDVSplit and went ahead and edited everything and finished my project, everything is good. The I delete my video files but keep my project files from Premiere or AE. Then someone says oh hey can you go re-edit that or change a title or something. Could I then re-capture the tapes and use the same filenames as before and put them in the same folder relative to my Premiere or AE project files and resume editing?
It seems like as long as you start recording in the same clip at the beginning of the tape all of the scene splits should come at the same time. It would be nice because then I could archive my footage tapes but still be able to re-edit the project if the need ever came up, but would be saving HD space at the same time.

Has anyone ever tried this or something similar?

Thanks,
Carey

[racer-x]

I've never tried that.......it might work, but it would be difficult to start the "Record" at the exact spot each time. That will send all cuts and transitions out of alignment.

The best solution is to capture tape to external HDD and keep all project files on there as well. Hard Drives are getting cheaper and cheaper all the time.

[bluegrass]

I've never tried that.......it might work, but it would be difficult to start the "Record" at the exact spot each time. That will send all cuts and transitions out of alignment.

The best solution is to capture tape to external HDD and keep all project files on there as well. Hard Drives are getting cheaper and cheaper all the time.

I fully agree with this process. It also gives you a second backup, the tape being the master. Just look at how many hours (tapes) you can put on a 750 gig or 1 trig drive.

[2Bdecided]

The very first scene on the tape is almost impossible to capture identically every time - the start point varies.

Other parts look the same when they're captured, but fc /b says they're not. I haven't looked more closely than this - whether the differences, if real, are enough to upset an NLE, I have no idea.

If no one else has tried it, why don't you be the first?

Cheers,
David.
P.S. by all means back up to external HDD, but if the tapes don't re-capture in a way that's useful, that's not a "back up" is it - it means the HDD is the only useful copy!

[bighaircarey]

I've tried capturing a little bit from a tape to test it and I will do more next time I have a bigger project. So far the filesizes are close, sometimes they are exactly the same and sometimes off by anywhere from 1-400 k. I have yet to throw them in the NLE and check length and stuff like that but will do it soon.

As far as hitting record at the same time I wasn't really planning on having to do that. If I was planning on doing this I would record some black right at the beginning(like 10-20 seconds) then in HDVSplit as long as you hit record within that first scene every scene after that should be the same.

I'll give it a try and if it works post something. I know hard drives are cheap and easy but if this works it would be cheaper(free), might be good for projects that you doubt you'll have to come back to but just in case...

[bighaircarey]

Well, I've partially tested and will do more. What I've done so far is I had about 30 mins from a tape that I needed to capture. There was 52 clips that I captured, and I captured it all twice. So besides the first scene and the last scene there 50 that matched. The filesizes on the 50 were almost all the same, there was only 1 clip that was about 200k different from its corrasponding clip.

When I put them in the NLE I checked the length and all 50 clips had the same exact length to the frame as their counterparts. Once I edit the footage I will try point the NLE at the different set and see if anything messes up but I think it should work.

Carey

[bjlancaster]

Don't know if this will answer your question or provide some insight, but if you've done online/offline editing before, you'd probably know that it's a BIG BIG BIG pain in the neck. Online/offline was used in the early days of NLE's when computer hardware was expensive. They'd import extremely compressed footage, make an edit and according to the REEL information on the tape that was input at the time of capture and the Timecode info that the software grabs, they'd re-capture just the small clips they needed and the software would automatically place the Hi-Res clips in place of the Lo-Res based on the TIMECODE. Timecode is very important in this whole process.

First, the way to do it right is to make sure you have three seconds of pre roll /post roll in your footage before each clip. If you shoot sporadically, turn your cam off and on while shooting, use the same tape for all kinds of different shooting, your TIMECODE will be inconsistent and making an OFFLINE edit is probably not for you.

So, if you've shot all your footage to have at least 3 sec's of pre/post roll, then you capture them with a program that will be able to archive all of the REEL and TC info, I'm not sure if Premiere can do this, I know that AVID and FCP both have those features. The REEL info should be something you tell the computer, the TimeCode (TC) will come from the camera.

Make your edit, export to tape, DVD, web, whatever

Delete your media files, thus making your project "offline"

Open your project file, you'll see your video clips are still in your bin, you'll need to batch capture those clips. The software (premiere) should take care of syncing all of those clips back up with your edit

DISCLAIMER: I'm a Final Cut user, this is how the process works in FCP. I did a little research and the process looks to me to be the same in premiere.

Another thing, It's less hassle to just buy new hard drives. Timecode can be a real pain in the a**. So hopefully this post distills your curiousity. If you want to try it for yourself I think you should do it, but do it on a small project with less than 5 clips. I once did an online/offlline for a feature length doc, with 40 plus tapes, it really wasn't worth the extra time.