Edius Capture Formats

[ASTROMAGS]

We are fairly new to edius and I have been appointed to figure this thing out.

My first issue is with capture quality.

Is it possible to capture in any other format than the default .avi?

If so how?

If not how can I change compression options. I have tried to change it to "canopus uncompres (yuy2) under input setting but it wont let me.

Help a newbie out, please.
Thanks
Stephen

[GrassValley_BH]

It depends on how you capture. Remember that AVI is just a container format, it's not a compression codec.

Capture from DV will be a DV transfer.
Capture from HDV can be an HDV transfer or a real-time transcode to Canopus HQ.

Capture to uncompressed, Canopus Lossless or Canopus HQ requires an EDIUS hardware board.

[GrassValley_KH]

What device are you capturing from, and what format are you looking to capture to?

[ASTROMAGS]

I capture (SD) from a Cannon XLH HDDigital Camera or from an in-house video source routed through a canopus DV converter.

The big issue is that video I've captured doesn't look as good as an imported file.

All my captured stuff looks compressed.

For instance if I do a chroma key with a quicktime file the edges are sharp and clean.
If I chroma key from a a captured file the edges of the key are jagged and "dancing"

perhaps my source is crap to begin with?

[Jerry]

I capture (SD) from a Cannon XLH HDDigital Camera or from an in-house video source routed through a canopus DV converter.

The big issue is that video I've captured doesn't look as good as an imported file.

All my captured stuff looks compressed.

For instance if I do a chroma key with a quicktime file the edges are sharp and clean.
If I chroma key from a a captured file the edges of the key are jagged and "dancing"

perhaps my source is crap to begin with?

Is this an XLH1 camera? If so,and you shot in HD, capture in HD and then let Edius do the downconvert. What was the QT file shot on and how was it captured? Also, which version of Edius do you have? Pro, Brodcast, 4.54?

[ASTROMAGS]

Yes Canon XLH1

Our Station is not HD capable so we shoot in SD, as I mentioned. So lets just focus on SD.

The quicktime files are shot with the Canon Camera I mentioned, or captured uncompressed, from studio cameras on an old SGI PC. The SGI is almost 10 years old and being phased out. I am not having any luck matching the quality I was getting on the SGI with the canopus system. If I could I'd pull the SGI capture card out of the old machine, but it's integrated into the motherboard.

The main issue I'm having is any SD video signal that is routed through the DV converter and into my machine and captured with Edius/Canopus looks like crap. Soft and even showing artifacts especially when chroma keying.

I see there is an option in edius input settings to capture "uncompressed YUY2", but when I try to select it it won't allow me. What exactly do I need to do this? Will this solve my problem

I am running Edius 4.0 (doesn't say pro or broadcast) and capturing SD video routed through a Canopus ADVC-1000 DV converter.

Thanks

[GrassValley_KH]

As Brandon said earlier, capturing to uncompressed video requires an EDIUS hardware board, and is only available on non-FireWire inputs. (i.e. analog or SDI)

FireWire inputs will only capture the native format (DV, HDV MPEG-2).

In the case of HDV input you can also capture directly to Canopus HQ AVI.

How are these Quicktime files being produced? Why are they being produced?

In other words, why are you not ingesting directly from the native XLH1's data streams (either DV or SDI uncompressed). Are you using a FireStore?

[ASTROMAGS]

Good questions.

Yes we are using a fire store. That's how the quick time are being produced. Why is because when we were recording them as avis they look like crap, so we tried quick time and they are clean.

quote:
In other words, why are you not ingesting directly from the native XLH1's data streams (either DV or SDI uncompressed). Are you using a FireStore?

In answer to this question I would have to say: ignorance. Like I said we are new the digital world and they won't pay for any training. So we are left to our own devices.

I assume what you mean by data streams is capturing the files via the cameras tape drive? Same problem video looks like crap.

I don't know if any of this makes any sense since I obviously don't really know what I'm talking about.

[GrassValley_KH]

It makes sense - I'm just trying to understand the workflow better.

So if I have this right, the Canon shoot SD, recording QuickTime DV to the FireStore, and then somewhere along the way you output these QT files through SDI to an ADVC1000, capturing at DV (AVI) in EDIUS.

Have you tried just ingesting the source QuickTime content into EDIUS?

[Shakeel]

So if I have this right, the Canon shoot SD, recording QuickTime DV to the FireStore, and then somewhere along the way you output these QT files through SDI to an ADVC1000, capturing at DV (AVI) in EDIUS.

:) :)

here we describe this type of workflow as ‘ London to Paris Via New York’ :) :)

:) ;)

[SRsupport]

I really think the workflow is a bit off.
As suggested earlier just import the files from the firestore (you don't have to capture) and use those.
(the firestore can also capture to canopus avi)

[Frederick Joswick]

Aloha fellas,

Stephen, silly question for ya... but how are you getting the files from the Firestore into the computer?

Connect the Firestore to the computer and Power the Firestore:

• Right arrow 2 times to "HDD Mode" menu

• Down arrow to "DD Drive" option

• Right arrow 1 time to the "Connect" menu

• Select "Enable" option

Once connected generally Windows Operating System will give you a window asking what to do. We copy the files on the Firestore to our computer hard dive. Others may edit directly from the Firestore drive but we do not use this option nor do we find it effective for out type of business.

Only reason I ask is I remember long ago we had the FS4 (original model) and we were trying to capture the video files from inside the editing program...

Also depending on the how old the Firestore is, you should have the option to capture in the Canopus codec. Select that in the "DV Formats" menu. The Canopus codec is the best in the Firestore (in my opinion) and is the only way to go when using Edius. I get bummed when I accidental capture to any other format because of the quality compared to the Canopus/Firestore codec rocks.

Not sure if that helps but you can message me and I will be more then happy to try to help ya.

Blessings,
Frederick