Capturing and cataloging HQ footage

[Philip]

I want to bring up the topic again in case someone has found a new solution I have not uncovered out there.

I captures to the Canopus HQ codec via Edius. In SD days I used Scenalyzer for all my capture and cataloging of footage. Was the best $40 utility I ever bought. I miss this functionality and ability to catalog footage easily in HD (with the HQ codec).

Has anyone found a utility that will recognize HQ files with similar functionality? The closest I have found and use is Picasa by Google. The biggest drawback is when previewing video files there is no way to scroll/scrub the clip. There are not VCR like controls for video files. It is mainly an image application but works with video and recognizes HQ.

One big feature I like is the ability to highlight a bunch of clips, press F2 to rename and then all the highlighted clips will have the same name with a numeric sequence after the name. There are a few times with each project this functionality saves me lots of time.

I continue to use Picasa because the rename feature works like this. It does have a tendency to crash frequently on my laptop though so I am looking for a better alternative if anyone out there has found one.

I don't care too much for the naming of clips in Edius...especially since the rename function doesn't add an incremental number on the end of clips with the same name.

Any new apps out there?

[Claire]

Hi Philip, I think maybe you are referring to an off line catalog so this might not be relevant but for Canopus HQ clips on your computer, or a removable drive, or a data DVD you fetch from your cupboard I find XnView very useful.

http://www.xnview.com/

It works just like Windows File Explorer with the added feature of showing the Canopus AVI's as thumbnails, selecting a thumbnail opens the avi in a sizable movie player window at bottom of screen, complete with player buttons and volume slider. Double clicking this movie player window opens it up in a full size window. Altogether a really nice easy way to browse through clips as long (as you are organised enough to know roughly where to browse)

If there was a way to have this work as an off llne catalog it would be perfect.

[Philip]

Hi Philip, I think maybe you are referring to an off line catalog so this might not be relevant but for Canopus HQ clips on your computer, or a removable drive, or a data DVD you fetch from your cupboard I find XnView very useful.

http://www.xnview.com/

It works just like Windows File Explorer with the added feature of showing the Canopus AVI's as thumbnails, selecting a thumbnail opens the avi in a sizable movie player window at bottom of screen, complete with player buttons and volume slider. Double clicking this movie player window opens it up in a full size window. Altogether a really nice easy way to browse through clips as long (as you are organised enough to know roughly where to browse)

If there was a way to have this work as an off llne catalog it would be perfect.

Not looking to work in an offline setting. I will check it out. I think I tried it before and didn't care for it. It may have been updated and improved now. I will try it again. My big thing is the renaming of clips and the sequential numbering on common file names.

THanks,

[Claire]

Not looking to work in an offline setting. I will check it out. I think I tried it before and didn't care for it. It may have been updated and improved now. I will try it again. My big thing is the renaming of clips and the sequential numbering on common file names.

THanks,

Fair enough, well there are of course many quick and easy ways to rename files including the ability to add a numbered sequence such as Edius does when scene recognition it enabled. I have many times had to rename thousands of files in this way in the course of my work and can recommend "Quick File Rename" - http://www.skyjuicesoftware.com - for such tasks as it can use wild cards making it very powerful.

[Philip]

Fair enough, well there are of course many quick and easy ways to rename files including the ability to add a numbered sequence such as Edius does when scene recognition it enabled. I have many times had to rename thousands of files in this way in the course of my work and can recommend "Quick File Rename" - http://www.skyjuicesoftware.com - for such tasks as it can use wild cards making it very powerful.

The reason I don't like the Edius filenaming functionality is because I upload an entire tape each time. If I am editing a wedding I can have 20 minutes of getting ready, 10 minutes of post ceremony stuff and 30 minutes of open dancing for a dance video. I like to highlight all the dancing clips and call them dancing and have the software put a numeric extension after them. Helps me keep track of all of them when editing. There can be 200+ dancing files. If I use Edius all the files of a tape upload have the same exact name. When you rename a bunch "dancing" they are all called "dancing" with no extension.

If you ever used Scenalyzer in SD land you would know what it is we are missing in HD land.

I am checking out xnview though....thanks,

[Bluetongue]

Philip
For what it is worth I use the clip colour coding function to group clips in the bin
After colour coding you can sort on the colour and they will all be grouped together
Regards Barry

[drgagx]

My edits are based on material captured over one year. I capture each tape with date and time breaks starting 001. Each tape becomes a folder with c100+ clips within it. After capture I load the folders into the Edius bin with time and date sequence visible. I open each folder and add a short descriptive suffix to the first shot in the sequence and colour code that sequence of clips. I repeat this through all shots in each folder. The colour codes are my visual clue to sort related groups of clips to sequences set up on the timeline. This works well for me in 4.54 and enables quite a rapid organisation of the clips to where I want them.

My current subject matter is the growing up of six grandchildren and other events over the course of a calendar year. That means I have c12 hours of material and c10 sequences set up, one sequence for each grandchild plus others as needed. I will output at least one DVD for each grandchild plus more on other topics.