What file type should I use?

[Guest]

I have read several topics on this sbject including the very informative
articles by Graham Hughes but I'm still confused.
I'm using a Desktop with 250GB HD, 1GB Memory, DVD Burner & firewire cable.
If I capture using DV-AVI and check the box for "Create Clips when Video
finishes" the system doesn't break the file into clips as it does when I
select WMV. The unedited tape is about 15 min. to 20 min. long. After
editing it will be less than 10 minutes. What am I doing Wrong?
Another question. Should I click on the "Stop Capture" button when the
entire tape is captured? If I don't the tape appears to continue running
till the end.
Your help will be appreciated

 

[Wojo]

Question #1
I am not sure why using DV-AVI isn't splitting the clips, apparently WMM
isn't finding anything that it deems as a scene change so it doesn't split
the clips. But you can quite easily do that manually.

Question #2
If you selected the capture entire tape option then it will rewind to the
beginning and capture to the end of the tape. If you then stop the recording
you will get several warning messages but it will indeed capture and save to
that point. But if you use the other option to manually capture you simply
need to rewind manually and tell WMM when to stop.

 

[Guest]

I neglected to say that when I captured using DV-AVI I forgot to connect
camera to aux power till near the end of tape. Perhaps this was my problem.
I'd like to start over. Can I simply delete the clips and re-do the capture
using DV-AVI?

Regarding your Question 2, yes I did select entire tape and it did rewind
before I started. So that answered my question.

Thanks again for your help, it's much appreciated.

 

[Wojo]

Deleting it from your collections WILL NOT delete it from your harddrive so
you will actually have 2 copies of the video on your computer wasting
valuable space.
Click on VIEW and then "My Videos Folder" and that should open Windows
Explorer automatically placing you to the folder you used to save the video.
Now you need to right click and delete it from there to actually remove it
from your computer.

 

[Guest]

It's still not splitting the clips. To start over, I followed your
instructions i.e. click on VIEW, then on "MY VIDEO FOLDER" then Right click
and delete. First I selected Capture parts of the tape manually and clicked
on "Stop Capture" only after the last scene was displayed. Still no split
clips. So I deleted it following your instructions again. I then selected
"entire tape option" and clicked on "Stop Capture" after the last scene was
displayed. In both cases after I clicked on "Stop Capture" the system created
file which took about two minutes.
I doubt that the reason it's not splitting clips is because WMM has not
found a scene change it deams worthy of a split. However I don't know much
about this "movie making". But I think it's more likely due to all the
"junk" that has accumulated in WMM and me not knowing how to get rid of it or
my lack of understanding of how all the pieces (should) fit together.
I appreciate your help.

 

[Wojo]

The only thing I can assure you of is that it doesn't have anything to do
with the "junk" assuming by "junk" you mean collection folders and videos
imported. The two have nothing at all to do with each other.
As far as that junk goes have a look at the article on my websites Movie
Maker-> How-To section titled "Organize Collections"

I have to say though that I think your spending a lot of time trying to fix
something that may or may not be broken.

By that I mean try importing from another tape if you have one to see if it
splits those clips. If it does then the problem is likely one of two things.
1) WMM really isn't finding a scene change.
2) The tape has been used too many times and is worn out.

Also remember that it is quite a simple task to split the clip manually, I
never even use the auto split feature as I would rather manually decide
where I want clips split.

 

[Guest]

Based on your comments I wonder if it could have something to do with source
of the tape. The tape was made from an 8mm film that is more than 50 yrs
old. I made the film while in the service in korea by splicing short clips
together. It still needs a lot of editing to remove short clips and
repetitive clips. I also want to add titles, text, and and audio. Then I'd
like to burn some DVDs for family and friends. The tape was made from the
film by a local photographic company. I do have another tape of the same
vintage made by the same company. It has never been
used for capturing or other movie making ops. I'll follow your suggestion
using it.
Thanks much.

 

[Wojo]

Your welcome and yes that certainly could be the reason it isn't recognizing
any scene changes.
-Wojo