Avid Newscutter--Quicker ways to upload?

[DevinDavis]

Workin on a Sunday, fooling around with the Avid (our station bought a system and only one photog in the newsroom has bothered to play on it besides me) and I am pretty wowed on how quick it all starts to make sense (it was tough at first but gets easier to pick things up), even though I'm fairly thorough on FCP.

Question is, we're running DVC cameras instead of those cool new hard drive cameras, so load time seems like it forever. Any tips or tricks on better ways of uploading and organizing video so the AVID will be a relevant tool to use on a daily basis for packs (I don't see it for use on VOSOT patrol)? Or is it going to be more trouble than its worth if I can just do linear?

 

[Corporate Management]

Personally, I just capture all the video--interviews and b-roll both--all at once, in one big clip. Anything else is just too time-consuming for me. As long as I'm the one who shot the video, I never have trouble finding the shots I need.

 

[TXPhotog]

Same here.

I just go ahead and capture the tape (hopefully it's only one) and use the "subclipping" option, which is pushing F1 at the start of the clip I want and then F2 when it's done and then, in between pushing F1 and F2, while the shot is playing I label it. For SOTs I take the reporters timecode and subtract 2 seconds from the beginning and add 2 seconds to the end time (if they put it in there) and type those into the MARK IN line and the MARK OUT line. (Hopefully the reporter is accurate with them).

 

[newshooter]

We use DVCPro too and there's no way to speed up the capture.

We use it for everything..PKGs, VO/SOT, VO's etc. Our station is tapeless, so everything has to be in the computer. Unlike the last two posters, I don't capture everything at once. It bugs the hell out of me when I have to edit something that someone did capture that way. It makes the file hard to scrub through because it's so big. Moving the curor just a little bit actually moves it 10 minutes.

I capture my audio first. Channel 1. only. Our reporters can clip their sots at their desks through Media Manager, so I get SOTS in so they can get working on stories. Each interview is sepearted and clearly labeled.

I then go back and put all my b-roll in. Again, all b-roll is seperated by subject and only Ch.2 audio is captured unless I put a mic on somebody then I'll capture both.

It may seem time consuming, but in the end, it saves time. You can't do anything until all your video is in anyway, so you might as well make it easier on yourself once it comes time to edit that package. Having audio seperated will save time editing. You do'nt have t o keep shutting off 1 or 2 if there's nothing there.

It took a long time to get used to the Avid system, but after a few months, you'll get a routine and everything will become much, much easier.

 

[TXPhotog]

We use DVCPro too and there's no way to speed up the capture.

We use it for everything..PKGs, VO/SOT, VO's etc. Our station is tapeless, so everything has to be in the computer. Unlike the last two posters, I don't capture everything at once. It bugs the hell out of me when I have to edit something that someone did capture that way. It makes the file hard to scrub through because it's so big. Moving the curor just a little bit actually moves it 10 minutes.

I capture my audio first. Channel 1. only. Our reporters can clip their sots at their desks through Media Manager, so I get SOTS in so they can get working on stories. Each interview is sepearted and clearly labeled.

I then go back and put all my b-roll in. Again, all b-roll is seperated by subject and only Ch.2 audio is captured unless I put a mic on somebody then I'll capture both.

It may seem time consuming, but in the end, it saves time. You can't do anything until all your video is in anyway, so you might as well make it easier on yourself once it comes time to edit that package. Having audio seperated will save time editing. You do'nt have t o keep shutting off 1 or 2 if there's nothing there.

It took a long time to get used to the Avid system, but after a few months, you'll get a routine and everything will become much, much easier.

Despite what this guy says it's not too confusing the just capture the whole tape. You just have to subclip it then it's not just all one shot. If you don't subclip it, it will be a pain in the ass. A subclip is like a topic on this board. The link on the main board you click on to get into the topic is the whole tape for instance. Then once inside each reply is a "subclip". For instance it looks something like this in the story bin in the avid:

WHOLE TAPE OF CONCERT
--1-CU OF GUITARISTS HANDS
--2-CU OF SINGERS FACE
--3-PAN OF CROWD
ETC ETC ETC

All you have to do while you're capturing it is press the F1 button the start the subclip and press F2 to stop where you want that shot to end. While you're waiting for the shot you want to finish you can type in the above descriptions. Hope that made sense.

 

[pre-set]

Personally, I just capture all the video--interviews and b-roll both--all at once, in one big clip. Anything else is just too time-consuming for me. As long as I'm the one who shot the video, I never have trouble finding the shots I need.

If you want simplicity, ignore every other answer and re-read this post. This IS the best way.

As far as speeding it up...... sorry. Unless you have one of the now-discontinued 4x machines, you CAN'T. Just focus on shooting "tighter" and make use of your ingest time by doing other stuff while it's happening. 1x is a b*tch, but there's no way around it.

 

[phojorisin]

i'm fairly new

Our station just switched to AVID a few weeks ago. However, as far as capturing goes, I haven't found it to be a problem as long as your efficient. First off, be very efficient when you're in the field. The less you shoot, the less you have to capture. But of course, make sure you get everything you need. Second, for those that said they just hit record and get one big clip...that's what subclipping does. The difference is, if you want to quickly find one particular shot later on, you can go right to it. It's just simply...while you're making the big clip, you use the F1-F2 buttons to mark your subclips. It takes no extra time, and makes life down the road a lot easier.
As for SOTS...I wait on those until my reporter has them in the script. Usually you'll only need 4-8 of them, and if your reporter puts them in the script and saves it within a timely manner, it only takes 5 minutes or so to get them all in.
Overall, having just switched to AVID, I was really worried about the capturing time and having to just sit there and watch it in real-time. But once you've got everything captured, editing is a breeze. So time lost capturing is made up for in editing. Just my two cents!

 

[Icarus112277]

I do the same thing for inoutting to video servers, the tapes I get generally come with logs so I don't need to subclip while i ingest. I do something else then come back and clip and cut as much as I need.

 

[TXPhotog]

Editing Time

Also if you're waiting for the script go back through and lay down the nats you know you're gonna use and then you can just use the SPLICE-IN function for the reporter track and that can save you some time too. Also one thing I've found if you've got a sot where the person kinda slurs two words together and the reporter wants it to end in between those, just add an extra audio track (this is based on audio on ch.1 and nats on ch.2) and then lay the sot on ch.3 and then go back and then put a 5-frame "dissolve at center" on ch.1 and ch.3 and that can help solve that little audio clipping you can get.