The basic VTR Input controls are described as follows.
(a) Device Name box (b) Aspect Ratio box (c) Aspect Ratio field (d) EDL button (e) Current Timecode field (f) Proxy Quality box (g) Bit Depth box (h) Scan mode box (i) Tape Name field (j) Clip Name field (k) Increment Name field (l) Tape Type box
- Device Name box
- Select the VTR and timing combination to use to capture clips.
- Engineering button
- Opens the engineering menu.
- Aspect Ratio box
- Select the aspect ratio of the clip to capture.
- Aspect Ratio field
- Displays the aspect ratio of the clip to capture. Editable.
- Bit Depth box
- Select the bit depth used to capture the clip.
- Scan Mode box
- Selects how to flag the captured clip: Progressive, Field 1 dominant, or Field 2 dominant. The flag is only there as a reminder; for example, setting Field 2 does not prevent you from de-interlacing on Field 1. In most cases, select the option that matches the format you are capturing.
- Proxy Only button
- Enable to capture proxies only. In this case, the high-resolution media is captured, proxies are generated, but the high-resolution media is discarded. As a result, much storage space is required.
Only available if the current project is configured to use proxies. If your proxies are set to be generated as a post process in the Engineering menu, you can see an estimated time required for proxies generation in the message bar. You can abort this process at any time by clicking anywhere on the screen. When you click the screen, a message appears asking you to confirm the operation. Only the captured media that corresponds to completed proxy generation is preserved. Any captured frames for which no proxies have been generated are purged.
- Proxy Quality box
- Proxies generated during capture are always of draft quality. Using the Proxy Quality box, you can set the default quality for proxy generation after capture. Results vary depending on the type of clips involved, so it is a good idea to try different settings. Only available if the current project is configured to use proxies.
Select: To get: Impulse Quick, low-quality results. Triangle Moderate results with little processing overhead. Mitchell Best results when resizing a clip to a higher resolution. Bicubic Very good results for resizing soft-looking images. Use to sharpen the image. Quadratic Good results for resizing simple images with straight edges. Similar to Gaussian but with more blurring. Use to soften the image. Gaussian Excellent results when resizing a clip with no patterns and alot of straight edges to a lower resolution. Useful for softening some detail. Shannon Excellent results when resizing a clip to a lower resolution. Very similar to Lanczos, but results are a little softer. Lanczos Best results when resizing a clip containing a variety of patterns and elements to a lower resolution. It is the most complex with the longest processing time. - Capture button
- Starts the capture.
- Grab button
- Grabs the current frame.
- Input Type box
- Select the type of footage found on the tape. Use Standard for regular capture. 2X can only be used with HDCAM SR. Dual Image is for stereo footage recorded side-by-side on the tape; use Slice to create a single Stereoscopic clip on capture, but with half the horizontal resolution; use Scale to create a single Stereoscopic clip, but resized to full horizontal resolution. With Scale, use Engineering > Dual Image Resizing Filter to select the quality of the resize.
Not available if your VTR is connected using a Blackmagic Design device.
- EDL Log button
- Logs the clip to the EDL.
- EDL button
- Opens the EDL menu where you can capture and edit EDLs.
- Log On Out button
- Enable to log EDL events every time you enter an out point.
- Tape Name field
- Displays the name of the tape from which you are capturing. This name is important for EDL assembly and media recapture procedures. Editable.
- Clip Name field
- Displays the name to use for the clip to capture. Editable.
- Increment field
- Displays the number automatically appended to the clip name. Active when Increment is enabled.
- Increment button
- Enable to append numerical increments to the clip name automatically. For example, enter “My_Clip” in the Clip Name field and then enable Increment Name. The first clip you capture is named “My_Clip-1”, the second is named “My_Clip-2”, and so on.
- Start Mode box
- Determines the start mode for clip input.
| Select: | To: |
|---|---|
| Start On Click | Capture starting from the currently displayed frame on the tape. Click Process to activate the start-on-click trigger. |
| Start On Timecode | Capture starting from the timecode you enter in the In field. Click Process to start the clip input process. |
- Stop Mode box
- Determines the stop mode for clip input.
| Select: | To capture until: |
|---|---|
| Stop On Click | You click anywhere on the screen. |
| Stop After Frames | A specific number of frames have been captured. When you select this option, a field appears in which you enter the number of frames you want to capture. |
| Stop On Timecode | A timecode on the tape has been reached (entered in the Out Timecode field). |
- Current Timecode field
- Indicates the current timecode of the tape in the VTR.
The following controls are found on the right side of the menu (not shown in preceding illustration).
- In Timecode field
- Displays the timecode on the tape at which point the clip input begins. Editable.
- Out Timecode field
- Displays the timecode on the tape at which point the clip input process ends. Editable.
- Duration field
- Displays the duration, in timecode, between the clip in point and out point. Editable.
- Tape EE button
- Click to toggles E-to-E on and off. When lit, indicates that the VTR is in E-to-E mode (electronic to electronic). This means that the VTR output is showing its input signal.
- Standby button
- When lit, the VTR is in standby mode. Click to toggle between standby modes.
- Cue In button
- Cues the VTR to the value of the In Timecode field.
- In button
- Sets the In Timecode field to the current VTR timecode.
- Cue Out button
- Cues the VTR to the value of the Out Timecode field.
- Out button
- Sets the Out Timecode field to the current VTR timecode.
- Toggle Audio Tracks button
- Switch between audio banks of 4 audio tracks.The actual number of tracks depends on your capture device.
- Video Track button
- Enable to capture the video track.
- VTR Status display
- Indicates the current status of the VTR.