Overview
Avid Output Tapes
Redundant Frames' Visibilty
About Video Fields
DigiConform Dos and Don'ts
The Avid Output Tapes page provides information about making good tapes for use in DigiConform.
About VHS tapes
It is recommended that you do not leave the video deck in pause any longer than necessary. Also, do rewind the tape to the head before you eject it from the deck.
Both these measures hell prevent dropouts and other mechanical problems that cause dropped frames during video capture.
This section provides clarification on when you should expect to see the redundant video frame displayed.
Whenever the film footage counter in the lower left is green
, film and video are locked together. This also means that you get to see 4 out of 5 video frames, and every 5th video frame is skipped over.
Whenever the film footage counter in the lower left is red
, film and video are lun-ocked from eachother. All 5 out of every 5 video frames are displayed, no frames is skipped over.
The above is true under all circumstances.
Note that the counters display the correct Time Codes and Footage counts in both modes, locked and un-locked.
It may be helpful to keep in the back of your mind that video frames consist of 2 fields each. Please refer to the 24 vs. 30 fps page in the main part of this web site for more information on video fields in NTSC video.
Be aware that
- the standard procedure for capturing video for use in DigiConform only captures a single field of video. The other field of video is discarded upon capture.
- During video capture (using either Amcap or DVCR software, depending on your hardware) you shoud expect to see both video fields, in spite of the fact that the system drops one field out two. The dropped field usually is the second field.
- The two video fields making up one video frame do not necessarily show the same film frame, or the same content. Examples for that are the BC and CD frames in the AABBBCCDDD cadence. See the 24 vs. 30 fps page in the main part of this web site for more information.
- The user does not get to pick which of the 2 fields is omitted upon capture. The dropped field usually is the second field. However, it is possible to capture both fields of video. To do so, set the picture size in the capture software (Amcap or DVCR) to a value like 640 * 480. However, you should expect to see video frames that have 2 different source film frames. DigiConform does not display video fields separatly from each other, they are always displayed combined into a complete video frame.
- Don't install any additional software on the PC. Your DigiConform sytem has been thoroughly tested with the software configuration it was delivered with. Remember that clean, good and complete video capture is vital for DigiConform. It has been our experience that any change in the software configuration potentially makes the capture process unreliable.
- If you would like to use a wireless mouse and/or keyboard do not install the software that came with it. Both should work fine without those drivers installed. Do keep a set of spare batteries.
35mm 3 perf
There is a page explaining 35mm 3perf in the main section of this site.