Table of Contents

• What is Needed
• Connecting the Camera
• How to Capture Video
• Basic Video Editing
• Burning to disc or Saving Files

1. You will need to bring the camcorder with the tape that you would like to capture.
2. You will also need to provide either a 1394 Firewire or USB cable to connect the camcorder to the computer.

Examples of cables:

Firewire:


The system is commonly used for connection of data storage devices and digital video cameras, but is also popular in industrial systems for machine vision and professional audio systems. It is used instead of the more common USB due to its faster effective speed, higher power distribution capabilities, and because it does not need a computer host. Perhaps more importantly, FireWire makes full use of all SCSI capabilities and, compared to USB 2.0 High Speed, has higher sustained data transfer rates, a feature especially important for audio and video editors.

USB:


USB was designed to allow peripherals to be connected without the need to plug expansion cards into the computer's ISA, EISA, or PCI bus, and to improve plug-and-play capabilities by allowing devices to be hot-swapped (connected or disconnected without powering down or rebooting the computer). When a device is first connected, the host enumerates and recognizes it, and loads the device driver it needs. USB is not used in video capture because of inconsistent data rates during the capture.

1. Using your University of Michigan-Flint Uniqname, log into the computer.
2. Connect the cable to the camcorder.
3. Plug the Firewire cable into the Firewire port on the front of the computer.
4. If using USB instead of FireWire, connect the USB cable to the camera, and then to the front of the computer.

1. Open Pinnacle Studio 10 by double-clicking the  icon. You can also access it by clicking on the Start menu, selecting All Programs, Studio 11, and clicking Studio.
2. In the upper-left of the program, click on the Capture tab.
   
3. In the lower-right of the program, click Settings. When the Pinnacle Studio Plus Setup Options dialog box appears, select the type of capture you would prefer under the Capture Format tab. DV will capture at full DVD quality, but will use the most amount of disc space. MPEG will still capture at a very good quality, but uses much less disc space.
   
4. Click the Capture Source tab on the dialog box. Under Capture devices, choose the source of your video from the Video and Audio drop down menus. If capturing from a digital camcorder, it will most likely say DV Camcorder. Click OK to save the settings and return to the Capture center in Studio.
   
5. You should now see a digital camcorder in the lower-left of the program. When you’re ready to start capturing, click the  button. A dialog will appear, prompting you for a filename to save your captured video. Enter a filename and path and click the dialog’s Start Capture button.
   
6. Your video should capture in real-time, meaning that if you have an hour long video, it will take approximately one hour to capture the video onto the computer. Once complete, the capture process should stop on its own. If not, click  to end the capture manually.

1. In the upper-left of the program, click on the Edit tab. Next, click on the Show videos button.
   
   
   
2. Select the desired video from the available videos on the screen. If the video you want to edit is not listed, choose its location from the drop-down menu or the Select video files from a different folder button.
   
   
   
3. Once the desired video is located, click and drag it onto the Video Storyboard below. You may add as many video clips as you wish, and can rearrange them by dragging to a new position on the storyboard. Remove unwanted clips by selecting them and pressing the delete key on the keyboard.
   
   
   
4. Double-click a video clip to see its properties and edit it. Adjust the sliders to use only the selected portion of a video clip. In the image to the right, only the gray timeline area is used: the green bar is everything before, and the red bar is everything after the used portion.
   
   
   
5. To make more accurate adjustments to the clip, use the left & right time boxes: the numbers from left to right represent hour, minute, second, and frames, respectively. In this image, the portion of the video that will be used starts at 2 minutes 58 seconds, frame 25 and ends at 7 minutes 36 seconds, frame 21.
   
   
   The center time box (slightly above the left & right boxes) represents only where the preview slider box currently is. Setting the center time box has absolutely no effect on the video. There are 30 frames per second.
   
6. By double-clicking a video clip you can adjust its properties as listed in steps 4 and 5, but you can also do many more tasks by clicking the buttons on the left side of the window. To add a title click on the  button. Click Title Overlay if you’d like your title overlaid on top of the current video clip. Click Full Screen Title if you’d like the title to be its own separate clip.
   
   
   
7. Title Overlay: Select various fonts, colors, pictures, or backgrounds to overlay the current video clip. You can adjust the duration of the overlay in the upper right corner. Adjust the appearance & alignment of overlaid text by selecting it and choosing alignment, style, font, and size, directly above the right corner of the preview window.
   
   Full Screen Title: Adjustments are made similar to that of the Title Overlay, except this title will be its own clip on the storyboard.
   
   
8. Disc Menu: After double-clicking a video clip, click the disc menu button:
   

   

   Here you can add a disc menu, change its appearance, and link thumbnail images and text to certain points in the video.
   
   
   
9. Grab a frame: After double-clicking a video clip, click the Grab a frame button:
   
   
   
   
   In the upper left of the open window, choose whether you want to grab from movie or camcorder. If you want to grab from an already captured video clip, choose movie. Then adjust the slider on the video preview to the far right to show the frame that you’d like to capture. Once the correct frame is showing in the preview, click Grab. If you want to add the new frame grab to your storyboard, click Add to Movie. If you’d like to save the grab for future use, choose Save to Disk.
   
   
   
10. Create a Music Video: After double-clicking a video clip, click the music video button:
    
    
    
    
    This feature will ask you to add music to the video clip, and will then rearrange clips according to your choices to resemble that of a music video.
    
    
    
11. Video Overlay: After double-clicking a video clip, click the video overlay button:
    
    
    
    
    Using this feature will allow you to set picture-in-picture settings and use chroma-keying to separate video colors (green screen). You can use the preset green and blue screen settings, or click the eyedropper button and choose a color from the video preview.
    
    
    
12. Video Effects: After double-clicking a video clip, click the add video effects button:
    
    
    
    
    This feature allows you to manage applied video effects, as well as add new effects. If your project has any applied effects they will be listed in the ‘Video Effects’ column. Uncheck the box next to the applied effect to remove it. Click the ‘Add New Effect’ button to browse the list of available video effects and add them to your project.
    
    
    
13. Transitions: In the standard Pinnacle Storyboard window (without double-clicking a video clip), click the Transitions button:
    
    
    
    
    This feature allows you to add transitions before, between, or after video clips to improve the appearance of the project. Select a transitions category from the drop down list, and then choose a transition from the available list. If you click on a transition, a preview of its effect will be shown in the Preview window. Once you find an appropriate transition, click & drag it onto the storyboard where you want it. Transitions such as ‘Dissolve’ and ‘Fade In/Out’ are great for blending clips together, giving a professional look (available in 2D Transitions). If you’d like a more custom look, many transitions are available from Weddings to Sports, and more.
    
    
    
14. Titles: In the standard Pinnacle storyboard window, click the Show Titles button:
    
    
    
    
    This window will allow you to browse many titles that you can use in your presentation. The drop down list will allow you to browse various categories, or you may click the folder button to browse elsewhere.
    
    
    
15. Photos & Grabs: In the standard Pinnacle storyboard window, click the Show photos and frame grabs button:
    
    
    
    
    This window shows your ‘My Pictures’ folder by default. It allows you to drag your pictures or video frame grabs onto the storyboard. These pictures can be used as slides, within titles, and overlaid.
    
    
    
16. Menus: In the standard Pinnacle storyboard window, click the Show Menus button:
    
    
    
    
    This window provides you with many available menus to choose for your project. Select a menu category from the drop down list, then select the category and menu of your choice.
    
    
    
17. Sound Effects: In the standard Pinnacle storyboard window, click the Sound Effects button:
    
    
    
    
    This window provides many available sound effects to add to your project. Choose a category from the drop down list and choose an available sound clip. You can also click the folder button to browse for your own sound clips. When you find a clip you like, drag it onto the storyboard.
    
    
    
18. Music: In the standard Pinnacle storyboard window, click the Music button:
    
    
    
    
    Similar to the Sound Effects window, this allows you to add music clips to your project. Choose a provided clip or browse for one of your own.
    
    
    
19. Timeline View: Timeline view should be used in conjunction with the standard storyboard view to refine audio placement and volume levels. To open this view, click the Timeline View button:
    
    From top to bottom, the rows in this view represent Video, Video Audio, Video/Title Overlay, Sound Effects, and Music. As you can see, the project above has two video clips with attached audio, one sound effect titled ‘Rips’ and one music track titled ‘Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.’ 
• To rearrange or move video and audio clips in timeline view, drag them left or right to a new position.
• To adjust audio volume levels, click a clip to select it. Then click on the blue line (which represents audio level) to create a new adjustment point. Once you’ve clicked and created a new audio adjustment point, click & drag it up or down to raise or lower the volume in that area.
• To remove a clip, click it and press the delete key. 
• To zoom in or out on the timeline, click the + or – magnifying glasses in the bottom left of the screen.
  
  
20. Text View: Using text view gives you a written overview of what video, audio, transitions, & effects you have active. It shows you the what, when, and duration of each item in your project. To enter text view, press the Text View button:
    
• You can still double-click a clip to bring up its properties window, the same way as in standard storyboard view.
• To return to storyboard view, press the Storyboard View button:
  

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Burning to disc or Saving Files

1. In the upper-left of the program, click on the “Make Movie” tab. Next, decide whether you want to save your file to a certain file format (Real Media[.RM], Windows Media[.WMV], etc), burn your project to disc (DVD, CD, SVCD, etc), or output your project to tape (VHS).
   
   
2. For output to Disc, click the Disc button:
• Select the disc type from the drop down list (HD DVD, DVD, SVCD, VCD).
• Select the video quality from the drop down list. Automatic Quality is best for most projects.
• Click the Settings button to adjust disc, output, & disc writer settings, if needed.
• Insert the appropriate blank disc and click the Create Disc button.
  
  
3. For output to a File, click the File button:
• Select the File type from the drop down list (AVI, DivX, iPod Compatible, MPEG-1,MPEG-2,MPEG4, Real Media, Sony PSP Compatible, Windows Media).
• Select the file quality from the Preset drop down list: The higher the resolution (quality) of the file, the larger it will be. Streaming files should be large enough to appear clear (non-pixilated) but small enough to allow buffering through an internet connection.Examples of streaming files are Windows Media (.WMV) and Real Media (.RM). To retain a file’s original quality: AVI or MPEG files will yield the best quality, but the largest file size.
• Click the Settings button to add custom file information such as Title, Author, Copyright, etc. You can also change the file type and file quality from within the settings window.
  
  
4. For output to Tape, click the Tape button: Select the Output Type from the drop down list. Select the Device type from the drop down list. Output & Device type will vary depending on connected equipment, but will most commonly be used to output to a camcorder, VCR, or through a VGA monitor or Television.