WEB VIDEO DIGITIZING SERVICE
Introduction
Professors may bring VHS or miniDV videotape to the Aquarium to be digitized into a format suitable for the web. The professor should fill out a form (available in the boxes at the back of the Aquarium and on Blackboard) indicating his or her contact information and a description of the digitizing to be done. It is especially useful if the professor can indicate the starting and ending timecode of the video clip(s) to be digitized.
Getting Started
Retrieve the professor's tape and instructions.
Locate the removable firewire hard drive reserved for the Web Video Digitizing Service. You will find it on one of the shelves in the Aquarium unless someone did not put it back.
Locate a hard drive key (check the corkboard) and sit down at one of the Macs.
Make sure that the hard drive enclosure is on (green light). If not, you will find the power switch at the rear of the unit. Push the drive into the enclosure as far as it goes.
Orient the key so that the tab on the end is facing up. Insert it into the socket and turn clockwise 90 degrees. You might have to jiggle the key or hard drive a little. The enclosure beeps and the drive's green light comes on when the drive is successfully locked in. After a few seconds a firewire drive icon named "Web Video Service" appears on the desktop.
Turn on the JVC dual-deck VCR and the TV (power buttons). On the VCR, check to
make sure the round "DV" button is glowing orange (if not, press it). Also check that the VCR's digital display reads "F-1" (if not, turn the jog wheel until the display reads F-1)
The TV probably won't need any adjustment other than volume, but if you find the TV never displays anything but static or black, you may have to press the "TV/VIDEO" button on the TV or remote until the screen says "VIDEO 1."
Now start Final Cut Pro 4. You can find it through the "Video and Audio Editing" panel on the left of the desktop. Whenever possible, Final Cut likes to open to the last project worked on...so begin by choosing File > Close Project from the menu. If it prompts you to save, choose No. Then choose File > New Project.
If you are sitting at a single-monitor computer, the screen should look like the picture on the left below. On a dual- monitor computer, the screens will look like the two pictures on the right. If this is not what you see, clean up the workspace by choosing Window > Arrange > Standard or Window > Arrange > Dual Screen - Editing.
Final Cut must be told where to save the video captured from the VCR. Choose Final Cut Pro > System Settings and in the window that pops up click the topmost Set button. You are asked to choose a folder; choose the root directory on the firewire drive. To do this you may have to navigate up the directory tree until you locate the firewire drive. When you have located it correctly the window will look like this:
It is okay if the files and folders on this side are not the same as in the picture. Also make sure that only the "Web Video Service" icon is highlighted, not a folder on the right.
Click Choose to return to the System Settings window, which should now look like this (though the GB of available space may vary):
Click Ok to exit the System Settings window.
If you will be capturing from miniDV tape, continue to the next section called "[Capturing from miniDV tape]." If you will be capturing from VHS tape, jump forward to the section called "[Capturing from VHS tape]."
Capturing from miniDV Tape
From the menu choose Final Cut Pro > Audio/Video Settings and adjust the settings as necessary so that the window looks like this:
Click Ok to exit the Audio/Video Settings window.
Important: Now save your project by choosing File > Save Project As. Name it after the professor whose footage you are digitizing (e.g. David Dethier or Professor Dethier). Save it in the root directory on the firewire drive, the same location you specified for your scratch disks.
Now you are ready to capture footage. Insert the miniDV tape into its slot in the VCR if you haven't done so already. Bring up Final Cut's capture utility by choosing File > Log and Capture. It looks like the picture below right.
Use the play, stop, fast-forward and rewind buttons 
to locate the point on the tape where you need to begin capturing the footage.* When you locate this point, click the "in point" button 
. Then use the controls to find the point where you want to end capturing footage and click the "out point" button 
. When you have set both the "in" and "out" points, click the Capture Clip button 
. A window pops up asking you to name the clip:
* The video should appear both on the TV and computer screens. If the video does not appear on the computer do not proceed because something is wrong and you will not be able to capture. Also, you must set the in and out points where there is video image, not blank tape.
Name it something appropriate like the professor's name and click Ok. The "Log Note" can be left blank.
Sit back and relax as Final Cut rewinds the tape and captures the footage you pecified. The footage being captured plays on the computer screen, and the status of the capture process is indicated.
When the footage has been captured, the name that you gave to the clip appears with
an icon in the Browser window, as seen in the picture at right.
If you need to capture more footage, do so now. If not, close the Log and Capture utility, save your project (File > Save Project) and jump ahead to the section called "[Media:#Editing]".
Capturing from VHS Tape
From the menu choose Final Cut Pro > Audio/Video Settings and adjust the settings as necessary so that the window looks like this:
Click Ok to exit the Audio/Video Settings window.
Important: Now save your project by choosing File > Save Project As. Name it after the professor whose footage you are digitizing (e.g. David Dethier or Professor Dethier). Save it in the root directory on the firewire drive, the same location you specified for your scratch disks.
Now you are ready to capture footage. Insert the VHS tape into its slot in the VCR if you haven't done so already. Press the round "S-VHS" button on the VCR so that it glows orange (the round "DV" button will go dark and the VCR's digital display will no longer read "F-1"). Press the small left-arrow button on the VCR (see photo at right) so it glows yellow.
Bring up Final Cut's capture utility by choosing File > Log and Capture. It looks
like the picture at right.
On the VCR, use the play, stop, and pause buttons plus the fast-forward and rewind jog
wheel to control the tape. The video appears on the TV and computer screen. *
* If the video does not appear on the computer do not proceed because something is wrong and you will not be able to capture.
When you get to a point a few seconds before the footage you want to begin capturing, press the Capture Now button 
as the video is playing. The computer begins capturing your footage. Watch the video until you get to the end of the footage you wish to capture. Press the Escape key on the keyboard to stop capturing, then press the Stop button on the VCR to stop the tape.
The clip that you just captured is represented by an icon in the Browser window with the name "Untitled," as seen in the picture at right.
If you need to capture more footage, do so now. If not, close the Log and Capture utility, save your project (File > Save Project) and proceed to the section called "[Media:#Editing]".
Editing
This section is designed to teach you just enough Final Cut so you can prepare your captured footage for export.
The Final Cut interface is based around four windows named the Browser, Viewer, Canvas, and Timeline. Locate them now. If you do not see all four windows or if the workspace looks messy, clean it up by choosing Window > Arrange > Standard, or if you are working on a dualmonitor machine, Window > Arrange > Dual Screen - Editing.
The Browser is an inventory of the video clips in your project. The names of the clip or clips you just captured appear there, as seen in the picture at right (ignore the thing called "Sequence 1"). Double click on a clip. It opens in the Viewer. The Viewer is a place to look at the clip you captured and decide what part of the clip you want in your final video. Press the spacebar or the "play" button 
. The clip plays in the viewer. Note the playhead 
as it moves along the seek bar just below the clip. Press the spacebar again and the clip stops playing. Click and drag the playhead along the seek bar and the video advances forward or backward accordingly. Put the playhead near the beginning of the clip and click the "in point" button, which is the left one of these buttons: 
. Now put the playhead toward the end of the clip and click the "out point" button (right one): . The seek bar will look like this:
Now click and hold in the middle of the video image and drag the clip onto the audio and video tracks in the Timeline. These are the A/V tracks:
And these are what the tracks look like after you drag the clip onto them. Note that before you release the mouse button, portions of the A/V tracks highlight to indicate where the clip will land.
The portion of the video clip that was between the "in" and "out" points you specified in the Viewer now exists in the Timeline. The Timeline is where an editor assembles clips into a finished video by placing and rearranging them as necessary. If something is not in the Timeline it will not be in the finished video. You can play the Timeline like you play clips in the Viewer: by pressing the spacebar. (The Timeline window must be active when you press the spacebar and not the Viewer window, or else you will play whatever clip is in the Viewer. To activate any of Final Cut's windows just click in the window.) Navigate around in the Timeline by clicking on the time ruler 
at the top of the Timeline to jump the playhead to the point where you click. Whenever the Timeline plays, the video appears in the Canvas. This illustrates the difference between the Viewer and Canvas: the Viewer is for selecting or modifying the clips that go into the Timeline, whereas the Canvas shows the video output of the Timeline. What you see playing in the Canvas is what your video project looks like.
You should be able to see your video both on the computer screen and on the TV. If you do not see an image on the TV choose View > External Video > All Frames. The image should now appear.
HOW ALL OF THIS RELATES TO YOU
In many instances of digitizing video for the web, the footage will be in one continuous piece so you will have only one captured clip. Preview the clip in the Viewer and set in and out points appropriately to cut out any garbage that may exist at the beginning and end of the clip (e.g. noisy static or long durations of blank black video that got captured from the tape). After you've set in and out points, drag the segment to the Timeline. Make sure the clip is at the beginning of the Timeline (all the way to the left, as shown above and below) and not floating in the middle somewhere. When you are satisfied with the clip on the Timeline, save the project (File > Save Project) and go on to the last section called "Exporting."
Exporting
Exporting refers to making a Quicktime movie (or other compressed video file) of the Timeline. When you are happy with how the Timeline plays, right-click the time ruler at the top of the Timeline and choose Clear In and Out. (If the mouse you are using has only one button, hold down the Control key while clicking to get the same effect as a right-click.)
Next choose File > Export > Using Quicktime Conversion. A window pops up asking you for a name and location to save the Quicktime movie. Name the movie after the professor whose footage you are digitizing, followed by the word "web." It would be good to use underscores (_) rather than spaces in the filename (e.g. David_Dethier_web). If at any point you discover there is already a file with that name, just add a number after the name (e.g. David_Dethier_web2). Now specify the location to save the file. You want to save it in the folder called "web video" that is located on the root directory of the firewire drive. You may have to navigate up the directory tree until you find the firewire drive. When you've found the firewire drive, click the folder called "web video" so that the Quicktime movie is saved into the folder (see picture on left below).
Lastly, select the settings from the drop-down boxes at the bottom of the window, as seen in both pictures above (this is VERY IMPORTANT). When you have set everything correctly, the window will look similar to the lower picture. Click Save and wait as Final Cut writes your video as a Quicktime movie file. This may take a couple of minutes; a progress bar appears on the screen. When the operation finishes, save your project (File > Save Project) and exit Final Cut by choosing from the menu Final Cut Pro > Quit Final Cut Pro.
Finishing Steps
You will burn two copies of the exported Quicktime movie on CD, one for the professor and one as a backup.
Obtain two blank CD-R's and—if available—jewel cases. (Check the lower drawer of the beige filing cabinet. Opening the drawer is tricky...you must push apart the shiny latches on the interior of the recessed handlegrip.) Insert one CD into the CD drive. The open/close/eject button for the drive is the top right key on the keyboard. If you get a message saying "This disk needs to be prepared for burning" when you close the drive, click Ignore and then click Continue on the next dialog box that pops up.
Open Toast Titanium 5 from the "Utilities" panel on the left edge of the desktop. Click the "Data" button if it is not already selected. On the desktop, double-click the "Web Video Service" icon, and in the window that opens double-click the "web video" folder. Locate the Quicktime movie that you exported (e.g. David_Dethier_web2.mov) and drag it to the area in Toast that says "Drag files and folders into this area."
The default name of the CD is "Untitled CD." Click on it and change the name of the CD to the name of the professor, or to the name requested by the professor if one was indicated on the submission form.
to 
Click the red Record button, and in the window that pops up, click Write Session (make sure "Simulation Mode" is not checked). Wait as the disc burns. When it is done, verify that the disc is readable. Eject the disc, insert the second blank disc, and burn the second disc by repeating the Record process. When both discs are burned, close Toast without saving. Eject the professor's tape from the VCR and put it in a yellow mailer envelope with one disc. Label the envelope with the professor's name, put it in the VIDEO OUT box, and e- mail the professor to let them know the video is ready to be picked up. Put the second disc in an envelope with the submission form, label the envelope with the professor's name and date digitized, and put it in the archive file box.
Turn off the VCR and TV. Close all windows on the computer and drag the "Web Video
Service" icon to the trash. When the icon disappears from the desktop it is safe to remove the firewire hard drive from its enclosure (reverse of how you put it in). Return the drive and key to where they belong. Done!!!
