Apple Final Cut Pro 5 - Manual (Page 228)

Chapter 17 Overview of Logging and Capturing 227
IV
Capture entire tapes, then create subclips and log in the Browser
This method is increasingly popular because hard disk space is no longer prohibitively
expensive. Instead of choosing selected footage to transfer to your hard disk, you
capture entire tapes. Once on disk, you can break the footage into smaller subclips, add
logging information in the Browser, and delete unnecessary media from your hard disk.
 Capturing: Capture entire tapes using the Capture Now button in the Log and
Capture window.
 Logging: In the Browser, break the clip representing each tape into smaller subclips
and add logging information.
 Media management: After you create subclips, you can break large media files into
smaller media files, one for each subclip, and delete any media you don’t need for
your project. The result is that you only have media files for clips you want to use.
There are several advantages to this method:
 Capturing entire tapes causes less wear on the tapes than traditional logging
because you only have to play them back once, straight through, to transfer media
files to the hard disk.
 Logging the media on the hard disk after capture is faster than tape-based logging
because you can access any frame instantly. You can also loop playback on a
particular shot to review it multiple times. On tape this would be much more
time-consuming.
Note: If you are using an uncompressed video format, the amount of hard disk space
required to capture entire tapes may still be too high, even with the cost of hard disk
space dropping rapidly. When you are editing with uncompressed video, it can still be
more cost-effective to log your tape first, then capture selected regions.
Log in another application, import a batch list, then batch capture clips
Some editors prefer to log their footage outside of Final Cut Pro, then import a batch
list of clips to automatically batch capture.
 Logging: In a spreadsheet or database application, enter clip name, reel name, Media
Start and End points, and other logging information, save it as a tab delimited text
file, then import this batch list into Final Cut Pro.
 Capturing: Batch capture selected clips that you think are useful for your project.