DIGITIZING FOOTAGE FROM A VIDEOTAPE

 

In this activity, you'll learn how to take a videotape&emdash; of a family vacation, for example&emdash; and digitize part of it for use in your multimedia project. Activity 5 shows you how to capture video directly from a video camera attached to your computer. By following these steps, you will record not only video but also any accompanying sound.

1. Connect the equipment.

 

2. Using S-video cables or RCA-style cables, connect the video-cassette player (VCP) or VCR to your Macintosh.

 

3. With the VCR or VCP turned on, insert the videotape.

To capture video, you can use either Strata VideoShop, HyperStudio, or MoviePlayer.

 

1. Set preferences (optional). You can set optional preferences&emdash;for picture quality, for example.

 

2. In your video-capture software, choose the video source.

 

3. Transfer the video to the Macintosh.

 

4. On your VCR or VCP, press Play.

 

5. In your video-capture software, click Record or Transfer to start digitizing the videotape.

 

6. When you're finished transferring as much as you need, click Stop.

 

7. On your VCR or VCP, press Stop.

 

8. Save the digitized video clip.

 

9. In the Save dialog box that appears, type a filename you'll remember, such as "Picnic."

 

10. Edit the video.

  

 

1. Open the video clip you saved.

 

2. Use the editing tool to clip, cut, splice, create titles, or add transitions and other effects to your movie.

 

3. Save the edited video.

 

4. Choose Save As from the File menu. This command lets you save the edited video under a different name from the one you used earlier. In the dialog box that appears, type a filename you'll remember. For example, if you called your original clip "Picnic," call your edited clip "Picnic-edit."

 

 

1. Open the authoring tool you're using for your project, if it's not already open.

 

2. Start a new multimedia project or open an existing project.

 

3. Add the edited video to your project. For example, to add a video to a HyperStudio card, first create a button or other object and add the "Play a movie or video" action to this object.

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