Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with DV

Need help developing a Excel VBA Macro to Vaildate data entered into a textbox

complience — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:03:11 -0800

Need help developing a Excel VBA Macro to Vaildate data entered into a textbox I am collecting data from users in a Excel spreadsheet. To ensure all the required fields are filled out, I have created a userform that loads on opening of the spread sheet.

Currently there are three Textboxes a command button writes the data to the sheet and highlights in pink any not filledout.

I need it to only write to the sheet ONLY when all the textboxes are filled out after being called by a cmd button - If it not satisifed the blank fields are highlighted in pink.

I also need a higher level of data vaildation on the two other text boxes.

Textbox2 must contain an email address (checking for hyperlinked content is probably the easiest way to vaildate for this)

Textbox3 must contain only a 9 digit numerical number

Any VBA gurus - please help

Option Explicit
Dim y As Long
Const pink = 16761855
Private Sub CommandButton1_Click()
Dim EmptyBoxes As Integer
EmptyBoxes = EmptyBoxes + check(TextBox1)
EmptyBoxes = EmptyBoxes + check(TextBox2)
EmptyBoxes = EmptyBoxes + check(TextBox3)
If EmptyBoxes = 0 Then
ActiveWorkbook.Save
Unload Me
End If
End Sub
Function check(tb As Control)
Dim res As Integer
res = 0
If tb.Text = vbNullString Then
res = 1
tb.BackColor = pink
Else
Cells(y, CLng(Right(tb.Name, 1))) = tb
End If
check = res
End Function
Private Sub UserForm_Activate()
y = [A1].End(xlDown).Row + 1
End Sub

Why must my MiniDV videos look like home movies?

iamisaid — Sun, 03 May 2009 18:57:46 -0800

Why exactly do videos shot on consumer grade MiniDV camcorders generally look like bad home movies as compared to that of high-end professional MiniDV cameras? What are the relevant differences between them? I've dabbled in MiniDV recording for a while now, always with lower-end Canon camcorders. And regardless of the lighting or anything else, the videos they produce always have a certain "home movie" quality, in that they're somewhat fuzzy and grainy, and just lacking that film-like quality. However, I know this is not a limitation of the format, since plenty of decent looking indie movies are shot on MiniDV. Of course, they're using much more expensive professional grade cameras.

So, in layman's terms, what exactly is it about the more expensive cameras that makes the footage look so much better? The lens? The resolution? Something else?

Lastly, the two cameras I often see recommended as the cheapest entry into professional grade MiniDV are the Panasonic DVX100A and the Canon XL2, which I realize are both SD and rather old models at this point. Is that still the best recommendation for a semi-affordable camcorder that will let me escape the home movie look? Or is there a newer and cheaper alternative?

I'm on a shoestring budget, and although I mostly make videos for the web at the moment, I'd like to have the option of submitting to short film festivals and the like down the road.

What's the problem with this video camera?

handee — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 07:02:57 -0800

One of our DV camcorders has started giving strange output. This is direct to disk recording, so it's not a dodgy tape. The output is pixellated and highly coloured (blue/green) as in this screenshot... Any ideas what the problem might be? Has anyone seen this behaviour before?

Best Bang for the Buck in an Inexpensive Digital Video Camera

Alabaster — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:51:17 -0800

Best bang for the buck in an inexpensive digital video camera? I'm looking to replace a 10-year-old Sony MiniDV camera which was lost. My wife (a teacher) uses it primarily for making film projects with her students. These are burned to DVD for the students and sometimes projected onto a large screen.

We're on a tight budget and are looking for a consumer-grade camera, preferably in the $2-300 range, although this could stretch to $500 if absolutely necessary).

-Video quality must be roughly equivalent to the MiniDV (or better).
-Storage must handle at least 1-2 hours of video at this quality (compression isn't a problem unless it's noticeably degrading to a non-expert's eye).
-Must have decent zooming capabilities
-Storage medium is negotiable. She's accustomed to MiniDV but I think flash/card/hard drive storage storage would be faster/more convenient for sorting through footage and transferring to PC.
-PC interface is also negotiable -- firewire, USB, memory card, or DVD would be acceptable -- again, convenience and speed for transfer and editing (in Premiere Elements) are priorities.
-Built-in mic is necessary, but the option to connect an external mic would be appreciated.

Any suggestions on a small camera that will give us the most bang for $2-300 bucks? Thanks

MiniDV camera research

mwhybark — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:36:43 -0800

Suggestions and research sites for DV camera? I am beginning a for-work acquisition research quest to determine the best route to go for getting a video camera. We have already ruled out high-end, 640x480 is fine. We do need advanced fiddly controls - white balance, exposure, that sort of thing.

A digital connection that allows us to direct-capture to hard drive is a requirement. On or off-board audio recording does not matter, but I would tend to err on the side of audio-in-jacks for outboard mics. Mini-jacks are fine.

We will be using the camera to create short marketing-support videos which will not require outside shooting or the use of models or actors. Think simple product demos.

First decision point: should we even look at still-and-video point and shoots? I lean away, thinking that the fiddly controls won't be sufficient.

Second decision point: any pointers to that evergreen of the obsolescence-oriented geeks-n-gadgets publishing market, the current-models comparison for miniDV cameras?

Thanks very much and I look forward to your wisdoms.

DV/HDV storage and cataloging

StephenMeldalFoged — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 12:24:54 -0800

Hi all... long time listener, first time caller (poster) I have almost 100 DV/HDV tapes that I have recorded since about 2003. I have not been the best at labeling all my tapes, especially not lately since my twin sons where born. At the moment all my tapes are stored in a box in a drawer :-\ I am looking for a good method of cataloging and storing my DV/HDV tapes. Does anyone have any great, cheap and maybe do-it-yourself solutions for storing tapes. For cataloging I could imagine a google docs document or something, but if anyone has a better solution I would not mind. Stephen Copenhagen, Denmark

why is the audio missing from the .avi file?

dhruva — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 20:25:51 -0800

Help me get audio from a camcorder? I'm importing a video from a Panasonic 3ccd camcorder to a Windows XP PC. I'm using VirtualDub to capture AVI. When I play the DV tape on the camcorder, I can hear the recorded audio, but when I import the video, and play it, there's no audio. The AVI file seems to contain audio information though. I checked all the settings, (for example system sounds are fine). The transfer is through USB (the firewire cable doesn't seem to work). I'm new to this stuff, so I would be grateful for any advice and/or links to suitable websites.

How do I record live video directly from DV to PC?

russ9595 — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 04:14:44 -0800

I'd like to record live video directly from my FireWire DV camera using Windows XP. Is this possible? I can transfer already recorded video stored on the FireWire DV camera's tape, but with the live video I just get a black screen.

I know this is possible with Windows Vista, but can't find a Windows XP solution.

Help capture stills from a DV Camera.

TheDukeofLancaster — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 18:07:20 -0800

Looking for a windows method to take stills from a DV camera. I have a windows PC and a DV camera that connects VIA firewire. Are there any good pieces of software to capture still images at set intervals? The plan is to use this as a security device that uploads to a web server in real time. Creative solutions are encouraged, I'm not adverse to using Linux, but I'd prefer to work with what I have.

Export HD Final Cut timeline to MiniDV?

idledebonair — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 11:45:00 -0800

FinalCutProFilter: What is the best method of converting footage captured on a HVX P2 and edited in Final Cut as an HD timeline onto a MiniDV for festival usage?

OS X Command-Line Vieo Capture

Alterscape — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 11:30:07 -0800

I need to capture full-size/framerate DV + audio from a firewire source on OS X. That's the easy part. Controlling it from a script is the hard part. If this were Linux I'd use ffmpeg, but it isn't... Here's the story: I want to write an app for a kiosk-type environment that'll allow a user to press a key to start recording and another to stop, at which point he/she will be presented with a dialog asking for some information about the clip, which will be entered into a remote database via an XML RPC call. The back-end already exists and I'm working on the front-end in Java (which I know very well), but Java can't push the bits around fast enough to do full-framerate capture. I was originally planning to use objc/Cocoa, but Cocoa is a bit insane to try to learn in rapid crunchtime. I already know how to issue local commands via Java, so, here I am.

Ideally I'd like to be able to specify a filename and format in advance and start the command, then issue some other character to the console to quit recording and save. Any idea what software I should be looking at? I know I could use iMovie and AppleScript, but I worry that's getting into insane levels of complexity. If it's the only solution I'll try it..

I'm also open to other suggestions, or if anyone knows of an objc framework that makes interacting with Quicktime Sequence Grabbers less of a pain (yes, I know QTKit Capture is coming in 10.5, but that'll be a couple of more months..)

Professional transfer of 16mm movies to digital?

Dave 9 — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 15:11:55 -0800

I inherited some 70-year-old, 16mm home movies (not 8 or Super 8) and am looking for a reliable expert to transfer them to digital video. Many vendors say that they can do this. Can you comment on any from personal experience? (I have seen this thread and the links therein.) Are there any issues I should particularly look out for? Thanks.

Capturing DV video straight to MPEG2?

eatcake — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 23:17:59 -0800

I have a project coming up where I will need to capture (digitize) a full 8-10 hours of footage (to be captured on DV tape) and make DVD copies for 3 people by the end of the next day. Ok, so I know how to go from DV to MPEG2 via either Final Cut Pro (v. 5.1.4) or Avid Xpress. What I'm wondering is, is there a way to bypass capturing the footage to DV (then converting to MPEG2) and going straight from the tape to MPEG2 so I can save myself hours of encoding from DV to MPEG2 and then burning discs? I have Final Cut Studio 5, an Intel iMac 2ghz w/2gigs of RAM, in addition to a Dual Processor G4 (which I'm hoping to use to multi-task), enough external storage (I figure I will have around 120 gigs of raw DV footage) and enough coffee to keep me going for a while.

I'm open to software and hardware recomendations within reason, meaning with what I have or minimal (under $150 or so) expense.

Thanks.

Help my daughter look better on the screen.

oddman — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 13:44:17 -0800

I need a lot of help with DV cameras. I've got a Panasonic PV-GS320 with one tape's worth of video, my dad has a rather large amount of movies saved to his hard drive. We are both having a lot of problems getting our movies (my tape, his old files) to look good on DVD's.

Long story short, I have a ton of questions (why do my movies look jaggie, why are so many frames dropped, why are his forced to be full screen, etc.) and no one to go to for help.

So, I'm hoping to find a forum (or more than one) where I can go to post all of my small, neophyte questions.

Where do you go on-line for help with your video capturing, editing, and burning questions?

Short story adaptation on a budget - and camera too?

nervestaple — Sun, 13 May 2007 23:47:15 -0800

What stories (short or otherwise) are begging to be adapted into a low-budget film? And, what camera should be used to film it? With a lazy summer ahead, I'd like to try my hand at making a movie. What short stories (or books?) are begging to be adapted? I won't be selling it (I don't imagine it will be any good) so I'm not really worried about film rights. Science fiction has always been a passion of mine, but it's difficult to find a science fiction story you can tell on a low budget, without many special effects. Primer is a good example of the kind of story I'm shooting for.

On a more technical note, are there any digital video cameras on the market today that get even close to looking "professional"? I'm not sure how to describe what I mean by professional, but think about the ineffable quality that studio films have and amateur films lack (besides acting). Something about the way they look seems more real. With a budget of under 1000 dollars, I probably can't get anywhere near that professional quality, but at least a good approximation would be nice. Researching DV has been a confusing muddle of CCDs, megapixels, and zoom lenses, so it'd be nice to hear from somebody knowledgeable on the subject.

Encoding DV for computer playback?

kamelhoecker — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 09:52:53 -0800

What's the best way to encode DV for playback on Mac and Windows? I'm editing in Final Cut and would like output that doesn't mess with the aspect ration (no fat/squished heads), no interlacing jaggies, and can play on a G4 ibook or Pentium4 without stuttering. (Bonus points if the file size is smaller than DV!) Final Cut outputs .mov files that contain the DV. The problem with these files is that by default "high quality" is off - so you need Quicktime Pro to go into movie options and check a box and resave. (if you don't, you only see half the resolution.) Another problem is that quicktime on windows cannot play the file at high quality without stuttering (Pentium4 mobile). Media Player can play it - but only in low quality (it ignores every other scan line and looks terrible.)

Exporting from Quicktime (6.5 Pro) always gives me nasty interlacing jaggies. (i tried sorensen 3, h263, apple mpeg4...) I can't believe Apple doesn't provide any way to de-interlace.

Are there other options?

Also, if I can squeeze in a related question: What is the correct aspect ratio for NTSC DV on a computer screen? I know DV has rectangular pixels and computers have square pixels - so some conversion is required. 720x480 looks a bit wide (fat heads) and 640x480 a bit too narrow (squished heads).

What's my must-have software for my Sony DV cam?

phearlez — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 09:35:50 -0800

So I've come to own a Sony DCR-HC38 DV camera. What's my best options with regards to inexpensive software? I had some gift cards and wanted to use the on something I'd never spend my own money on and this caught my eye in Best Buy. It may or may not have been the best quality or deal but after my gift cards and a discount cluepon it ran me $7 with some tapes.

So now what? It came with software but I have no reason to believe it'll be any better than typical Sony quality so I'd just as soon stick with 3rd party stuff. However simply plugging it into the computer's USB port has not yielded any auto-discovery so I suppose I'll need something else.

What's the best thing for an apathetic videographer to aquire? It'll be used very sporadically - my interest runs more to still photography - but I'll want to pull video over as quick as possible and do minor edits. I expect VirtualDub will do fine for the edits, but I'm open to other suggestions.

How to use After Effects to clean up crappy DV footage?

idledebonair — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 22:01:10 -0800

How do you clean up ugly DV footage? What are some specific techniques you use in Adobe After Effects to turn amateur DV footage into something cleaner? I'm trying to help a client make an ad, but the footage they gave me is really raw. They want a polished look, even though I explained its never going to look like TV. I just want to come as close as possible given that I have crummy footage.

How can I output unrecompressed DV from iMovie?

BlackLeotardFront — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 18:20:17 -0800

How can I export DV from iMovie without it being recompressed and pixelated? And no - DV stream isn't doing it. It's not as simple a question as I make it sound - I've tried exporting my DV sequence in almost every format at various levels of quality, including uncompressed with 10-bit color, but every time I export it, it never looks as good as it does in the preview in iMovie. In the editing window, the video is sharper and shows no interlacing artifacts, but no matter how I output the movie (I've tried through FCP and Compressor as well), even as a supposedly unmodified DV stream, it loses detail and becomes pixelated. I also output a DV stream and put it back into iMovie to make sure it wasn't just an iMovie viewing thing, but it looks different in iMovie too once it's been exported. I'm climbing the walls here! I just want it to take the DV info and put it out unmodified but cut and sequenced as I have it in the project - no recompression necessary or desired.

How do I need to change my workflow and FCP configuration to work with 24p DV footage?

tweebiscuit — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 16:49:14 -0800

DV / Final Cut Pro question: We just upgraded cameras to a Panasonic DVX100B, largely for the ability to shoot in 24P. However, imported footage still appears interlaced in FCP, and it's unclear to me what our new configuration should be. How will we need to change our workflow in order to edit in 24P? (More specific inside.) On an unrelated note, we just imported a tape which appears to be corrupted. Can it be salvaged? (More details inside.) Regarding the progressive setup, I basically just need some stronger working knowledge about what we can and can't do working with 24P footage. Some specifics:

1) Do we need separate capture settings? "DV NTSC - 24" is a sequence preset, but not a capture preset -- there is, however, a capture setting called "DV NTSC 48 kHz Advanced (2:3:3:2) Pulldown Removal". Is this what we need to use?

2) Can we capture the 24p footage on a different DV camera that does not have a 24p mode?

The confusing part: We did two projects shot in 24p before realizing that we couldn't use the default DV settings anymore. The footage so imported looks fine, but it's interlaced. (In addition to using the default, interlaced 29.97 sequence setting, at least some of the footage was also captured on a non-24p camera.) The part I don't understand is why it doesn't look worse -- since 24p footage has a different timebase, I can't imagine it being displayed sensibly in a 29.97-timebase sequence. Or is Panasonic's 24p method backwards-compatible enough that it cleanly displays as interlaced 29.97 footage when captured as such? (Of course, it's possible that the footage from these projects has problems that we haven't noticed -- we publish directly to the internet, so we don't pay as close attention to footage quality as broadcast folks do.)

As for the corrupted video: The video on the first two shots is divided into 6 or 8 horizontal bars, half of which contain no video signal. FCP crashes upon trying to import. I am pretty much resigned that it was a tape-writing error that's unrecoverable, but figured I'd ask -- is there any chance to salvage this footage? It was on a clean tape, the corruption ends precisely when the last corrupted shot ends, and it displays as such in two different cameras, both of which have had their heads cleaned recently.

Short film from Resfest 2004?

shortfuse — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 09:26:36 -0800

Where online can I find "Daydream" (or "Day Dream"), a short film by Su-Jin Kwon shown at Resfest 2004 in the US? The catalog describes it as "Hockney-esque collage of buildings, street scenes, and alleyways... cleverly assembling single images into complex, exaggerated pictures of a larger object..."

I loved it when I saw it and now I'd love to find it online. I can't find it thru Google and neither YouTube nor Google Video seems to have it. I found a Korean Resfest page for the film but no link to a clip.

Was it on any Resfest DVDs? Maybe Korean MeFites could better luck with local search engines? Help is much appreciated.

Recovering a damaged DV tape

GuyZero — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 08:45:57 -0800

Is there any way to recover a damaged DV tape? So my camcorder ate another tape yesterday. (Canon ZR25... I forget the exact model now). It wouldn't bother me much, except it only eats important tapes: previously, the birth of my daughter, now my sister's wedding vows. Not the beginning of the wedding, mind you, just the vows. Anyway, I should save up for a new camera, but: can I recover the damaged footage? It comes though all blocky, but is obvious still partially there. I find it hard to believe that it's not possible to recover a better quality signal from the tape - it is digital and all. Does a dedicated DV deck read bad/damaged tapes any better than a camera?

mini DV recording: blinking red light

foraneagle2 — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 13:30:38 -0800

Is there any way to disable the red blinking light (card access indicator) when I am recording with my Canon Elura 100? I'm not sure if it blinks when recording to tape, but I'm looking for a way (other than putting tape over it) to keep it off during all recording.

Thanks!

Archiving strategies for DV?

evil holiday magic — Mon, 22 May 2006 03:02:13 -0800

Final Cut Pro users: What do you do with your bulky collection of project and video files when you're ostensibly done with the project?

Guerilla chroma key

prostyle — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 12:30:17 -0800

DV Film Effects: Techniques & Tips I've recently been shooting some short instructional video clips. I've got a GL1, some basic flourescent photo lights and a handful of shielded photographic bulbs. I've rigged up a lazy susan with a circular top on an old dust collection barrel and covered it in a blue photo background paper. This paper also hangs behind that assembly for good measure. I center an item on the circle, filming it while I spin it around slowly to produce a very quick intro view of the item. I've backlit the subject and covered it from three other angles to reduce shadowplay, in general lighting is not a problem.

However, most of these items I am attempting to shoot are constructed of very reflective materials: black phenolic, aluminum rails and colored HDPE to name a few. I've got my bag of tricks for shooting print resolution catalog photos of these materials, but pulling a good key off this video material seems to be very difficult. I'm using AE 7 with the Keylight plugin. I've been generating garbage mattes to reduce the amount of calculations that need to be done but I still think I could get better results on the final key - it's not horrible, but it's not perfect.

So I call on all MeFi video mavens, what say ye? How have you overcome technical issues in your video projects and still accomplished the task on the cheap? I don't think expensive muslin or special chroma material will help, as the subjects are inherently reflective in varying degrees and will always pick up a slight color cast from the nearest object.

Anything else you'd like to mention about shooting DV material at a sub-professional level is certainly welcome, thanks for listening.