Digitizing video

The Basics

Setup

Currently, the machines which can complete video digitization are the four Macs in the front of the primary lab (the "video lab"). There are a few things you need to make sure of before you digitize the tape (and this is, of course, after inspection and any necessary remediation).

1. Power on all necessary equipment. This includes the surge protector mounted on the back of Rack B (the rack on the right side if you're facing them), the Time Base Correctors, the S-Video Switchers (if digitizing on Rack B), and the playback machine the item requires.
2. On the machine you will be digitizing to, enter vrecord -e in a new Terminal window to edit the vrecord settings before beginning the capture.
3. Most options in this window will stay the same. Pay attention to the following:
   • Audio Input: This will be Analog or SDI Embedded Audio depending on the deck (navigate to format notes below).
   • Audio Channel Mapping: Some formats may not have 1 Stereo Track (From Channels 1 & 2), which is the norm, so see notes below.
   • Playback options: This determines what the monitoring windows will look like. You can change these to suit your preferences. A good place to start is "Audio + Video."
   • Select a recording directory: This directory should always be the /capture directory on the drive that is connected to the machine. Drives rotate around so this will occasionally change.
   • Name of Recording: Enter the Unique ID of the item in this field.
   • Name of the person digitizing this tape.: It's fine to just use your initials here.

Digitizing Betacam, Betacam SP, and Digibeta

Digitizing Betacam SX

Digitizing Betamax

Digitizing Blu-ray

Digitizing Digital8, Video8, and Hi8

Digitizing DVCAM and miniDV

Digitizing DVCPro

Digitizing DVD

Digitizing VHS, S-VHS, and VHS-C

Digitizing U-matic