UPDATE: Capturing Video from Tape for Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro

Recently, I’ve gotten a lot of email from people trying to capture video from video tape. This used to be easy… but with changes to Adobe Premiere Pro and Apple Final Cut Pro, it has become more challenging.

CAUTION: During a recent webinar I recommended LifeFlix, an application specifically designed to capture from tape. However, since then I’ve gotten reliable reports that it does not always work. PLEASE download the free trial and make sure it works for you before purchasing – especially if you are working with semi-pro or professional video decks.

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This workflow was written by Michael Powles, a UK-based videographer.

CAPTURE MEDIA

• Connect the deck to the computer via Firewire/Thunderbolt/USB-C converters as appropriate.
• Switch on the video tape deck and insert a tape.
• Open QuickTime Player
• Choose File > New Movie Recording

• A small Movie Recording window opens.
• To the right of the red record button, twirl down the white chevron and select your deck for Camera and Microphone (if not automatically selected). In my case the deck appears as ‘DV-VCR’ in both cases.
• Under Quality select Maximum (not High).
• Push Play on your deck and watch playback in the capture window.
• If you don’t hear the audio, to the left of the record button is the audio level fader. Adjust as required to hear the playback.
• When you are ready to record press the red Record button.

(Image courtesy of Michael Powles.)

You can either capture the entire tape or sections of it. However, sections are determined manually during playback, you can’t set an In or Out.

During capture, the left timer displays the increasing duration of material captured. The right timer displays the size of the captured media file.

FRAME SIZES

DV tapes can be either NTSC or PAL using 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratios. This means that there are four different possible frame sizes. Plus two more frame sizes for broadcast NTSC SD formats – because … sigh… life was not simple.

NOTE: Making this more complex is that almost all DV video is interlaced and uses non-square pixels. Worse, the pixel shapes change between a 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratio. These numbers assume you are capturing non-square pixels.

Here’s a table that explains them.

Video Format	Capture Size
DV-NTSC 4:3	720×480
DV-NTSC 16:9 Anamorphic	853×480
DV-PAL 4:3	720×576
DV-PAL 16:9 Anamorphic	1024×576
601-NTSC 4:3	720×486
601-NTSC 16:9 Anamorphic	853×486

(Image courtesy of Michael Powles.)

When capturing is complete (either when the selected part of a tape is captured and stopped manually or the end of the tape reached), the capture window will show the file as ‘Untitled.’ The duration display on the playback timeline shows the in and out time code, which matches the timecode on the camera tape.

SAVE MEDIA

It is important to note that the codec the file is saved into depends upon how the file is saved.

Option 1 – Create H.264 (Compressed format)

• Choose File > Export As (SD footage the options are Audio Only, 480p or 720p). Selecting 720p, for example, opens a window asking you to name the file and where to save it. Name it and click Save. A white QT window opens showing the progress of the ‘Save’. The longer the capture the bigger the file. This saves a .mov file but as an H.264 with AAC audio with a frame size of 1024 x 576 stereo HD file.
• If the file is saved as a 480p file the frame size is 640 x 360 H.264 etc.

Option 2 – Create ProRes (Uncompressed format)

• Choose File > Save, the same window opens asking for a name and location for the .MOV file.
• Click save. A black progress bar opens and saves the file when completed. There is no ‘option’ here to save it as a specific type of file as this file is saved as 720 x 576 ProRes 422 Linear PCM stereo file. All footage is Interlaced.

In my test, the duration of the captured file is one minute eight seconds. The file sizes are:

• H.264 = 21MB
• ProRes422 = 342MB

I hope this is of interest to you and your readers.

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