Newbie : splitting long movie into scenes

[Pharkas]

Hi,

I'm new at this so I apologize if this is a stupid question or if it's in the wrong section.

I just bought a Panasonic PV-GS35 to make movies of my newborn.

I have a few mini-DV tapes full of all kinds of small 2-3 minutes scenes.

I started playing around with my computer to edit the movie.

Here are my questions :

First, is there a way to split scenes when recording so that when I transfer them back to the computer, they are split into files right away ? Right now, I have 4-5 large files (Fat32, split into 4 gig sections) from my mini-DV tape and it's a pain in the ass to find what I want since my movie contains 20-30 small clips.

Next question, if I can't split the file when recording, what's the best way to split the file when on the computer ? What I'm doing right now is editing the file, finding the beginning & end of each small scene, then splitting it from the main and saving it with a descriptive file name.

I'm saving the small clips in DV format so that I don't lose too much quality, is this ok or do I still lose quality ?

Any suggestions, I'm really lost here !

Thanks !

[jetfan]

Hello and congratulations are your newborn.

I will try to assist you, but have a few questions first.

You can not split scenes when recording, other than maybe stopping the tape after recording each clip and then fast fowarding a drop, but that will only leave noise as a separation.

Secondly, what program are you using on your computer to do the editing?
I know that it is time consuming locating and splitting your clips, but in all honesty, that is really the only way to do it correctly, to edit out what you don't want.

When you say that you are saving it in DV format, do you mean as an AVI? If so, you are not losing any quality, so long as you don't convert to an mpeg.
Since you are new here, you may be unaware that most editors work better with AVI's.

I don't know if I was of any help to you, but if I could be of further assistance, let me know.

Joe

[guns1inger]

How did you transfer the movies to your HDD ? Most transfer programs have the ability to split based on timecodes (scenes) during transfer - WMM, WinDV, DVIO, Vegas, Premiere all do this.

The DV on your HDD will be identical to the DV on the tape assuming you have transfered via firewire.

So we are back to my initial question - how did you transfer the movies in the first place ?

[kschang]

STOIK Video Converter, which converts AVI / WMV, has an "auto-clip" function that splits AVI into different pieces based on amount of scene change. It's not adjustable, but it may help simplify your job a bit.

[mikiem]

Not a DV expert but in case it helps...

TO separate scenes during recording (initial filming), record a few seconds with the lens cap on.

As posted, most transfer prog. & many editors have the ability to split your video into scenes. What helps the most though is a way to catalog it all so you can assemble your project from the various cuts. Reading up on how the pros handle it might help give you some ideas on how to better manage your project -- they'll catalog scenes before transfer, select those they think they want, and then transfer just those cuts into bins for easy access. You may not need to go that full route, but again, might provide some useful ideas.

[guns1inger]

With DV you don't need to do this as the timecode keeps track of scenes for you. This is how most DV transfer software splits the clips up. It is only when transfering anolgue footage that you need to do scene detection at the image level.