Recording/digitizing a live session at a PC computer monitor

This deals with digitizing a live session from a PC you hauled into the video lab in the new setup. For old instructions including use of radiance, see here.

Main steps

  1. Bring your PC into the video lab. Hook your PC up to the Folsom scan converter and a monitor, as discussed below.

  2. Use telect to hook the folsom (nee lyonlamb) to your digitizing source. The old documentation deals with using moviola to digitize. The instructions below deal with zoetrope only.

  3. Set premiere capture settings to capture component (CAV) video. Hit record and stop in premiere. I'll leave someone else to document the details in premiere; the default settings are quite reasonable; try restarting premiere if it doesn't work.

Step 1: Hooking up your PC Method 1 (VGA)

  1. There are two long VGA cables connected to the Folsom. One is labelled VGA on Folsom from PC, and the other From Folsom Passthru to monitor. Both cables are black, and the monitor cable has a small female to female adapter on it. Connect the one "from PC" to your PC, and the other one to a monitor. Surface currently uses these cables; replace with your PC.

  2. The folsom settings should be set correctly. I've (Ravi) found that any resolution on your VGA should be fine. You can adjust the Folsom zoom and pan controls [push menu and you'll find these quite intuitively]. The important thing to note is the input settings. Make sure that the input is set to VGA (instead of BNC), that termination is set to Hi-Z instead of 75 ohm, and that test pattern is off

  3. To see what's happening, middle-click on the Lyon Lamb and left-click on one of the monitors.

Step 1: Hooking up your PC Method 2 (BNC)

  1. There is a VGA to BNC cable coming from the extron box. Hook the VGA cable to your PC. The output BNC cables near the extron box are for a monitor, if you choose to connect them.

  2. Use the patch panel to connect Extra PC to VDA input. Then, connect the VDA outputs to the following 1) Lyonlamb 2) a suitable monitor (this could be extra PC mon if you use those cables, or moviola or radiance C monitors).

  3. The folsom settings should be set correctly. I've (Ravi) found that a VGA resolution of 1152x864 or lower appears to work. You might need to power-cycle the Folsom if you change resolutions. You can adjust the Folsom zoom and pan controls [push menu and you'll find these quite intuitively]. The important thing to note is the input settings. Make sure that the input is set to BNC (instead of VGA), that termination is set to 75 Ohm instead of Hi-Z, and that test pattern is off

  4. To see what's happening, middle-click on the Lyon Lamb and left-click on one of the monitors.

Step 2: Telect Folsom to Zoetrope and see Zoetrope output

Perform the following magic incantation on a crossbar window.

  1. telect -i lyonlamb -o zoetrope [This connects the scan converter to zoetrope (NTSC, CAV, SDI, audio)].

  2. telect -i zoetrope -o fs1 [This is for output; make sure fs1 input is on CAV]

  3. telect -i fs1 -o monitor/deck [This could be 20mon or vhsrec, so you can see what's going on].

  4. telect -l audio -i zoetrope -o monitor/deck [audio does not route through fs1 currently]

Step 3: Capturing in premiere

The only important thing to make sure is that you're capturing CAV video and Balanced (XLR) audio. You should be able to see things on the TV nearby on line B. If things don't work, try restarting premiere; this worked for me once.

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Last modified: Fri Feb 22 01:50:19 PST 2002