| Transferring the Sound to the Computer In order to transfer the sound to your computer, you need some equipment. There are 4 basic pieces of equipment to deal with: 1) The Computer 2) The Video Tape Machine or Video Camera 3) The TV/VCR combo 4) The Analog/Digital Converter (only if you don’t have Firewire on the camera) The Computer The computer is where you do all your editing of both sound and images. In order to do this function you need to get your sound and images from somewhere. In our case the sound can be recorded directly into the computer using the microphone then saved as a .wav or .aif sound file and stored in your project folder on the D drive. You can also bring in your sound file from an external source, either on a CD or DVD or a video tape. If it’s on CD or DVD and it’s already saved as a sound file, you can just drag and drop it to copy it to your folder. If it’s a movie source from a DVD or Video you must capture it in Premier which will then save it as an .avi file. The same is true for your video source for pencil tested images from the Lunchbox units; these must be captured using Premier and saved as .avi files. The Video Tape Machine The video tape machine is obviously where you’re going to put the video tape to either play back or record. This is your input/output device. The video tape machine is just like any other home version. It has a power, PLAY, STOP, FF (fast forward), REW (rewind) and REC (record) button. There is also the Channel Button (up and down). On the back of the VCR are 2 types of input and output plugs; coaxial and RCA. The Coaxial is like your home Cable from the Cable Company, it screws into the back of the machine to the input plug. The output plug then goes to the television. In our case, there is no external cable going into the VCR. The output cable still goes to the TV/VCR combo and acts as the monitor for both the VCR’s and the Computer. The other cables in the back are the RCA cables. These are inputting signals from the VCR into the computer as well as outputting signals from the computer to the VCR. In order for the VCR to display these signals, it needs to be on the proper channel. This channel setting is LINE 1. If for some reason you’re not getting a signal on the TV monitor, try changing the channel to LINE 1. The TV/VCR Combo The TV/VCR combo is basically a monitor. You can still use it to playback videos for review but not for recording. These units will eventually be replaced by a TV monitor and the TV/VCR combos will move to the Lunchbox units. These must be set to channel 3. Do not change the channel using the front panel as it will not go to channel 3 for some reason. If the channel is changed using the front panel, it must be reset using the remote control stored in Brian’s office. You will not be able to view the output signal from the computer or VCR if the TV/VCR is not on channel 3. The Analog/Digital Converter The Analog/Digital converter is the device that converts the analog signal from the VCR into a digital signal which can be accepted by the computer when you are capturing using Premier. It will also convert the digital signal from the computer into an analog signal which can then be accepted by the VCR when you are recording your assignments back to tape. There are three buttons on the top of the converter. The first button on the left is the power button. Push this to turn the unit on when you want to capture onto the computer. As soon as you press this button a dialogue window will appear on the computer asking you if you want to use a certain program to use the converter. Usually you will already be in Premier when you turn the converter on, so just click on the close button or CANCEL. The second button (the middle one) is the ANALOG IN. This is the button you press when you are playing a video tape and you want to capture it into the computer using Premier. After you have finished your assignment on the computer and you want to transfer it back to video tape to show your Mom you need to press the third button (the one on the right) labeled DV IN. You may find that while you are working on your assignment with sound, whenever you try to playback the assignment in the time line, no sound comes out. Yet when you scrub it, you can hear it. This is because the converter is blocking the signal. As you are editing your work in Premier, be sure to turn the converter off. When you are ready to transfer it back to video, turn the converter back on again and be sure it’s set to DV IN. You may also find that you can’t see the image of your assignment on the TV monitor. This may be because the project has not been rendered. To render; go to the top bar and click on SEQUENCE then click on RENDER WORK AREA or just press the ENTER key. Another reason may be that you need to go to FILE then click on EXPORT go down to EXPORT TO TAPE. This will bring up a dialogue window. Click on the RECORD button. This does not record your project to the video tape player. After this is completed, you can close this window and you should now see the image of your assignment on the TV monitor. Scrub the time line if you have a black screen at the head of the assignment. Still no image? Check the VCR to be sure it’s on LINE 1. Still nothing? Turn off the TV then turn it back on to see if it’s on channel 3. If not, you need to use the remote. If you can’t get the remote, it’s not a big deal. Remember, the monitor is only showing you the same thing that’s on the monitor in the Premier window, it has absolutely no effect on the project being transferred to the VCR machine. |