A week or so, Johan kindly pointed me in the direction of Graphedit, as
a means of recording multiple live streams to disk at the same time.

However, I need to record one real device (a miniDV cam connected via
FireWire) and a second virtual device (video screen capture software)
at the same time.

I've managed to find the correct device filters, but I cannot find a
way to interconnect the filters so that the two video streams are both
recorded into an AVI file (either as one multiple stream file, or as
two separate files). I either get error messages saying that filters I
am trying to connect together aren't compatible, or the output file is
unreadable by video applications, including Premier Pro.

If anyone could give me some ideas or some pointers, I'd really
appreciate it - I need to finish the project this weekend :-/.

thanks,

Andy

PS. Graphedit can be downloaded here free if anyone is interested in
trying it out:
http://www.digital-digest.com/dvd/do...graphedit.html

In message .com,
AndyE writes
A week or so, Johan kindly pointed me in the direction of Graphedit, as
a means of recording multiple live streams to disk at the same time.

However, I need to record one real device (a miniDV cam connected via
FireWire) and a second virtual device (video screen capture software)
at the same time.

I've managed to find the correct device filters, but I cannot find a
way to interconnect the filters so that the two video streams are both
recorded into an AVI file (either as one multiple stream file, or as
two separate files). I either get error messages saying that filters I
am trying to connect together aren't compatible, or the output file is
unreadable by video applications, including Premier Pro.

If anyone could give me some ideas or some pointers, I'd really
appreciate it - I need to finish the project this weekend :-/.

I'd kept out of this because I'd assumed that you wanted to do this in
real-time - i.e. concurrently (which I thought couldn't be done without
spending a vast amount of money on video and sound mixers), but from the
above it seems that my assumption was incorrect.

I've done what you're doing with camcorder-captured video, Camtasia
captured video, and two separate audio streams (one background music and
one commentary). Though I use Vegas, most (all?) video editors allow
both capture (from camcorder) and import (of both video and sound).

Using layers, I simply assemble the various components in the video
editor, and by splitting and moving them between layers it's quite easy
to assemble a "mix" of just about everything. Finally there is the
option of rendering as an AVI DV file, or (for burning a CD/DVD) MPEG2
[1].

[1] Since I use DVD Architect, I render video separately as MPEG2,
and the combined audio as AC3. If they have the same filename,
(with different extensions) Architect seamlessly picks up both
before "chapterising" and (then) burning.


--
Tony Morgan
http://www.camcord.info

Tony Morgan wrote:

I'd kept out of this because I'd assumed that you wanted to do this
in
real-time - i.e. concurrently (which I thought couldn't be done
without
spending a vast amount of money on video and sound mixers), but from
the
above it seems that my assumption was incorrect.

I've done what you're doing with camcorder-captured video, Camtasia
captured video, and two separate audio streams (one background music
and
one commentary). Though I use Vegas, most (all?) video editors allow
both capture (from camcorder) and import (of both video and sound).

So just to clarify, you did all this in realtime, or captured the
camcorder video to tape and then imported it later? In the end, I ran
the camtasia capture and camcorder capture together, but recorded to
tape in the camcorder rather than using a live feed. I then relied on
the digital clocks staying in sync and assembled the bits in assembled
the bits in Premier.

Unfortunately, I then discovered that the audio had clipped badly in
camtasia and all my work was effectively useless and there wasn't
enough time to record it all again. So now I'm going on bended knee to
the magazine editor to ask if the feature can be bumped to next month
:-/.

Strange thing is, I have no idea why the clipping occurred - I've used
camtasia studio a lot before and never had any problems and I used the
same settings... however camtasia studio does seem to be an extremely
buggy program and very few of its advertised features do work 100%
properly. Once again, I feel "done over" as someone who pays for
software rather than stealing it off P2P networks.

Using layers, I simply assemble the various components in the video
editor, and by splitting and moving them between layers it's quite
easy
to assemble a "mix" of just about everything. Finally there is the
option of rendering as an AVI DV file, or (for burning a CD/DVD)
MPEG2

I seem to have a similar receipy in Premier Pro, however I haven't
managed to find a way to crop layed video clips - only move and scale
them.

thanks for your help Tony,

Andy

Tony Morgan wrote:

I'd kept out of this because I'd assumed that you wanted to do this
in
real-time - i.e. concurrently (which I thought couldn't be done
without
spending a vast amount of money on video and sound mixers), but from
the
above it seems that my assumption was incorrect.

I've done what you're doing with camcorder-captured video, Camtasia
captured video, and two separate audio streams (one background music
and
one commentary). Though I use Vegas, most (all?) video editors allow
both capture (from camcorder) and import (of both video and sound).

So just to clarify, you did all this in realtime, or captured the
camcorder video to tape and then imported it later? In the end, I ran
the camtasia capture and camcorder capture together, but recorded to
tape in the camcorder rather than using a live feed. I then relied on
the digital clocks staying in sync and assembled the bits in assembled
the bits in Premier.

Unfortunately, I then discovered that the audio had clipped badly in
camtasia and all my work was effectively useless and there wasn't
enough time to record it all again. So now I'm going on bended knee to
the magazine editor to ask if the feature can be bumped to next month
:-/.

Strange thing is, I have no idea why the clipping occurred - I've used
camtasia studio a lot before and never had any problems and I used the
same settings... however camtasia studio does seem to be an extremely
buggy program and very few of its advertised features do work 100%
properly. Once again, I feel "done over" as someone who pays for
software rather than stealing it off P2P networks.

Using layers, I simply assemble the various components in the video
editor, and by splitting and moving them between layers it's quite
easy
to assemble a "mix" of just about everything. Finally there is the
option of rendering as an AVI DV file, or (for burning a CD/DVD)
MPEG2

I seem to have a similar receipy in Premier Pro, however I haven't
managed to find a way to crop layed video clips - only move and scale
them.

thanks for your help Tony,

Andy

In message .com,
AndyE writes
Snipped...

So just to clarify, you did all this in realtime,

No, not in realtime - that was the point I was trying to make. Though
having said that, Vegas does allow you to review your captured video
while recording sound, which is deposited in the media pool. You can
alternatively record directly into a layer on the timeline, but I find
that difficult to manage and would never recommend it.

or captured the camcorder video to tape and then imported it later? In
the end, I ran the camtasia capture and camcorder capture together, but
recorded to tape in the camcorder rather than using a live feed.

I can see what you are trying to do, but if I understand you correctly,
I certainly wouldn't do it that way.

I then relied on the digital clocks staying in sync and assembled the
bits in assembled the bits in Premier.


Unfortunately, I then discovered that the audio had clipped badly in
camtasia and all my work was effectively useless and there wasn't
enough time to record it all again. So now I'm going on bended knee to
the magazine editor to ask if the feature can be bumped to next month
:-/.
My method is (and would be in your exercise) to record everything as
"piece-parts": Camtasia video (sans sound, though the sound channels
could be replaced later), Camtasia commentary sound, and (for between
Camtasia clips) "talking-head" video clips, shot and imported complete
with sound. It helps if you re-label everything in a systematic way
since the media pool can get quite large. I use "A", "B", "C" etc for
the various parts of the movie. I also add "S" for sound, "V" for video,
and "C" for Camtasia video. So as you edit you start with Axxxxx through
Zxxxxx - which makes things tidy and easy to find. So in the first
"section" of your movie, you'll have perhaps ASnnn, AVnnn, and ACnnn.
And the great thing is (in Vegas at least) all the bits and pieces in
the media pool are arranged alphabetically, so it's easy to start at the
beginning and work through to the end. Another tip is to create a
"dummy" layer and using the titling facility, put "A", "B", "C" etc in
this dummy layer to make it easy to "polish" each of the various
sections. While you're reviewing, the alpha letter is visible, but at
the very end you "hide" the layer containing the alpha identifiers
before final rendering. I'd hazard a guess that you can do this in
Premiere. I sued to get completely lost until I adopted this labelling
method.

Strange thing is, I have no idea why the clipping occurred - I've used
camtasia studio a lot before and never had any problems and I used the
same settings... however camtasia studio does seem to be an extremely
buggy program and very few of its advertised features do work 100%
properly. Once again, I feel "done over" as someone who pays for
software rather than stealing it off P2P networks.

I know what you mean. However I personally have difficulty in
commentating while manipulating the PC program/display, so I do the
commentary at the edit stage while reviewing the Camtasia video clips,
recording sound into the media pool. That way, if I stutter or hesitate,
I simply delete the particular sound clip and re-do it. It also assures
"continuity".


Using layers, I simply assemble the various components in the video
editor, and by splitting and moving them between layers it's quite
easy
to assemble a "mix" of just about everything. Finally there is the
option of rendering as an AVI DV file, or (for burning a CD/DVD)
MPEG2

I seem to have a similar receipy in Premier Pro, however I haven't
managed to find a way to crop layed video clips - only move and scale
them.

Can't you (as you can in Vegas) hide or lock a layer (whether sound,
video or Camtasia video)? In Vegas, there are two ways to clip clips, in
the media pool or in the timeline. I prefer the timeline, and I split
the clip and discard the unwanted ends (select and CTRL/DEL). The CTRL/C
and CTRL/V are also very useful when moving/manipulating both video and
sound clips. Another tip is, when you're joining two sound clips, if you
overlap them slightly you get an imperceptible fade-in/fade-out (at
least you do in Vegas). I also always record a short sound "silence"
that I use to fade-in or fade-out a sound section by overlapping as I've
described.

Anyway, I've rambled on for long enough. I hope I have given you some
help. "Deadlines are Deadly" :-)

Oh, the thing I forgot to mention is that Vegas has a facility to adjust
the amplitude of sound. In fact it has a "make peaks" when audio is
first imported. But if it has been clipped before being imported there's
obviously nothing you can do.
--
Tony Morgan
http://www.camcord.info