Digital Video Lab
Operating Policies
DVLab computers are not networked for editing. Please back up your project files on a CD or DVD along with your Quicktime Media Source files and any other image/sound files. If you have your own external Firewire Drive, that's even better. Back up of Project Files /Quicktime media files / Image or Sound files on a CD or DVD is done using the application "ROXIO TOAST".
Please label your tapes carefully, and if you have multiple tapes for a project, label each with the unique reel number you have entered into Final Cut pro during the log and capture process. If tapes are left behind in the DVLab, they will be placed on the railing of the Whiteboard.
External Firewire Drives must be approved before use.
You are not permitted to download any type of software. If you believe there is a software application which the lab could benefit from, please inform your professor or Ellen Reynolds.
Your media and project files must be stored within a folder with your name on it, within your teacher's (or other appropriate) folder. Free Floating and unnamed files may be deleted. All Media files are deleted after one month from their capture, unless special dispensation is granted.
Set your Autosave location at the beginning of every work session. Set your capture Scratch location at the beginning of every capture session. Close your project before leaving your session. These steps will do a lot to insure the integrity of your project files.
You may capture footage in the amount of to 4 times the total duration of your finished program. Students creating programs of longer than 30 minutes must inform Ellen.
Broken time code is a problem and can be remedied by copying the problematic tape to another Mini-DV tape using a 4 to 4 pin firewire cable from the wall hook. Connect one 4 pin to the videocamera, the other to the deck, and select "DV IN" as the input to the deck. Use the video camera as a playback device, and the deck as a record device. Use the new tape as your source tape for capturing into FCP. There will be no resolution loss. You can re-record over the old tape later.
If anything is malfunctioning, please contact Ellen. If it is a hardware issue (computer crashing, for example), contact IThelp (ithelp@design.upenn.edu) or the IT office on the 1st floor.
USE "Force Quit" from the apple menu if the application crashes. There are instructions for "force quitting" on the wall of the Lab.
When playing out to the NTSC monitor or printing you may experience a "Blocky" image. Restarting the application often helps, if not you must restart the computer.
DO NOT re-cable workstations. If you feel there is a better way to cable a workstation, please contact Ellen but DO NOT do this yourself.
USE only Sony Tapes when possible.
Please use headphones when working.
We will periodically send the best work to the bridge movie theater for presentation in their lobby. Work that contains copyrighted material (i.e. music) cannot be included in this package.
For more information, contact Ellen Reynolds at villavillekula@aol.com.