( For use in Forcina Hall room 111B )

Video Digitizing is the process of converting a VHS movie clip into a computer MPEG file to be used on web sites and other in applications, such as Microsoft Powerpoint. Digitizing a VHS movie clip can be fun and easy with the use of Future Tel`s Video Sphinx Pro. Follow these 8 easy steps to create your own MPEG movie file.


Step One - Setting up the TV-VCR

The first step involves preparing the TV-VCR to play the desired video clip. First turn on the TV-VCR by pressing the power button on the front of the VCR. After turning on the TV-VCR, insert the video casette into the VCR.
Next you want to scan through the video tape to find the video clip that you want to digitize. Using the PLAY, FAST FORWARD, and REWIND buttons, locate the start of the video clip, and then hit the STOP button.

TIP: Do not stop the tape exacty at the point you wish to begin recording at. You want to stop the tape 10-20 seconds before the actual spot that you wish to begin recording at. If you start the tape exactly at the spot you wish to record at, you may miss the first couple seconds of the video clip.



Step Two - Set Printer/Video Switch

To the right of the computer terminal is a small switch box. Make sure the knob is turned to the "VIDEO" position, as shown here in the picture.


Step Three - Open the Video Capture Program

The first step in preparing the computer to record is to open the Video Sphinx Pro sofware program. The icon for this program is located on the windows desktop. Double click the mouse pointer on the "Digitize Video" icon, which is displayed here:


Step Four - The Map Room

Double clicking the icon will start the program, and after 5 - 10 seconds the program will finish loading. Now you are at the first menu, called the Map Room, which will look like this:

In this menu, there will be five different menu items to choose from. You want to select the operation for digitizing full motion video. The icon for this operation is on the top left of the Map Menu screen. You want to select the one titled "Movie Clip Capture - Capture, Play and Trim Full Motion Video", which is shown here to the left. To select this operation, click the mouse on the picture of the video camera on the Movie Clip Capture icon.

TIP: Hold down the ALT-TAB buttons to toggle between this tutorial page and the Future Tel Video Syphinx program.


Step Five - Adjust Settings

Now the workstation will load and appear on the screen, which will look like the picture to the right. You are now ready to set up the program to record. The button for adjusting the settings is located on the button panel, under the black screen.

Click on the button with the red dot and starburst, located on the left side of the button panel.

Make sure that your settings match those as shown here. When the settings match the ones displayed here, click on the "OK" button to continue.


For 2-5 seconds the screen will say "preparing to record". When the computer is ready to begin recording, the screen will say "Press Record to start capture". This means the computer is set up to record from the VCR and you may continue to the next step.


Step Six - Recording

Now you are ready to play the VCR tape and record it to the computer. When you are ready to start the video capture, press play on the VCR. As the tape plays, watch for the start of the video clip you wish to capture. When the tape comes to the start of your desired video clip, click on the RECORD button on the computer to begin recording. The RECORD button can be found on the button panel, as shown here in the red circle:
Now keep watching the TV for the end of the video clip. When you come to the spot you wish to stop recording at, click on the STOP button on the computer (next to the record button on the button panel).
* The recording window on the computer will remain black until you stop recording. Do not worry, this is normal. Your clip will appear in the window after you have finished recording.


Step Seven - Reviewing and saving your digitized video clip.
After you capture the video clip, you will want to review it to make sure it is correct. To do this, simply click the mouse on the PLAY button on the button panel.
If there is no volume, you may need to turn up the speaker`s volume. The speakers are located next to the computer. Simply turn the volume knob on the speaker until the volume is at the desired level.

* If your recording did not come out the way you wanted, and you want to re-record the video, go back to Step Five, and restart from there *

If the video clip is correct and exacly how you wanted it, you can save it to your disk. To save the digitized video clip, click the mouse on FILE at the top menu of the screen. Then scroll down the file menu and click on "Save file".

You will save the video clip in a similar manner to the way you would save a word processor document. After clicking on "Save file", a small window will appear. Select where you would like to save the video (hard drive, disk drive, etc.), and the name you would like to save the video clip as. Then click on the SAVE button to save the file. The file will be saved as a MPEG (.mpg) type of video file. Due to the large size of these MPEG movie files, a 3.5 inch floppy disk will not be able to hold more than 5 seconds of recorded video. A zip disk has a larger capacity, and can hold over five minutes worth of video.


Step Eight - Using your saved MPEG in applictions
Now that you have created your MPEG video file, you will want to use it in an application. This step will show you how to use the video clip in PowerPoint.

Using the MPEG file in Microsoft PowerPoint:

You can improve the quality of your PowerPoint presentations by inserting a digitized MPEG video clip. This is easy to do and will look very impressive to your viewers.

First, decide where you want to insert the video clip. It is recommended that you insert the video clip into a blank page of your slide show. To insert the MPEG video clip, go to the menu bar at the top of the screen and click on "insert". Drag this menu down and click on "Movies and Sounds >". This will bring up another little menu to the right, where you will click on "Movie from file...".

Now the "open" window will appear. Go to the directory or disk that you have the file saved on, and select the video clip file. Then click on the open button. Now a picture of the first frame of the movie will appear on the page. You can click on a corner of the movie window and drag the corners out to increase the size of the movie. It is recomended that you center and stretch the movie window to the full size of the page for the best viewing during your presentation.

To see how the clip will appear during the presentation, go to the menu bar at the top of the screen and select "Slide Show". Drag down the menu and select "View Show". Go to the page that you have your movie in. To play the movie, all you have to do is click the mouse anywhere on the picture. One click and the movie clip will play. Its that easy!