How to Digitize a Video at the Freedman Center

Step 1 -  In the video digitization room of the FC, choose which station to use. Station 1 is for standard digitization, Station 2 is for international formats.

Step 2 - Ensure that you have appropriate copyright permission to digitize your chosen media.

Step 3 -  On the hardware stack, select the letter corresponding to the piece of equipment you are using. e.g.: A for VHS/DVD, B for Blu Ray, etc.

Step 4 - Insert your physical media to the corresponding piece of equipment and press stop, rewind, etc. to ensure digitization starts at the beginning and is not auto-playing.

Step 5 - Relocate to the capture station and unlock it with the USB key you obtained from the service desk.

Step 6 - In the D drive on the capture station, make a new folder with your CaseID as its title.

Step 7 - Launch "Black Magic Media Express" (BMME) and activate the "Log and Capture" tab.

Step 8 - Press play on your item in the hardware stack to ensure the connection is working. If you want to hear your media's audio, press the power button on the speaker bar remote at the capture station.

Step 9 - In the BMME window menu, click Edit>Preferences and set your named folder as the destination for saving captured audio and video files, then click OK.

Step 10 - Ensure your video is at the appropriate starting point and playing, then click "Capture" at the bottom of the BMME window. The video will be digitized in real time and saved to your folder. The process takes as long as your video's runtime; a 1 hour video will take 1 hour to capture.

Step 11 - When you are ready to stop digitizing the video, click "Capture" at the bottom of the BMME window and close the program. You do not need to save anything at this point; the file has already been saved to the specified folder.

Step 1 - On the capture station, launch "TMPGEnc Video Mastering Works 7" (TMP) and start a new project, normal mode, then choose "From Files." Choose the file you just digitized.

Step 2 - In the new window that opens, if the "Clip Settings" box appears, close it.

Step 3 - Drag the cursor on the timeline bar to where the video begins. You can use the arrow keys to move frame by frame.

Step 4 - Click the open bracket button beneath the timeline to set the starting point. Repeat this process to set the end point, then click the close bracket button.

Step 5 - At the top of the window, click "Filters" and select the "Deinterlace" button on the left. Choose "Deinterlace Always" from the options below.

Step 6 - Select the "Crop" button on the left, and toggle cropping on. Then adjust the cropping borders to your satisfaction, making a clean edge around the video

Step 7 - Select the "Volume Adjustment" button on the left, and toggle Volume Adjustment on. Then choose "Volume Normalization" as the volume correction method.

Step 8 - Click OK at the bottom right to complete your post processing.

Step 9 - In the next window, click "Format" to set the format of the final file. MP4 File Output (not the Youtube version) will output the highest quality MP4 with generic settings.  Choose your format and then click "Select" at the bottom right.

Step 10 - At the top of the screen, click "Encode" and browse to your named folder to set the output destination. Then, at the bottom left of the screen, click the "Start" button.