Protocol for Video Capture and Editing of nematode specimens with Configuration 1 (Pinnacle DC30 and Adobe Premiere 5.1).


I. Initialisation
 

  1. Organise folders for captured and edited files, make subfolders if necessary.
  2. Start miroVideo Capture
  3. "Mode" page: choose Advanced.
  4. "Settings" page: Set data rate to 4000 kbps; set sharpness slider to maximum in "Image settings" box.
  5. "Projects" page: click Create new; name the project; uncheck "Capture audio" box; check the "Full" bullet and "TV cropping"; select the correct video standard (e.g. PAL or NTSC); set frame rate to 25 fps in "Frames/Sec" menu.
  6. "Record" page: plug in camera power, switch on LM, channel all light to camera and adjust microscope to obtain even background in the video display.
  7. Adjust camera setup buttons: set ENHANCE to 5 in the VIDEO ADJUST menu; set SHUTTER to MANU (1/120) and W.BAL to MANU in the MODE SELECT menu; adjust white balance by eye.


II. Capture
 

  1. Place specimen on stage, select objective 40x-100x, center part of specimen to be captured.
  2. Channel all light from LM to camera.
  3. "Record" page in miroVideo: name clip unambiguously; position part of specimen to be captured in the video window, and rotate camera until axis of subject is horizontal.
  4. Turn up fine focus until specimen is just out of focus.
  5. "Record" page: click on the recording button, wait 0.25 sec, then smoothly turn fine focus down all through specimen, click on stop button.
  6. "Clips" page: replay captured clip to verify completeness, number of frames (should be over 30 and under 60) and file size; delete clip and repeat capture if unsatisfactory.
  7. Move to other part of specimen and capture, or close miroVideo Capture and all other running programs.


III. Editing (removes duration redundancy)
 

  1. Open Adobe Premier 5.1: the "New Project Settings" window will appear.
  2. In "General Settings" select "DC30 editing mode", set timebase to "25", time display to "25 fps Timecode". Ok.
  3. If necessary, open "Project" and "Timeline" windows from the "Window" menu.
  4. Select cascading menus "File" "Import" "File…", browse for captured clips and import them into "Project" window.
  5. In "Project" window: grab film icon of a captured clip and drag it into leftmost end of track "Video 1A" of "Timeline" window.
  6. If necessary, check leftmost box of track 1A to display the eye icon (for realtime display of track).
  7. In "Timeline" window: set second drop-down menu in lower left to "12 frames".
  8. In "Timeline" window: double-click on clip in track 1A to open it in the "Monitor" window.
  9. In "Monitor" window - leftmost controls: click on Frame Forward below display until first focused structures appear (cuticle, setae, …); click Mark In below and Apply above.
  10. In "Monitor" window - leftmost controls: scrub to end of clip; click on Frame Back below until last frame with focused structures appears; click Mark Out below and Apply above.
  11. In "Monitor" window - leftmost controls: Note number of frames after DELTA symbol (written as nr of seconds + nr of remaining frames, e.g. DELTA = 2:03 = 2 seconds + 3 frames = 53 frames).
  12. In "Monitor" window - rightmost controls: Click on video display and on play button to verify correctness of the marked In and Out points.
IV. Exporting (removes other redundancy types)
 
  1. Select cascading menus "File" "Export" "Movie…", click on Settings.
  2. In "Export Movie Settings": select file type "Quick Time" and uncheck "Save Audio" box.
  3. In "Video settings" subheading: select codec "Cinepak"; set frame rate to the approximate ratio of 25 times 25/DELTA (e.g. if DELTA = 53 frames then choose frame rate = 12.5); set depth to "Millions"; set quality to 100%; set frame size to 720 by 540.
  4. In "Special Processing" subheading: click Modify.
  5. In "Special Processing" window: scrub to frame with widest outline of specimen; slide rectangle controls to crop background; compare coordinates of cropping rectangle with its reported size (miscalculation bug - see discussion), if necessary correct the coordinates but not the rectangle. Ok; Ok.
  6. In "Export Movie" window: make and select folder; type unambiguous filename; click Save.
  7. Premiere will open the result: scrub and verify exported clip; repeat editing and exporting if necessary.