Adobe Premiere Elements 7 Classroom in a Book

46 LESSON 3 Video Capture and Import

Converting analog video

to digital video

Before DV camcorders were widely manufactured, most people used camcorders

that recorded analog video onto VHS, 8mm, or other analog tape formats. To use

video from analog sources in your Adobe Premiere Elements project, you must fi rst

convert (

digitize) the footage to digital data, because Adobe Premiere Elements

only accepts direct input from digital sources. To digitize your footage, you can use

either your digital camcorder or a standalone device that performs analog-to-digital

(AV DV) conv

ersion.

You can perform a successful conversion using the following methods:

• Use your digital camcorder to output a digital signal from an analog input.

Connect the analog source to input jacks on your digital camcorder and connect

the digital camcorder to the computer. Not all digital camcorders support this

method.

See your camcorder documentation for more information.

• Use your digital camcorder to record footage from your analog source. Connect

your analog source’s output to the analog inputs on your digital camcorder.

Then, record your analog footage to digital tape. When you are

fi nished

recording, Adobe Premiere Elements can then capture the footage from the

digital camcorder. This is a very common procedure. See your camcorder

documentation for more details on recording from analog sources.

• Use your computer’s sound card, if it has a microphone (mic) input, to capture

sound from a microphone.

• Use an AV DV converter to bridge the connection between your analog source

and the computer. Connect the analog source to the converter and connect

the converter to your computer. Adobe Premiere Elements then captures the

digitized footage.

AV DV converters are available in many larger consumer

electronics stores.

Note: If you capture using an AV DV converter, you might need to capture without

using device control.

—From Adobe Premiere Elements Help

Using the Media Downloader

As mentioned at the start of this lesson, you will use Adobe Premiere Elements’

Media Downloader to import clips from DVDs, DVD-based camcorders, AVCHD

camcorders, digital still cameras, and mobile phones and players. In essence, if the

video is stored on a hard disk, SD card, optical disc, or other storage media other

than tape, you’ll import it with the Media Downloader.

ADOBE PREMIERE ELEMENTS 7 CLASSROOM IN A BOOK 47

In this exercise we’ll use the Media Downloader to import video from an AVCHD

camcorder. If you don’t have an AVCHD camcorder, you can follow along using

video captured on a digital still camera, DVD camcorder, or mobile phone, or even

a non-encrypted DVD, such as one that you’ve previously produced with Adobe

Premiere Elements. Note that Adobe Premiere Elements will not import video from

DVDs that are encrypted, such as most Hollywood DVD titles.

1 Connect your AVCHD camcorder to your computer via the USB 2.0 port.

2 Turn the camcorder on and set it to PC mode, or whichever mode is used to

transfer video from camcorder to computer.

3 Launch Adobe Premiere Elements.

4 In the Organize workspace, click Get Media.

5 In Get Media view, select AVCHD Camcorder (

) to follow along with this

procedure. Selecting DVD Camcorder or PC DVD Drive (

), or Digital

Still Camera (

), or Mobile Phones and Players ( ) will also open Media

Downloader, though some settings will be diff erent from this example.

 e Media Downloader opens using the Advanced dialog. (If the Advanced dialog

isn’t showing, click Advanced Dialog in the lower left of the Adobe Premiere

Elements - Media Downloader window.)

A B C D FE

G H I J

쎲

Note: This

connection procedure

will vary by device;

some AVCHD

camcorders require that

you set the camcorder

into PC Mode before

connecting the USB

2.0 cable, others the

reverse. Please check

the documentation

that came with

your camcorder for

additional details.

Adobe Premiere

Elements Media

Downloader

(Advanced dialog):

A. Show/hide image

fi les. B. Show/hide

video fi les. C. Show/

hide audio fi les.

D. Available drives and

devices. E. Location

for saved fi les.

F. Naming convention.

G. Standard D

ialog but-

ton. H. Importable fi les.

I. Get Media button.

J. Cancel button.