Sales and Support FAQ

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A clip can reference media in two ways, directly with an explict media path or indirectly via the tape name and timecode of the clip.

If you import a movie file that's on your hard disk (or other media file such as a still) then the Media Filename field will be filled in and CatDV will normally access the original media file by its filename. You can move or rename the media file within CatDV using commands in the Media menu. If the file was moved outside of CatDV then you can use the Update Media Location to tell CatDV the new file location - CatDV will remember the old and new locations and any other files that were moved similarly (for example, if you renamed a top level directory) will usually be found automatically at their new location.

Alternatively, rather than importing files from disk, you can use Live Capture to scan a tape and CatDV will build up a tape index and at the same time capture a preview version of the entire tape. CatDV will then use the tape name and timecode value of the clip to automatically play the relevant portion of the preview movie when required to display a clip. (For previews to work properly it's important therefore that you always enter unique and consistent tape identifiers.)

The two types of media aren't mutually exclusive however. You can use the Build Preview Movies command to create previews from media files, and you can use the Attach Media command to attach media files to clips which didn't previously refer to media. (There are various Preference options which tell CatDV which representation to prefer when you play a clip if a clip has both.)

So really, the difference is down to you and how you want to think of your clips. Are they files on disk, or shots on a DV tape? CatDV provides a consistent and seamless user interface for both ways of working, and when you try to play or export a clip will automatically use either method to locate media for that clip, depending on what's available.

16/8/05