Sales and Support FAQ

Question

Answer

Yes you can. You have several options.

If you can format the text as tab-separated text then you can import it with File > Import As > Tab-Separated Text. CatDV uses a smart algorithm that tries to guess the format of the file used and extract as much information as possible:

• There must be one clip entry per line, and each field must be separated by a single tab character.
• A line on its own is taken to be a tape name.
• The first two fields on a line that look like timecode are taken to be In and Out points respectively (unless any of the supposed "out" points are less than the in points, in which case they are all taken to mean duration instead).
• Fields that do not contain timecode are interpreted as text, in the order: clip name, bin, tape name and comments. Any additional fields are ignored, as are blank lines or lines that CatDV is unable to process.

The best way is to format each line as "Clip Name In Out Bin Tape Notes ", for example:

My clip	0:00:05:12	0:00:17:00	Capture	Tape 5	Great shot
Clip 2	0:00:17:00	0:00:39:11	Capture	Tape 5	And this!
...

This will create new clips but they won't be associated with any media files.

If you have already captured and imported a long media file (for example, a capture for a whole tape) and have created a pencil and paper log of scenes then a trick is to copy and paste the log into the Verbatim Logger. The format required here is

[Timecode]
=Clip Name
Clip Notes

For example,

[0:00:05:12]
=My clip
An excellent shot
[0:00:17:00]
=Clip 2
Another shot

A third option, if you have free format text such as a script which doesn't have timecode in it but that you want to associate with a clip and be able to search on is to copy and paste that text into the Notes field for a clip in the Clip Details window. The text can be up to 64K long. Three lines of text are visible in a scrollable field, but if you double click on the Notes label you can view it in a larger window.

19/1/06