Capturing Still Images
from Video Digitizing Cards

Training for Apple's Video Monitor Software

1. Find the Video Monitor application and Choose Video Input Setting.
2. Choose Output as Clipboard or File (on the Macs next to the Camcorders).
3. Choose the Size of Image to Digitize.

4. Choose "Copy" from the Edit Menu. This is a still image, not a video.

   Do not be fooled by the above image in the step four link. It is not a movie, it is just a digital photo of the screen. It shows the smallest size of image possible in this program, which is very useful for newsletters and other situations needing a small image. As in this picture, nothing will show in the Video Monitor window until your video source is powered up and working. P.S. Don't forget to take the len cap off the camera if that is your video source.

5. Once you have studied the tutorial links above, either choose the computer that is hooked to the video camcorder or hook some video source (e.g., camcorder, VCR) to a Macintosh computer which has a video IN jack.

   This means that you must have a video cable (wires with RCA jacks) connecting the video OUT jack on the video source to the video IN jack on the back of the computer.

6. Start up the video monitor program. Check and modify your preferences as needed. Once your preferences and configuration are set (set Output to File), you can start your video source, e.g. camcorder, VCR, etc. Turning on the camcorder means you need to find two "on-switches", one on the camera and one on the power supply. If you do not see an image from the camera on the computer screen, then you must back up to previous steps and see what is missing.

   Use the copy command found under Edit in the Menu Bar to grab the image. Learn to use the keyboard short-cut, Command C, when the needed video image rolls by on your videotape or in front of your live camera lens.

7. Aim the camera at your target and adjust the "zoom in and out" focus. Fill the camera view with your target. If you are taking images of yourself, you may find it easier to have someone else do the computer keyboard work than to position the camera so that you can grin at it while doing the Command-C or mouse click operation.

   Timing is slightly delayed. That is, if you want a particular smile that is available on a videotape, you will have to press the copy keys just a fraction of a second before the key moment to capture it.

8. Once you Command-C an image, a file is created on the desktop. Create several of them. The highest number of these files is the last one digitized. Double click on the file icon to open it. Open several image files and compare them. Change the file names appropriately of the files that you want to keep. Move them to your disk storage. That is, click once on the file on the desktop that you want and drag it on top of your diskette icon.

9. You should now move to another computer freeing up the computer with the video camcorder for others to digitize their image. Start up your desktop publishing software. Your desktop publishing software will have an Insert command. Click the cursor in your document where you want the image to be placed. Next find and use the Insert command to get your file.

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For a wide range of display styles and still image samples from camcorders, see the College's News web page.

Any video source can generate images for this Video Monitor program. That is, instead of a camcorder or VCR providing images for you to capture, you could have the cable TV system plugged and take images from live television. Note that there is a TV set hooked to a long cable TV line by the door of the Instructional Technology Center (rm. 268). You can also use videodisc players as video sources. They will have their own cables to hook them to computers. Every Macintosh computer in the ITC has a video digitizing card with a video IN jack on the back. You will need to ask the lab assistants to open the cupboard to browse the videodisc collection.

Page author: Houghton