Date & Time Stamp with firewire video capture

To capture video in high quality, firewire video capture (DV link, IEEE1394) is used to transfer video in full DV mode to the PC. When we shoot video with a camcorder, the date & time code plus other video data are recorded to the camcorder media.

Many of us experience the time & date code is not displayed or superimposed in the video when using firewire video capture (DV transfer) despite the time & date code is already embedded in the video (output as DV avi file). The date & time information, which is accessible by the capturing software, is only used internally by the software to split video or for other stuff. When we playback video from the camcorder in TV using analog connection (S-video, AV jack) or when we transfer video to VHS recorder, the date & time data will be transferred along with the video stream and will appear on TV.

Usually we like to include date & time stamp in our home video for future reference. We want to remember all our important moments in life and associate them with date & time.

Here are a few options you may want to consider to mark your home video with date & time with firewire video capture.

1) Insert date & time In DVD titles during authoring - We can write the date & time information on the chapter titles and track titles during DVD authoring instead of stamping in the movie.

2) Capture video via analog connection (analog video capture card) - video quality will drop for this option. If video quality is not important or if you have the intention of making SVCD or VCD instead of DVD, you may probably consider to use analog connection (via S-video or AV out jack), but you must have an analog capture card installed in you computer. The camcorder must be configured to display the time & date during playback.

3) Insert date & time in video clips manually - If you want the date & time printed at one corner of the video, you can insert the date & time manually using superimposed feature in the editing software. It is a tedious work, and you have to match your date & time with the different video scenes. You need to manually record down the time and date for each scene and later insert into the video.

4) .avi file naming option that includes the date and time - Some DV capturing utilities use the time & date code from a DV tape to name the destination file. You can organize these clips chronologically.

5) Automatic scene splitting according to time while capturing - Each scene is written into individual .avi file in real time according to the shooting time. You can later consolidate and merge the clips according to the date or the time.

6) Use utility software with various options - Some software is capable to a)Extract the time & date code from avi file and create time & date subtitle b)Extract the time & date code from avi file and superimposed onto the video

7) Use capturing software which can detect date & time code and imprint it on a video - The date and time stamp can be configured to once a day, once an hour, every scene or always on.

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