Apple Final Cut Express 4 - Manual (Page 185)

Chapter 14 Capturing Your Footage to Disk 185
IV
For example, if you want to create a music video that’s approximately four minutes
long using DV video:
 3.6 MB/sec. video data rate x 60 seconds = 216 MB/min. x 4 minutes = 864 MB
needed for project files.
 864 MB x 5 = 4320 MB needed for project, render, cache, and other files.
Round off 4320 MB to 4.5 GB to be on the safe side. This is the amount of disk space
you’ll need to allow just for this one project. If you plan to work on multiple projects at
the same time, estimate the amount for each project and add these numbers together.
To check the available hard disk space:
m Choose File > Capture (or press Command-8).
At the top of the Capture window, Final Cut Express displays the amount of available
space on the current scratch disk. If you need to specify another scratch disk, see
“
Specifying Scratch Disks ” on page 151.
Important: For best performance, use a nonstartup disk for capture, render, and final
output to tape, and try to anticipate how much disk space you need before you
begin capturing.
Capturing Individual Clips in the Capture Window
With this approach to capturing, you capture small sections of tape, one at a time. If
you want to meticulously define each clip before you capture it, you can set In and Out
points and add any logging information in the Capture window, and then press the
Capture Clip button. If you just want to capture a section of tape but you aren’t worried
about precise start and end times, you can use the Capture Now button instead. For
more information, see “
Using Capture Now ” on page 190.
Some editors prefer to capture clips one at a time because this method avoids any
pitfalls that may occur with automated capturing. If your tapes have a lot of
unexpected timecode breaks, or if you simply want to capture one or two clips from a
tape, you may want to use this method.