User manual

511
Video
Frame rates
Cubase is capable of working with different types of video
and film frame rates. For an overview about the supported
frame rates, refer to the section “Frame rate (speed)” on
page 495.
Video output devices
Cubase supports several ways to play back video files.
Viewing video files onscreen in the Video Player window
may work just fine for many applications, but often it is
necessary to display video in a large format for viewing
small details and so others involved in the session can
also see the video. Cubase provides the ability to use sev
-
eral types of video output devices to accomplish this.
Multi-head video cards
One of the most common methods is the use of a multi-
head video card installed in the computer. Multi-head
video cards allow you to connect more than one computer
monitor to the card, in some cases up to four. If you direct
the video output of Cubase to one of these outputs, the
video file is displayed in fullscreen mode on a computer
monitor or HD television screen.
Ö You can also use more than one video card to achieve
the same result.
Different video cards support different types of outputs in-
cluding standard VGA, DVI, S-Video, HDMI, and compo-
nent video. These options allow you to choose the type of
monitor you use for video. HD televisions and digital pro-
jectors provide the largest viewing screens, but a normal
computer monitor can function as a very high-quality video
monitor as well.
Dedicated video cards
The use of a dedicated video card is also supported in
Cubase. These cards are normally used in video editing
systems to capture video to disk and display it while edit
-
ing. They usually have a high resolution and take some
strain off the host CPU by providing video compression
and decompression processing on the card.
Ö The Decklink cards by Blackmagic Design are auto-
matically recognized by Cubase. Video will be sent di-
rectly to its output.
FireWire DV Output
You have the option to use FireWire ports on the computer
to output DV video streams to external converters such as
various camcorders and standalone FireWire to DV con-
version units. These units can be connected to a television
or projector for large format viewing. The FireWire protocol
is capable of transporting data at high speed and is the
most common standard for communicating with video-
related peripheral equipment.
Preparing a video project in Cubase
The following sections describe the basic operations nec-
essary for preparing a Cubase project involving video. It is
advisable to store your video files on a separate hard drive
from your audio files. This can help prevent data streaming
problems when using high-resolution video with many au
-
dio tracks.
Importing video files
Importing a video file into your project is very straight for-
ward once you know that you have a compatible video file.
Video files are imported in the same manner as audio files:
• By using the File menu (Import–Video File).
In the Import Video dialog, you can activate the “Extract Audio From
Video” option. This imports any embedded audio streams to a newly cre
-
ated audio track positioned below the video track. The new track and the
clip will get the name of the video file. The new audio event will start at
the same time as the video event, so that they are in sync with each other.
Ö If you try to import a non-supported video file with the
Import Video option, the Import Video dialog displays the
text “Invalid or not supported file!”.
• By importing to the Pool first and then dragging to the
Project window (see
“The Pool” on page 299 for details).
• By using drag and drop from the MediaBay, the Pool,
the Windows Explorer, or the Mac OS Finder.
!
Under Windows, it is important that you connect
your device to the FireWire port before launching
Cubase. Otherwise it may not be detected properly
by Cubase.