Source media management

CatDV deals with both clips and source media. A clip describes a piece of media in abstract terms (tape name, in and out points) whereas a source media file is an actual file on disk that contains a DV stream or other media content, such as stills, audio clips, and so on. A clip may or may not have any source media, but you can only manipulate source media in CatDV if you have a clip that refers to it.

When you import a media file CatDV analyses that file and creates a clip that refers to and describes the source media. If the file is a movie file then several clips may be created, a master clip for the media file as a whole and one for each scene.

A source media file need not remain online on disk once it has been imported into a catalog, though obviously you won't be able to play the media file if it no longer exists (or can't be found). The clip details store the last known location of the media file.

The following commands let you deal with source media in various ways:

• Update media location is used when you have renamed or moved an existing media file on disk and need to tell CatDV the new location so it can play the media. If you have moved an entire directory you normally only need to locate the first file. Any other clips which have been similarly affected are updated automatically.
• Use Attach media to attach a clip to a completely new media file, for example after it's been recaptured, or if the clip was not originally associated with a media file. You can also attach clips to existing preview movies based on tape name.
• Use Rebuild thumbnails to build new thumbnails for selected clips, eg. after changing the thumbnail size.
• Use Build preview movies to build preview movies for selected clips from the source movies.
• Use Delete media files to delete the media files for selected clips from disk and then also delete the corresponding clips from the catalog.
• Use Move media files to select a new directory and then move the selected media files there. (If you selected a single clip you can enter a new name to rename the media file.)
• By default the clip Name corresponds to the media file name and the Bin to the parent folder containing the media file. If you edit the clip Name or Bin you will be asked if you want to apply the corresponding move to the source media file (assuming the Auto rename files preferences option is set).
• Use Consolidate Footage to trim unused material from the source media by saving a self-contained (flattened) movie of the selection (in2/out2) within each clip and then deleting the original source movies. (This only applies to DV movies. The assumption is that DV footage can always be batch recaptured based on the original timecode and it is therefore safe to delete the source media.)
• Use Source media view to simplify the view and show precisely one clip only for each source media file.