Managing Projects and Media > Archiving > Creating a VTR Archive >

# Creating an HDCAM Archive

You can create an HDCAM device archive. The material archived to HDCAM devices is compressed significantly. As a consequence of HDCAM compression, the quality of the material in the HDCAM archive may be reduced.

NoteArchiving to tapes with drop-frame timecode is not supported.

To create an HDCAM archive:

1. In the Archive menu, select HDCAM from the Archive Device box.

   The options for archiving to an HDCAM device appear.

   (a) Archive Device box(b) Device Name box

2. From the Device Name box, select an HDCAM device.
3. Insert a striped tape with continuous non-drop-frame timecode in the VTR.
4. Click Engineering and set the Engineering options, then return to the Archive menu. See Setting Video Input and Output Engineering Menu Controls.
   NoteThe recommended Timecode Source for archiving is LTC. Additionally, if you open an archive in read/write mode, play delay and pre- and post-roll values are verified and set in the auto test run before archiving begins. Therefore, you do not need to set these options.
5. If you want to set the start timecode for the archive, select the Manual Start option and enter a timecode.

   The start timecode that appears by default is set in the software initialization configuration file.

6. If the tape already contains material, determine the start timecode for the archive by playing the tape in the Input Clip menu. See Controlling a VTR.
7. Click Format.

   The Format menu appears.

   (a) Name field(b) Length field(c) Comment field

8. Enter the name for the archive entry and any additional comments in the Name and Comments fields.
9. Enter the available space after the Start Timecode in the Length field. Enter the length in minutes.
   NoteIf you are creating the archive on a tape that already contains material, make sure you define the length of the archive as the space you want the archive to use, not the total length of the tape.
10. Click Format and then Confirm to continue.

    The new archive is created on the HDCAM VTR tape and is opened. Save the contents of the current project, clip libraries, EditDesk, or reels. See Saving to an Archive.

    TipWrite down the archive name and creation date on the tape label. This will help you select the appropriate table of contents file if you need to restore your archive.