Steinberg Cubase SE 3 Operation Manual

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Video 
						

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Background
Video support in Cubase SE
Cubase SE plays back video films in a number of formats. 
Under Windows, video playback can be done using one of three play-
back engines: Video for Windows, DirectShow or Quicktime. This en-
sures compatibility with as wide a range of video files as possible. 
The following file formats are supported: AVI, Windows Media Video, 
Quicktime or MPEG formats.
Under Mac OS X, Quicktime is always used as playback engine. 
QuickTime supports the following video file formats: AVI, MPEG, 
QuickTime and DV.
Generally there are two ways to play back video:
• Without any special hardware at all.
While this will be fine in many situations it does put a limit on the size of the video win-
dow as well as the quality of the image.
• Using video hardware that for example connects to an external monitor.
Mac OS X: Using a FireWire port, you can play back video on an external monitor us-
ing a DV-to-analog converter or a DV camera.
This is valid for DV video and QuickTime is used for playback.
Windows: Multi-head graphics cards which support overlay functionality can be used 
to display the video picture on an external monitor. As of this writing, the following 
manufacturers have working solutions available: nVIDIA and Matrox. 
						

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Operations
About the video playback engine
In Cubase SE for Windows, you select a playback engine in the De-
vice Setup - Video Player page:
What playback engine to select depends largely on which type of video 
system you are using, as well as on the file format and codec of the 
video files you want to work with.
• Make sure to read the section “Before you start” on page 527.
• Generally, you can expect most Windows hardware to work with Direct-
Show.
On a Windows system, the DirectShow and Video for Windows players are provided 
by the operating system, you don’t have to install any additional software.  
						

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• For the Quicktime playback method to be available, you must have 
QuickTime installed on your computer (Windows).
There is a freeware version (a QuickTime installer is included on the Cubase SE DVD if 
required, or you can download it from www.quicktime.com) and a “pro” version, which 
offers additional video cutting options. The player engine is the same in both versions, 
so for mere playback in Cubase SE there is no need to purchase the “pro” version.
Under Mac OS X, there is only one standard player option. The Quick-
time playback engine is always used, supporting the formats AVI, MPEG, 
QuickTime and DV. If your system has a FireWire port, there is also a 
FireWire option – see below.
Importing a video file
Video files are imported in the same manner as audio files.
•By using the File menu (Import Video File).
•By using drag and drop.
•By importing to the Pool first and then dragging to the Project window 
(see the Pool chapter for details).
Note:
• To be able to play back the video, you must add a video track (by using the 
Add Track submenu on the Project menu or Quick menu). You can only have 
one video track in each project.
• All video files on the track must be of the same size and compression format. 
						

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Playing back a video file
Video files are displayed as events/clips on the video track, with 
thumbnails representing the frames in the film (if the option Show 
Video Thumbnails is activated in the Preferences dialog).
A video event on a video track.
To view the video on the computer screen (as opposed to on an exter-
nal monitor, see below), proceed as follows:
•If you’re running MacOS X, first open the Device Setup dialog from the 
Devices menu, click Video Player in the list and make sure “Onscreen 
Window” is selected in the Video Output section of the dialog. 
•Pull down the Devices menu and select Video (or use a key command 
– by default [F8]).
A video window appears. In Stop mode, this displays the video frame at the project 
cursor position.
Playback is done together with all other material, using the Transport 
panel.
Setting the Window size
If you are playing back video in a window on your computer screen, 
you may want to adjust the size:
•Open the Device Setup dialog from the Devices menu, click Video 
Player in the list and use the Video Window buttons to select a size.
Playing back video in full screen mode
When viewing video on the computer screen you can choose to let 
the video occupy the whole screen, during playback or in Stop mode:
•Right-click (Win) or [Ctrl]-click (Mac) in the video window to switch to 
full screen. Click again to exit full screen.  
						

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Playing back video file using grahics cards (Windows only) 
Multi-head graphics cards which support overlay functionality can be 
used to display the video picture on an external TV or computer mon-
itor in full screen mode. As of this writing, the manufacturers nVIDIA 
and Matrox have working solutions available. Check the card’s docu-
mentation for information on how it handles video output and how to 
set it up for multi-monitor display.
Playing back a video via FireWire (Mac OS X only)
For Apple computers equipped with a FireWire port, you can easily 
connect external video hardware via this, as OS X has built-in video 
support for the most common formats (NTSC/PAL/DVCPRO). 
FireWire is capable of high data-transfer speed and is the most com-
mon standard for communicating with video-related peripheral equip-
ment.
•To play back a video file via hardware connected to the FireWire port, 
select “FireWire” in the Outputs pop-up of the Device Setup–Video 
Player dialog.
When FireWire is selected as output, a number of format options appear on the For-
mat pop-up, allowing you to select between various video formats and resolutions.
Project window editing operations
Video clips are played back by events just as audio clips are. You can 
use all the basic editing operation on video events, just as with audio 
events. The following operations are not possible on the video track:
•Drawing, Gluing, Muting and Scrubbing.
•The video track has no editor and does not make use of parts.
Pool operations
For more about operations on video clips in the Pool, see page 350. 
						

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Before you start (Windows only)
When working on a project involving a video file, there are several 
points to bear in mind:
Have you selected the right player?
The player is used not only for playback of the video file, but also to 
provide file information in the Pool. Therefore, to make sure that you 
have chosen the right player for a particular type of video file, check 
the file information displayed in the Pool prior to trying to import or 
playing back the file.
When this information reads “0x0 pixel”, “0.000 s” and “0 Frames”, 
the video file is either corrupt, or the format is not supported by the 
codecs available to the selected video player. You will either have to 
change the video player, or install the required codec.
Trying to import or play back a file not supported by the selected video 
player leads to unpredictable results – if no information on the number 
of frames, the length and the pixel resolution is available in the Pool, you 
cannot import/play this file properly with this particular video player.
You can change the video player in the Device Setup dialog. After having 
done so, make sure to remove any previously imported video file from the 
Pool first, and re-import it.
Editing a video file
Cubase SE allows you to cut, copy, paste and trim video events, i. e. 
your video track may contain more than one video event. However, 
when using the DirectShow video player on a Windows system, you 
may find that only the first event on the video track is played back cor-
rectly. In such a case make sure that the video track contains no more 
than one video event.
When working with a Windows operating system, you may find that 
you are unable to edit a video file copied from a CD. This is because 
files copied from CD are write protected by default. Right-click the file, 
and uncheck the “Read-Only” option in the File Properties dialog. 
						

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When you have a video file in a format not supported by Cubase SE, 
use an external application to convert the file to a format that Cubase 
SE can import.
Options
In the Preferences dialog (Event Display–Video page), there are two 
options for video playback:
•Show Video Thumbnails.
When this is activated, thumbnail frames of the video contents are shown in the track.
•Video Cache Size.
This determines how much memory is available for video thumbnails. If you have long 
video clips and/or work with a large zoom factor (so that a lot of frames are shown in 
the thumbnails), you may have to raise this value. 
						

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ReWire 
						

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Introduction
ReWire and ReWire2 are special protocols for streaming audio bet-
ween two computer applications. Developed by Propellerhead Soft-
ware and Steinberg, ReWire provides the following possibilities and 
features:
•Real-time streaming of up to 64 separate audio channels, at full band-
width, from the “synthesizer application” into the “mixer application”.
In this case, the “mixer application” is of course Cubase SE. An example of a “synthe-
sizer application” is Propellerhead Software’s Reason.
•Automatic, sample accurate synchronization between the audio in the 
two programs.
•The possibility to have the two programs share one sound card and 
take advantage of multiple outputs on that card.
•Linked transport controls that allow you to play, rewind etc, either from 
Cubase SE or from the synthesizer application (provided it has some 
kind of transport functionality).
•Automatic audio mixing functions of separate channels as required.
In the case of Reason for example, this allows you to have separate mixer channels for 
the different devices.
•Additionally, ReWire2 offers the possibility to route MIDI tracks in 
Cubase SE to the other application, for full MIDI control.
For each ReWire2 compatible device, a number of extra MIDI outputs will be made 
available in Cubase SE. In the case of Reason, this allows you to route different MIDI 
tracks in Cubase SE to different devices in Reason, having Cubase SE serve as main 
MIDI sequencer.
•Less total system requirements than when using the programs together 
in the conventional way.