EDITING HOME VIDEOS - HELP FOR A BEGINNER

[LEIGHDUFFY]

I am hoping to edit home videos in the near future - am i correct in
thinking that this is the correct procedure to do this.....
1). record using camcorder
2). play on vcr (connected to pc) and capture it onto pc*
3). edit**
4). play on pc while recording it back onto video

how big would one of theses 'captured' files be on my computer (about
an hour in length)?

*how would i go about 'capturing' the video - what software should i
use for this? can i do this by connecting my pc to my tv/vcr using a tv out cable? if not, what hardware is needed?

** i only want to perform simple editing function (such as adding
titles and mp3 files ans background) - nothing fancy! what software
will be needed for this?

thanks in advance

leigh duffy

[kingsley2300]

that is a big question, there.

You either capture with a cheap card in AVI, and use virtual dub for the capture in some cases. These you convert to MPEG for VCD/DVD players using TMPGenc.

or

You capture in MPEG at a high bitrate and convert to VCD standard using TMPGenc.

First read the descriptions of the VCDs and SVCDs and Xvcd and get a feel for what is REALLY going on.

I have a DVD player that plays VCD, XVCD, and SVCD, a cheap memorex from Target. You can make these on your regular burner and play on your DVD player thru the TV. You must get a DVD player that supports these formats.

I use the following guide for the DAZZLE usb that I have (I am NOT recommending this MPEG capture device but it is what I have...)
http://www.vcdhelp.com/dazzlecapture.htm

My framesize is limited to VCD (352x240) but with more experience I will get better results using a lesser capture card but better software (virtual dub)

VCD-standard is about 10 megs per minute.

You need a 7200 rpm hard disk and 600+mhz processor, but you can get good results for less.

Read the information at virtual dub's website.

You dub out of the camcorder, especially if it has svhs connector, and you should get a capture card with svhs in. use the audio on your pc for the audio track, and you capture video, and audio, and separate them, and use post processing to get the two married again. Like the guide says for my Dazzle.

Titling and audio and all that - well, look at vegas video or video factory 2.0. My dazzle has this stuff but I don't use it all that much. You want everything, but you will have to take this all one step at a time.

Anyway, the guides here are so good - I print them all out-, but what you should really do is read the historical rec.video.desktop newsgroup at google/google GROUPS. You will learn a lot there too.

If you have digital camcorder everything here is incorrect :)

good luck
k[/quote]

[kitty]

If your camcorder only has analog video out: You might look at the Pinnacle Studio AV product - has Analog capture & a good editor. www.pinnaclesys.com. If you have i.link/firewire/IEEE1394 output their Studio DV or many other solutions (see capture at left) work well.

[Helmut]

I really suggest you to use a digital camcorder and a firewire card. It's very easy to learn have to use.

I got a pinnacle dv capture card (sheap one) that works really great. The software Studio DV came with the card. The program is great for simple editing like adding music, cut scene and so on. It feels like the program cut your scene automatic when you capture, it got a great function there, every time you have paused the film when you record, the program make a new "chapter". You can of course resend the material back to the tape.

So my suggestion to you is to buy a digital camcorder and a pinnacle firewire card with the software Studio dv.


Helmut
SNiGLA @ EFnet[/b]

[kickbxn5]

I use Dazzle USB to capture and Adobe Premiere 6 to edit. You can probably get Dazzle USB device on ebay and download Adobe from Morpheus. Inexpensive, but fits what you need.