Do I need to Upgrade??!? Now What??

[jeff0628]

Hello everyone...

I am brand new into the video editing, authoring, etc.... I was curious what all do I need to capture from vcr, dv, etc... and once I have the video in the computer best programs for editing, authoring, conversion, etc...

What I currently have is:

Windows XP Pro SP1
P4 2.8c HT (overclocked to 3.1ghz)
1 gig corsair xms pc-3500 ram
2 - 80 gig WD 8MB cache hard drives
Plextor PX708a DVD -/+ burner
Geforce 4 fx5600 video card with VIVO
Avermedia TVTuner card
USB 2.0 & Firewire

Ulead videostudio 6
Tmpgenc 2.5
Recordnow Max
VirtualDub
various other freeware utilities

My main question is I figure I have enough horsepower for video editing but do I need anything else to get started?

What about the OS, is XP pro ok or should I go with 2k??

How should I tackle the capturing, editing / authoring of my vcr to dvd conversions?? I can capture up to 720x480.

Any help would be appreciated.

[redwudz]

You've got a better setup than a lot of people that visit this forum. You do need an authoring program; I would recommend TMPGEnc Author for ease of use. The second and most important thing you need is to study the 'Guides' to the left of this site. Software and hardware are the easy part of this hobby.

[Dr_Layne]

Looks like you have plenty of horsepower. Overclocking may or may not cuase issues with capturing. While it'll get you geek points and make games run faster, it's not needed for video editing. Both Xp and 2K are fine for video editing. Virtual dub works great for analog captures. TMPGenc for avi to mpeg2 compression. Recordnow or Nero for burning DVD's.

[ZippyP.]

Overclocking may or may not cuase issues with capturing.

But it can cause real problems when your CPU usage hits 100% while encoding.

[jeff0628]

OK, sounds like I need to get rid of the overclocking, although it has been 100% rock stable for about 3 months now, I definetly don't want to choke on the tail end of my video project...

I havent had a chance to load the program yet, isnt the ulead videostudio 6 an authoring program.... I dunno?

I have just started reading lordsmurf's website on the in's and out's of viedo.

My main reason for this post is to capitalize on your expeirences on the subject so maybe I can avoid some of the common pit falls....

What are some of the most common programs used for the different tasks at hand.

THANKS!!!